Prime Minister John Key says a previously undisclosed meeting with his spy boss Ian Fletcher - a meeting that came just before the Kim Dotcom raid - was totally routine.
Campbell Live last night revealed the meeting between Mr Key and Mr Fletcher.
"He happened to be in New Zealand," says Mr Key. "It was an introduction."
Before he started as spymaster, there had previously been four known contacts between Mr Fletcher and the Prime Minister - two hotel meetings, a phone call and a dinner.
Now, a fourth meeting in Mr Key's office before Mr Fletcher actually started the job - that meeting was on Monday December 12, 2011 when Mr Fletcher was still working for the Queensland government.
It was the start of the week the GCSB began illegally spying on Dotcom.
"I can tell you what we didn't talk about," says Mr Key. "We didn't talk about Kim Dotcom because it's impossible to talk about someone you don't know."
Dotcom tweeted last night that Mr Key also met police that week on December 14, 2011 to discuss the operation.
"That's completely incorrect – [I've] never met the police in my life about that issue. That was the day the Government was being sworn in," says Mr Key.
He says his personal staff didn't attend either, but wasn't sure if bureaucrats from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet did.
3 News
source: newshub archive
