http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/8776974/Locke-to-fight-Kiwi-spooks
Locke to fight Kiwi spooks
KATE CHAPMAN
Former Green MP Keith Locke has complained to Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff after government spies refused to say whether he was illegally spied on.
A report by Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Kitteridge found more than 80 New Zealanders could have been illegally spied on by the Government Communication and Security Bureau (GCSB), which was not allowed to spy on citizens.
Locke, who has previously released the file held on him by the domestic spy agency the Security Intelligence Service (SIS), believes he was also one of those spied on by the GCSB.
He requested a copy of his file from the GCSB.
“The reply from GCSB Director Ian Fletcher, is farcical and at variance with the known facts,” Locke said.
The GCSB said it could “neither confirm nor deny the existence or non-existence” of information held on Locke.
“It is a silly reply because the Government has already, in effect, publicly acknowledged that the information exists,” Locke said.
He wrote to the Privacy Commissioner asking her to get the GCSB to say whether he was spied on or not.
He believes it is likely, given the SIS monitoring of his trip to Sri Lanka in 2003.
Locke was a Green Party MP from 1999 to 2011.
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