Brethren spy comes in from the cold

Greg Mason

Prime Minister Helen Clark is still being investigated by a former high-ranking police officer who says he is being paid by the Exclusive Brethren.

The Herald on Sunday has been told that former detective sergeant Lew Proctor and others he has employed have followed Clark and investigated her husband Peter Davis. Proctor said he had employed private investigator Wayne Idour, who 10 days ago admitted being hired by the Exclusive Brethren to investigate other high-ranking MPs.

Last night the Herald on Sunday conveyed details of our inquiries to Clark, including the claim from Proctor that shock revelations would be made this week.

A spokesman said: "This is close to blackmail. It's a new low in New Zealand politics for people or groups to hire private investigators to follow their political opponents."

He said the prime minister would go to the police if there was any hint of criminal activity in the actions of the investigators.

Proctor said he and others hired by him had evaded the Diplomatic Protection Squad to follow a high-profile figure for four weeks. He would not name Clark as the object of his investigation, but when it was pointed out that she was the only person with full-time police protection, and asked if the prime minister was the target, he said: "Well, that might be the case."

He described the protection officers as "lazy" and said: "Certain members of certain police squads can't do their jobs. I'm amazed how members of the DPS wouldn't have been able to tell they had perhaps been followed."

The claim by Proctor that he was hired by the Exclusive Brethren brought a rare outburst from the leader of the church's New Zealand branch, Greg Mason. He said the church was not behind the involvement of private investigators and distanced the body from the actions of individual members.

"I'll break my silence. I've never heard of Lew Proctor. I never had anything to do with hiring any private detectives or any PIs or whatever you call them. None of this, whatever that man says, is false in that he would not have been hired by the Exclusive Brethren. The Exclusive Brethren do not engage in this sort of activity."

He also said constant references to the Exclusive Brethren being involved in last year's election were not true.

"Myself and some of my colleagues as individuals have, but let me make it quite clear, the activities the Exclusive Brethren has been blamed for in the media over the last couple of weeks have had nothing to do with the Exclusive Brethren church."

Proctor said he had hired Idour to carry out inquiries outside Auckland. The funder was revealed as Phil Win, an Auckland businessman who is also a member of the Exclusive Brethren.

Proctor said he had hired Idour because "most of the other people in Auckland would have done work for the Labour Party ... so we couldn't have used them even if we wanted to".

"[Idour] was the only one who has been retained as a fully secondary contractual arrangement. We've had people doing various things for us, to be fair, mostly intelligence gathering because that's what this exercise has been about. We have done nothing unlawful. If it amounted to us being required by any client to do anything which was unlawful or unethical, we wouldn't have done it. It's amazing what you can find out when you have a very good base of contacts."

Proctor said the investigation was still under way, and the final pieces of information were arriving on Wednesday.

"We were retained by the Brethren to do certain things which we achieved. The majority of those things continue, and the results will be well known by this time next week."

Proctor said information was being sourced from beyond New Zealand, including from a contact who had been in the United States.

He said next week the public would see "the reason why members of a certain party are just little wee bit upset ... about these private investigators who have been let loose on them".

Last week Clark threatened an inquiry into private investigators.

"[The information] won't be worth anything to the people who have been lying the most," said Proctor.

Asked if he meant Labour, he said: "It's not the National Party, we're not talking about the Maori Party or anyone else."

Proctor said he and others working for him had followed their target over four weeks. He said his targets were people who "have a lot to hide", and the information would be the biggest story in 20 years.

"I'll be really blatantly honest. If two, well three, but particularly two pieces of information come through, we would be better off just to post it to someone, jump on a flight and bugger off. Because that's how hot things will be. I'm not being smart, I'm not being flippant.

"It will come about. If it's as good as we have been led to believe, then hallelujah." He also defended the Exclusive Brethren. "We don't work for criminals. We work for people who we see as bonafide clients, and those people are.

"They might have a very strange way of doing different things, which is different to the way you and I think, but so be it. It's a free world."

Proctor said he had been followed this week and believed it might be the Security Intelligence Service.

"I thought that is amazing. I know the heads - we have photographs of them."

And he claimed a contract had also been offered to spy on National Party leader Don Brash - by a National Party member.

"The job was certainly out there among those people who spend more time than they should in coffee bars."

The story unfolds

* Aug 6: Auditor-General Kevin Brady's leaked draft report on electioneering spending says political parties unlawfully spent taxpayer money, including Labour's $446,000 pledge card.

* Sept 6: Trevor Mallard makes loaded barbs about "affairs".

* Sept 12: Brian Connell asks Don Brash if he is having an affair. Labour strategist Pete Hodgson says Labour won't pay back any money. Sept 13: Brash takes leave because of marriage difficulties.

* Sept 17: Helen Clark slams rumours her husband is gay.

* Sept 20: The Green Party promises to pay back election spending found unlawful. Helen Clark calls Don Brash "cancerous and corrosive".

* Sept 22: PI Wayne Idour admits Exclusive Brethren members paid him to spy on Clark and other Labour MPs. Sept 24: New Zealand First says it will pay back any election spending found unlawful.

* Sept 26: Brash cuts ties with Exclusive Brethren.

* Sept 29: Tariana Turia says a wealthy foreigner tried to bribe the Maori Party to support Labour after last year's election.

* Sept 30: Revelations that Exclusive Brethren members lobbied up to three more political parties.