The Department of Internal Affairs has been unable to establish how a report into an incident involving former government minister Meka Whaitiri and a staff member was leaked to the Herald.
The department commissioned Deloitte to conduct an independent forensic investigation after the Herald published information in September from the draft report into the incident by Wellington lawyer David Patten ahead of its official release.
In a statement today, the department said Deloitte found no evidence that any DIA staff member leaked the report and could not identify any specific individual responsible for the unauthorised disclosure.
But it did highlight poor practices in the department's handling of the Patten report, including inadequate information security and access controls of the electronic copy of the report, and a deficient redaction process.
"The department has robust information security and management policies in place, but in this instance we fell short of our own standards. We did not maintain adequate security controls over the report," DIA chief executive Paul James said.
