For those who've been following the saga that's beset former National MP Mike Sabin, there's now a chance some light may be shed on just what the Government knew and when it knew it.

The former Northland MP quit in January amidst allegations he was under investigation by police. That lead to questions being asked of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Police as to whether they’d been informed of the investigation under the "no surprises" policy. It's a question neither the Government nor police have given a clear answer to. In fact police have directly refused to say when they told ministers, or even if they told them anything at all.

Their response in February was that to do so would be prejudicial to the maintenance of the law, among other reasons.

The problem this non-disclosure has created is that there has been a political firestorm over just what the Government, and in particular the Prime Minister, knew about the Sabin case. Labour and New Zealand First are of the view the issue was well known within National Party circles ahead of the election, and ahead of Mike Sabin's appointment as chair of Parliament's Law and Order Select Committee. However the Prime Minister has been adamant that he knew nothing until early December, well after the election. The Minister of Police, Michael Woodhouse has said even less.

Well it's possible the Office of the Ombudsmen may be able to shed some light on what has turned out to be a very murky series of events. Following the police's decision not to disclose details in February we passed this matter on to the Office of the Ombudsmen for its consideration. They have now decided to investigate the matter, and have written to the Commissioner of Police asking him to provide them with the relevant information at issue and a report on the decision they made about our request.

In the interests of clarity it would be good to see the Ombudsmen rule in favour of disclosure. The politics around the matter are intense, and it's hard to see how disclosing when minister's were briefed could affect the rule of law. Disclosure will either back the Government's position and reduce opposition claims to have been no more than partisan politicking, or it will show that the Government wasn't upfront and misled the public. Given the hefty amount of scepticism there is among the public about political claims (from all sides) it would be advantageous for the Ombudsmen to be able to put this matter to rest for good.