New Zealand intelligence illegally spied on Kim Dotcom
New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key announced on September 24 that he has requested an inquiry into illegal spying on Kim Dotcom and other employees of Megaupload by New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau, the country's counterpart to the US National Security Agency. The revelation is just the latest in a series of exposed missteps by New Zealand authorities in their eagerness to assist the US government in apprehending Dotcom and his colleagues, and throws even more uncertainty on the ongoing efforts by the New Zealand and US governments to extradite Dotcom to the US for prosecution.
According to a government statement, Key was informed by GCSB Director Ian Fletcher on September 17 that the GCSB had "acted unlawfully" while assisting New Zealand's police in locating Kim Dotcom and the other three suspects for arrest. "The Bureau had acquired communications in some instances without statutory authority," the Prime Minister's office said in its statement.
