NZ spy agency in illegal Kim Dotcom wiretap 'deletes key evidence' ahead of hearing
Megaupload founder and web tycoon Kim Dotcom has accused the New Zealand spy agency of getting rid of the information necessary for his $6.9 million damages hearing.
"The GCSB spy agency seems to have deleted evidence relevant to my case against the GCSB for illegally spying on NZ residents,'' Dotcom tweeted.
BREAKING NEWS: The GCSB spy agency seems to have deleted evidence relevant to my case against the GCSB for illegally spying on NZ residents.
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) February 3, 2014
Dotcom claimed that lawyers who act on behalf of the agency told him that some of the communications “automatically aged off” and suggested using “those communications which are still recoverable.”
The tycoon also posted a video of Prime Minister John Key, who is in charge of the agency, saying, "This is a spy agency. We don't delete things. We archive them.”
Dotcom’s statement provoked calls to look into the agency’s doings.
Labor Party associate Security and Intelligence spokesman Grant Robertson told 3news, a local media outlet, that if the claims are true, it has "serious implications" for Dotcom's case.
"More than that, it calls into question claims John Key made in Parliament in 2012 that the GCSB does not delete files," Robertson stressed.
The alleged move by GCSB was “basic contempt of court,” Green Party co-leader Russel Norman told, as quoted by the New Zealand Herald.
However, Key told 3news that Dotcom’s claims are “completely and utterly wrong.”
"Legal documents created by the GCSB are held in their system forever. Raw intelligence by law has to age off the system if it's no longer relevant," Key added.
Megaupload, founded by Kim Dotcom, was taken down by the US authorities in 2012. The site got about 50 million users a day when it was shut down.
Following the closure, the US government sought Dotcom’s extradition, forcing the New Zealand authorities to detain the tycoon.
The investigation is still on, but Dotcom launched a $6.9-million lawsuit against the New Zealand spy agency over the raid on his home in 2012 and the spying that happened in the lead-up to the raid.
