[asia-apec 970] More on APEC and NZ Spies

[Gatt Watchdog]

Evening Post, Wellington, December 12 1998

SIS activities under wraps
By Guyon Espiner, Political reporter

Anti-free trade activists want to know how many homes the SIS has
broken into but senior politicians responsible for the
intelligence agency are staying mum.

Activist Aziz Choudry, whose home was entered by two SIS officers
in July 1996 while he was attending a conference expressing
concerns about trade liberalisation said it was "very unlikely"
his was the only home targeted.

The Appeal Court ruled this week that an SIS interception warrant
didn't give the agency the right to enter a private home.

Both he and Canterbury University lecturer Dr David Small, who
caught the two SIS officers entering the house, also want to know
whether former Prime Ministers were led to believe the SIS had the
right to enter private homes.

"My hunch is that the SIS have been breaking into people's houses
for years and...they were selective as to whom they told" Dr Small
said.

Former Labour Prime Ministers Mike Moore and David Lange refused
to comment on any aspect of the SIS when contacted by The Post.

Mr Moore said being a member of the Intelligence and Security
Committee of Parliamentarians which oversees the activities of the
SIS meant he could not comment on the issue.  Labour leader Helen
Clark, another committee member, also refused to comment.

A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Jenny Shipley said yesterday that
the committee  had met on Thursday to consider the policy
implications of the Choudry case and were seeking further advice.

New Zealand first leader Winston Peters, who lost his position on
the committee after being sacked as Treasurer and Deputy Prime
Minister, said he had believed the SIS did not have the powers to
enter private homes without permission.

Brooklyn woman, Shirley Smith, whose late husband William Sutch
stood trial and was acquitted for spying in 1975, said that back
at that time the SIS had waited outside their house while police
with a search warrant looked through their home and found nothing.

"They (the SIS) didn't believe that they were entitled to come in
without the permission of the householder," she said.  Mrs Shipley
has hinted the law may need amending to give the SIS such power.

Mr Choudry said he was concerned the government may push for
greater powers for the SIS in the lead-up to next September's APEC
meeting in Auckland.


Letters to the editor
editor at evpost.co.nz