Secret Thiel info to be released

Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne agrees with an Ombudsman order that information previously kept secret about billionaire citizen Peter Thiel should be made public.

The news that investor and Trump supporter Thiel had been granted citizenship came as a surprise earlier this year, but information about how much time Thiel had spent in the country before his application was granted has remained under wraps.

According to the Department of Internal Affairs website, citizenship requires people to have lived in New Zealand for most of the past five years, or be New Zealand-born, or have New Zealand parents.

Official Information Act requests to the Department of Internal Affairs had sought the number of days Thiel had spent in New Zealand, but the figure was redacted from responses.

It was not until a journalist appealed to the Ombudsman that it was ruled the information should be released, Dunne’s press secretary said.

The citizenship was granted before Dunne’s time in the role and the information was previously withheld to protect Thiel’s privacy.

The information will be released this morning.

The Herald revealed in February Thiel was backed in his application for citizenship by New Zealand richlisters Sam Morgan and Rod Drury.

While his application was granted in June 2011, it was only this year the world learned of his status as a Kiwi.

He was made a citizen in a private ceremony in Santa Monica in August 2011, despite officials conceding he did not live in New Zealand and had not indicated intention to move here.