Long-time David Bain advocate Joe Karam has compared Justice Minister Judith Collins to the KGB and Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe by "secretly" commissioning a peer review into Mr Bain's commission recommendation.
Mr Bain yesterday lodged a judicial review into Ms Collins' actions at the High Court at Auckland.
The claim includes allegations Ms Collins breached Mr Bain's rights to natural justice and his rights under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, acted in bad faith, abused her power, and acted in a biased, unreasonable and predetermined manner.
Today, Mr Karam said Mr Bain's legal team heard in November through the "legal grapevine" that a review had been commissioned into a report by former Canadian Supreme Court judge Ian Binnie.
"We know very well that Cabinet have the ultimate discretion, but from the minute that that report arrived there has been a secret and secretive process adopted by the minister - in the face of letters, even from us, she has virtually told us to mind our own business," he told Radio New Zealand.