Police widen media investigation

Police will now include The Dominion Post and The Press in its investigation into the leaking of suppressed documents on police raids to TV3.

Deputy Commissioner Operations Rob Pope said this morning the scope of the investigation, announced on Monday, will be expanded to include The Dominion Post material, and any other publication which could be considered to breach court suppression orders or potentially compromise criminal proceedings.

Solicitor-General David Collins QC told reporters today whether The Dominion Post and The Press were prosecuted was for the police to decide.

He refused to comment whether publication of the material was in contempt of court.

TV3 said it had decided against discussing the leaked documents on Campbell Live after being warned doing so would open them up to contempt charges.

Dr Collins said he would put out a written statement this morning, pointing out it was a criminal offence to possess interceptions and communications belonging to the police.

Peter Williams QC, the lawyer representing Ruatoki residents, called for a "high level" investigation into how the documents were leaked to the media and their publication.

"I think there are two issues here - one, the right of the public to know matters of importance, but the other issue is the rule of law, and the rule of law is quite clear - that where evidence is inadmissible and where defendants have not had their cases completed, it is contempt of court to publish that material. So you've got two principles here - they may be on a collision course but they are both important. It is important of course that the public are advised as to what is going on, but on the other hand if we abandon the rule of law then we have anarchy, so where are we?"

"The rule of law is of paramount importance in a democracy and I would expect now the Attorney General, or the Solicitor General, to commence a high level investigation, because this goes to the whole basic fundamentals of our legal system."

He called the publication of the material "cowardly".

"No, to me it's cowardly, but on the other hand there will be a certain degree of public support. So from the point of view of the newspaper I suppose they think that they will get public support and maybe their lawyers will be able to somehow, in a devious way, to justify the publication. But I would expect if we have a responsible government who are interested in sustaining the rule of law, that there would now be some type of judicial investigation."

Meanwhile, New Zealand First MP Ron Mark said that it was important the information was out in the public domain.

"Well it's out of the bag and I guess we could argue that the public, given the high level of criticism, given the amount of hysteria that's been raised in the public from certain people's quarters, and with self-interest in mind clearly and obviously, it is important this information be out there for the public so that the public may judge."

"But it's really interesting listening to those comments - the rule of law is paramount, important in a democracy - we agree."

"The need for high level investigation? Well, absolutely. Cowardly? Some would argue that the issue, that the events described in the front page of the DomPost today are cowardly."

With NZPA