Helen Clark concerned over missing Zaoui tape

12.00pm - By KEVIN NORQUAY


ABUJA - Prime Minister Helen Clark will be looking for answers as to how an hour of a secretly videotaped interview of Algerian asylum seeker Ahmed Zaoui went missing.

Mr Zaoui was taped by the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) and the police during a seven-hour interview when he arrived in New Zealand more than a year ago.

The SIS has the classified tape, but the Inspector-General of Security and Intelligence, Laurie Greig, was apparently not told it existed. The New Zealand Herald understood he had not subsequently seen the tape or heard the missing hour.

Miss Clark told reporters in Abuja, Nigeria, today she had not been briefed on what had happened, so only knew what had been reported.

"I cannot understand how videotaped evidence gets lost or mislaid," she said.

"Perhaps at some point when I have better access to secure communication, someone will be providing an answer.

"My concern is the authorities are seen to act competently.

"If you videotape evidence presumably you mean to keep it for a record. For them not to keep it seems a little odd."

Justice Greig is supposed to have access to all classified information in his review of the Algerian's security risk certificate, which was the subject of High Court action last week.

After Justice Greig was made aware of the tape the SIS provided him with written reports instead. These were based on handwritten notes taken at the time, which the service has destroyed. There is also concern about the quality of the tape and that the service apparently did not have the technology to disguise officers' faces on the tape or transfer the recording to a VHS format.

Confusion also surrounds who was responsible for the interview -- the police or the SIS.

- NZPA