By Dan Satherley
The Green Party has laid an official complaint with police over the Government Security and Communications Bureau's illegal spying on tech entrepreneur Kim Dotcom.
In a letter to police commissioner Peter Marshall, co-leader Russel Norman says the GCSB, Prime Minister John Key and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Paul Neazor have acknowledged illegal activity took place.
"The Neazor Report clearly concludes that the GCSB had no authority under the GCSB Act to intercept the communications of Mr Dotcom and Bram van der Kolk," says Dr Norman.
"Both the Neazor Report and the Prime Minister’s public statements have repeatedly labelled the GCSB’s actions illegal.
"The GCSB appears to have breached s216(B) of the Crimes Act, which bans interception of private communications – that is the same law that John Key claimed Bradley Ambrose had breached in the so-called ‘teapot tapes’ affair."
During last year's election campaign, Mr Ambrose inadvertently recorded a conversation between Mr Key and ACT Party Epsom candidate John Banks at a central Auckland cafe.
At the staged event, to which media were invited, Mr Key offered his support to Mr Banks as the preferred candidate for the Epsom electorate.
Mr Key laid a complaint with police, saying the recording of the private conversation was illegal.
An investigation was held but police decided not to prosecute Mr Ambrose, although they called his actions "clearly unlawful".
Several media organisations, including TV3, were investigated by police following Mr Key's complaint.
The recording was never officially released, but appeared on the internet in January.
NZ First leader Winston Peters is hinting for an investigation into the ordeal, taking to twitter this morning.
“The PM's ignorance on a raft of vital matters relating to the Dotcom case is screaming out for investigation,” he says.
The tweet comes after Mr Peters’s speech yesterday during a snap debate at Parliament when he called Mr Key the “spray and walk away” Prime Minister.
“If any other minister had been this incompetent, the Prime Minister would have fired him. We are saying: Prime Minister, fire yourself.
“This is going to leave us as the laughing stock on the international stage,” he said.
3 News
source: newshub archive
