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David Small and Aziz Choudry
PO Box 1905
Christchurch

MEDIA RELEASE - 13 June 2000

Government Spy Agency Watchdog "complete waste of time and taxpayers' money" - Complainants call for abolition or radical overhaul

On the third anniversary of the first report into complaints against the
Security Intelligence Service (SIS) investigated by the Inspector-General of
Intelligence and Security, the people who lodged the complaints have called
for the office to be abolished or radically overhauled.

Aziz Choudry and David Small say that the office of Inspector-General as it
is currently constituted provides no real oversight or accountability and is
a complete waste of the public's time and the taxpayers' money.

"If they want a rubber stamp, there are much cheaper ways of getting them,"
they said. To demonstrate their point they have sent the Prime Minister and
Leader of the Opposition a copy of page 955 of the Christchurch Yellow
Pages - the rubber stamp section.

In June 1997, without confirming SIS involvement in the bungled break-in at
Mr Choudry's home, the Inspector-General, retired High Court judge Laurie
Greig, found it to be "lawful, reasonable and justified". He added that it
was "not unreasonable" for the Police to search Dr Small's home the
following week. Both actions were subsequently found by the courts to be
illegal after Mr Choudry and Dr Small took private law suits against the SIS
and the Police.

Another aspect of their complaint - that SIS agents may have planted the
hoax "APEC bomb" outside the Christchurch City Council offices - was also
not properly investigated by the Inspector-General, who simply took the word
of the Director of the SIS on the matter.

"The office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security has proved
woefully inadequate", said Mr Choudry and Dr Small.

"Frankly many in the media have played a far more effective, independent and
responsible role in the scrutiny and oversight of New Zealand intelligence a
gencies than any statutory body."

"At the very least there must be reliable, politically independent and
effective mechanisms of oversight and accountability. An ineffective
watchdog is arguably worse than no watchdog at all."

Mr Choudry and Dr Small claim that they were encouraged by Helen Clark (then
Leader of the Opposition) to lay complaints with the Inspector-General and
given an informal assurance at the time that, if the complaints process
proved wanting, Labour would revisit the adequacy of the oversight
mechanisms.

"The Inspector-General got it completely wrong", they say, "and now it is
time to do something about it."

CAFCA
Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa
PO Box 2258, Christchurch
email: cafca@chch.planet.org.nz


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