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New Zealand PM says review clears him of involvement in illegal spying scandal

03 October 2012 04:29 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on Wednesday released the results of a review of a key intelligence agency that was caught illegally spying on a German millionaire wanted by the U.S. authorities, APA reports.

Key, who is also Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), said the review of the bureau’s files cleared him of any involvement as they proved the GCSB had not briefed him on its illegal interception of the communications of Internet millionaire and New Zealand resident Kim Dotcom.

GCSB director Ian Fletcher had only advised Key of the illegal spying on Sept. 17, and had since been cooperating with an inquiry by Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Paul Neazor, Key said in a statement.

The review of the GCSB files also found that GCSB officials had failed to brief the prime minister or any official in his department on its involvement with the Dotcom before or after New Zealand Police raided Dotcom’s Auckland home at the behest of U.S. authorities in January.

"I have been clear from the outset that I received no briefing on the operation from GCSB prior to Sept. 17, and this review confirms that," Key said in a bid to quell the scandal over the affair.

"Given the public statements I have made in Parliament and in the media, it is important that I take this opportunity to provide this additional information."

A GCSB audit into all cases of assistance to law enforcement agencies since January 2009 had found that in the vast bulk of cases there was no suggestion of any illegality, said Key.

"In three of 58 cases, however, the GCSB cannot assure me that the legal position is totally clear. More legal work is being undertaken and the GCSB will issue a further public statement when that work has been concluded."

Last week, the GCSB suspended operations with the country’s law enforcement agencies until new approval processes were established after admitting it illegally intercepted the communications of Dotcom.

Under New Zealand law, the GCSB is prohibited from intercepting the communications of New Zealand citizens and permanent residents, but it failed to carry out its own checks on the residency status of Dotcom and a fellow executive of file-sharing website Megaupload, according to an initial report by Neazor.

The illegal spying scandal is the latest in a string of mistakes by the New Zealand authorities in their cooperation with the United States to bring a case against Dotcom and three other Megaupload executives.

The extradition case, originally scheduled for August, has been delayed until March next year after becoming entangled in legal arguments, appeals and critical judgments.

In June, a New Zealand judge ruled that the country’s police acted unlawfully in allowing the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to copy computer data seized from Dotcom and remove it from the country, and that the warrants used by police to raid Dotcom’s Auckland home and to seize property on behalf of the FBI were illegal.

Other points of legal contention revolve around how much evidence, including more than 22 million e-mails, the New Zealand prosecutors acting on behalf of the U.S. authorities are required to disclose to Dotcom’s legal team.

In March, the U.S. Department of Justice formally lodged an application for the extradition of Dotcom and the other Megaupload executives from New Zealand on charges related to Internet piracy.

Although the United States and New Zealand have an extradition treaty, New Zealand courts could refuse to hand over Dotcom and his co-accused, Mathias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk and Finn Batato.

New Zealand Police arrested Dotcom in Auckland on Jan. 20 at the request of the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI on charges including copyright infringement, wire fraud, money laundering and racketeering.

Dotcom spent a month in prison before being allowed bail to live with his heavily pregnant wife and three children.