David
SHEARER
Labour Leader

12 October 2012 MEDIA STATEMENT

PM Must Confirm Or Deny Dotcom Comment

Labour is calling on the Prime Minister to search his memory and confirm whether he did in fact make reference to Kim Dotcom during a visit to the agency on February 29th.

“Labour has been told by sources that a recording of the Prime Minister was made when he was speaking to a large number of staff in the cafeteria and that he may have made reference to Kim Dotcom. John Key has not ruled that out. He says he can’t recall.

“What is at issue here is how upfront John Key has been with New Zealanders. Just last week, he was claiming he did not know about the GCSB involvement in the Dotcom case until September 17. He was found out to be wrong only when the agency revealed he had in fact been briefed on February 29.

“We understand that early this week a staff member from the Director’s office questioned workers in a unit within GCSB about whether still pictures or audio-visual material existed. We also understand that hard drives were later taken and searched.

“The GCSB should confirm when it began its ‘exhaustive’ search for an audio-visual recording and why.

“Did they tell the Prime Minister that they thought a video existed and that they were searching for it? This is relevant because John Key privately told media last night that no ‘official’ video existed before the GCSB had even put out its statement about its search.

“If the audio-visual material did once exist, has it since been destroyed?

“If it is the GCSB’s policy not to film such events, what was their ‘exhaustive’ search for?

“Why is GCSB now searching for a leak about this issue if the information is not correct?

“Only John Key can clear this up. He must answer definitively whether he spoke to staff about Dotcom. This goes to the heart of his credibility.

“He is in charge of GCSB and has sole democratic oversight. He has the power to ask his agency and the staff who were present at his discussion with them the questions that need to be answered to restore public confidence in our intelligence services.

“There are now so many unanswered questions that a full, independent inquiry is unavoidable. The Prime Minister must act,” said David Shearer.

ENDS

© Scoop Media