The prime minister of New Zealand (he's a good friend of Leon Panetta, ya know) has been forced to apologise to Kim Dotcom for setting the NZ security agencies and the FBI on him, raiding his mansion (with SWAT teams no less), sticking him in jail, confiscating his property and freezing millions of dollars of his assets.
But the game, as Kim Dotcom's tweet mercilessly shows, is nowhere near over.Prime Minister John Key says he apologises to Kim Dotcom for what he has described as "basic errors" by the Government Communications and Security Bureau, but that has not stopped opposition parties from calling for a more detailed independent inquiry.In a media conference after the release of the report into unlawful monitoring of Mr Dotcom and an acquaintance, Mr Key said he was "appalled" at the agency, saying it had "failed at the most basic of hurdles."
"Of course I apologise to Mr Dotcom, and I apologise to New Zealanders."
He said New Zealanders were entitled to be protected by the law "and we failed to provide that protection to them."
He said he was ultimately accountable for the GCSB and had made his displeasure clear to the current director of the GCSB Ian Fletcher, but it was up to him what he did.
He said he did not believe any of the information collected had been passed onto the FBI, although information about the location of Mr Dotcom and his acquaintances was sent to police.
He doubted it would be admissible in a Court.
Mr Dotcom has tweeted his response to the apology extended by Mr Key:
"I accept your apology. Show your sincerity by supporting a full, transparent & independent inquiry into the entire Mega[upload] case." [that Hollywood is whining about].
And, as one provincial newspaper put it:
The chances of NZ co-operating in the US war on terror, drugs, bottle-feeding, and whatever is its latest fad are diminishing fast.The lickspittle anxiety of New Zealand Government agencies to impress Kim Dotcom's would-be prosecutors in the United States has become more than a general national embarrassment