Dirty politics update - 09/02/2014

A new and very damaging leak of emails and it has all gone very much onto the backburner with the media

New leak claim hits Judith Collins

But MP says material showing she discussed Urewera video with blogger is forged

NZ Herald,

2 September, 2014

Former police minister Judith Collins is depicted in alleged social media conversations discussing the leak of evidence in a high profile case to blogger Cameron Slater, according to new information from the hacker Rawshark.

The alleged evidence was a video connected to the controversial Urewera raids that showed those arrested in an unfavourable light after charges against them were dropped, according to comments attributed to Slater.

The emergence of conversations between Ms Collins and Slater has sparked claims from both parties that the hacker has given the Herald manufactured forgeries.

Ms Collins said she had "no record" of "Facebook conversations" after the Herald sent her material supplied by Rawshark. "I believe you have forged documents. You are likely to have been taken in by a criminal. I am now considering lodging a complaint to police regarding what I believe to be forgeries."

When asked why she referred to Facebook when the Herald never said where the transcripts came from, she said it was the only social media outlet she used other than Twitter.

Slater also said the transcripts were fake, tweeting: "Latest smear is false, I have never had FB conversations with @judithcollinsmp."

The Rawshark files have Ms Collins contacting Slater late at night in September 2011 to complain about a TVNZ interview subject's views on the Urewera raids. Charges against 13 of the 17 people charged had just been dropped creating a contentious issue for Ms Collins to manage as police minister.

Slater is quoted telling Ms Collins he had an "interesting chat with [Police Association president] Greg O'Connor" on the subject. "There might be a stray video arrive in my PO Box this week," he is said to have told her.

Ms Collins is quoted replying: "Oh gosh, what a shock. The sort of thing that people who are no longer before the courts would want seen."

Slater is said to have responded: "Terrible, not the kind of thing they would want seen since they are portraying themselves as nice people."

Mr O'Connor said yesterday he recalled having the conversation with Slater at the time. However, he said he did not offer to supply the material, did not have it to supply and would not have done so. "That's all chain of evidence stuff. All I know is the conversation I had - anything like that was never going to happen. It would be totally inappropriate for it to be leaked."

A spokesman for Police National Headquarters said: "The video evidence in the Operation Eight case remained under the control of NZ Police."

Minister of Police Anne Tolley would not comment on the claims attributed to Slater.

The purported Collins-Slater conversations alleged to have been faked were sent to the Herald with many other Facebook conversations between the blogger and friends or contacts spanning from 2008 to January this year. Some of those people confirmed to the Herald the content of the conversations was accurate and genuine and that the discussions took place on Facebook.

Rawshark also provided emails between Ms Collins and Slater on a range of other topics that include embedded source code linking them directly to the blogger.

Nicky Hager, who included excerpts of the conversations in Dirty Politics, said: "I totally trust my source would not have made up anything."

Meanwhile Guyon Espiner reverts to attack politics. He sounds like a shonky lawyer cross-examining in his interview with Winston Peters who has some very apropos things to say about a Commission of Inquiry

Peters explains NZ First position on inquiry

SIS inquiry head says investigation will be robust