Police look at file after Rainbow Warrior revelations

Police will look over the file of the 1985 Rainbow Warrior bombing after allegations the brother of a French presidential hopeful was involved, but won't say whether the issue will be taken further.

Antoine Royal, brother of presidential hopeful Segolene Royal, told the French newspaper Le Parisien that a third brother, Gerard, planted the bombs that sank the Greenpeace ship in Auckland, killing crew member Fernando Pereira.

"At the time, (Gerard) was a lieutenant and agent of the DGSE (intelligence agency) in Asia. He was asked in 1985 to go to New Zealand, to Auckland harbour, to sabotage the Rainbow Warrior," Antoine said.

"Later he told me that it was he who planted the bomb on the Greenpeace ship. He took a small craft with a second person to approach the boat."

Two French agents -- Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur -- were quickly arrested after the incident but New Zealand police never found two others they suspected were also involved.

The pair were briefly jailed here before being transferred to an island in French Polynesia.

A police spokeswoman told NZPA it was too early to say what action, if any, would be taken in response to the new revelations.

The file on the case would be looked at tomorrow by police national crime manager Win van der Veldt.

Greenpeace New Zealand said the news was like "rubbing more salt into the wound", and the organisation didn't hold out much hope for justice.

"It seems there are two types of terrorists these days -- with the state terrorists being the ones that get away with it," Greenpeace executive director Bunny McDiarmid said.

The organisation denied a newspaper report that it had called for the New Zealand Government to extradite Gerard and charge him with murder.

"We have tried for extradition before and it was then -- and would be now -- a fruitless exercise," Mr McDiarmid said.

He said the best thing the Government could do was to keep the country's nuclear-free legislation strong and push for international disarmament.

- NZPA