Telecom leaker 'has $1.5m in property'

The man sacked for leaking Government plans to regulate Telecom is reportedly the joint-owner with his wife of a $1.5 million portfolio of properties.

While Michael Ryan reportedly earned a modest salary of between $24,000 and $36,000 as a parliamentary messenger, he owns, with his wife Debbie, five properties, the Sunday Star-Times reported today.

The couple live in a $790,000 home belonging to Debbie Ryan's mother in the Wellington suburb of Khandallah.

Meanwhile a parliamentary committee said last week it was seeking the appearance of the leak recipient Telecom senior executive Peter Garty and has not yet ruled out an inquiry into the affair.

Members of Parliament's commerce select committee on Thursday grilled State Services Commissioner Mark Prebble over his department's leak inquiry, which exposed Mr Ryan, a messenger in the Department of Cabinet and Prime Minister (DPMC), as the mole.

The Securities Commission and police are also looking into the leak.

DPMC chief executive Maarten Wevers also announced a review of the department's security -- as recommended by the SSC -- to be headed by former Inland Revenue commissioner David Henry.

Mr Wevers said the review would be completed by June 30.

Police have said they were still considering the potential "criminality" of those involved in the leak.

Mr Ryan, 53, was fired from his job last week after Telecom revealed to a government commission that he had been the source of a leak on plans to regulate the company.

Mr Ryan was supposed to have shredded a confidential document detailing the plans, but instead gave it to his cycling friend, Mr Garty. Nearly $2 billion was wiped from Telecom's value once the news broke.

The newspaper reported that Mr Ryan worked for the government for nearly 30 years, first for the Department of Lands and Survey, the Ministry of Works, Landcorp, then the Department of Land Information. He left the department in 1998 - a period when the organisation was beginning the process of computerising its records and preparing staff for widespread redundancies.

Mr Ryan's lawyer, Peter Cullen, has said his client is considering taking a personal grievance, because of the timing of his dismissal and because he may have been unfairly criticised while still an employee.

- NZPA