Police blamed for lost Zaoui tape

By CATHERINE MASTERS

Helen Clark has shifted blame for the missing hour of the Ahmed Zaoui videotape from the SIS to the police.

Speaking after a briefing on the case, the Prime Minister dismissed any suggestion of a cover up.

"The videotape was not an SIS tape, it was a police tape," she told the Weekend Herald last night through a spokesman.

"There was no deletion of any part of that videotape. There was a malfunction that caused part of it not to be recorded and in any case there always was a full audiotape recording of the interview."

The Weekend Herald revealed last week that an hour of a secretly taped seven-hour interview with the Algerian refugee was missing.

It was not clear who was responsible for the interview as both police and SIS officers took part.

After Helen Clark demanded answers about the missing portion of the interview a separate audio recording was discovered which filled in the missing hour.

In another development, pressure on 74-year-old Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Laurie Greig has intensified after Mr Zaoui's lawyers asked him to step down over allegations of bias.

Justice Greig's task has been to review the security risk certificate issued against Mr Zaoui in March.

Mr Zaoui's lawyers want him to drop the job voluntarily because of comments he made to the Listener magazine, including one saying if it was up to him Mr Zaoui would be "outski" on the next plane.

The lawyers are still waiting for a decision on a judicial review already held in the High Court over an interim decision by Justice Greig not to release a reasonable summary of the secret allegations against Mr Zaoui, and a decision not to take his human rights into account.

The lawyers would not release a copy of the letter sent to Justice Greig but said it explained why they wanted him to move aside and set out the law relating to bias and apparent bias.

They would not say what they might do next if he refuses to stand down but Andrew Ladley, director of Victoria University's Institute of Policy Studies, said the next legal move would be to seek a judicial review of Justice Greig's decision to stay on.

A judge would have to decide whether Justice Greig's action constituted a risk to the integrity of the process, said Dr Ladley.

"And that's not only being biased but being seen to be biased to a point where you can't be sure where the person can make the decision."

Helen Clark has a copy of the letter but would not comment yesterday. Earlier this month, however, she said there were no grounds to remove Justice Greig from his role.

A chapter of accidents

December, 2002

Ahmed Zaoui arrives at Auckland Airport. A Customs officer questions him in English without an interpreter and asks if he is a member of the militant GIA. Zaoui replies F-I-S [Islamic Front for Salvation, his political party]. Because of his accent the officer thinks he is saying yes. In what the Refugee Status Appeals Authority calls a "regrettable ongoing effect" the admission of guilt is sent to 12 foreign Interpol offices - Pretoria, Algeria, Brussels, Berne, Kuala Lumpur, Hanoi, Seoul, France, Canberra, London, Ottawa and Washington.

June

The Herald breaks the "lie in unison" scandal. Immigration Service spokesman Ian Smith had denied knowledge of Zaoui to the Herald, but an internal memo circulated by Smith said: "I was let down badly, everyone had agreed to lie in unison but all the others caved in and I was the only one left singing the original song."

August

The SIS is attacked by the refugees authority for using unsourced material from the internet and news reports. It finds Zaoui is a genuine refugee and a man of peace. The SIS is accused of sexing up flimsy evidence - but it says it relied on other unclassified material, which it cannot reveal, to issue the security risk certificate which is keeping Zaoui in prison.

September

The Herald reveals the police sent Zaoui to solitary confinement at Paremoremo after basing their original threat assessment of him on the cult website of failed American presidential candidate and convicted fraudster Lyndon LaRouche, who believes the Queen is a drug trafficker and says the IMF created and spread Aids.

November

Calls for the man carrying out the review of the security risk certificate, Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Laurie Greig, to be sacked after the retired judge said in the Listener if he had to make the final decision on whether Zaoui stayed or went, it would be "outski" on the next plane.

December

The Herald reveals the SIS loses an hour of sound from a classified videotape of a seven-hour interview with Zaoui. Then it suddenly finds another recording which fills in the missing hour.