Key issues challenge to Dotcom

John Key has told German internet mogul Kim Dotcom to ‘‘make my day’’ and produce the evidence to show he lied.

Dotcom claims the prime minister lied about having never heard of him till the day before police raided his Coatesville mansion in January last year.

‘‘If he’s got something miraculous, it’s hardly a state secret, if he wants to bring it into the public domain, go for it, make my day,’’ Key said.

But he did not believe Dotcom had any proof. ‘‘He’s a conspiracy theorist, he makes things up, he’s got a proven record of doing so and frankly . . . he’s been making these claims for a very long time and every time he gets asked for his evidence he disappears.’’

Key has repeatedly said the first he heard about Dotcom was the day before police raided the German’s home on US-instigated copyright charges.

Dotcom says Key is not telling the truth but has refused to produce the evidence till an extradition hearing next year.

Key said he could not ‘‘for the life of me work out what the bloke’s going on about’’.

‘‘We’ve gone extensively through every record my office holds, there is no evidence we can point to that we’ve heard of the guy prior to January 19, 2012.’’

Dotcom made the claim after delivering evidence yesterday to a high powered select committee chaired by Key. The committee is considering legislation revamping the powers of foreign spy agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau.

The bill has divided Parliament, with Labour and the Greens refusing to back it without an inquiry into a string of controversies surrounding the GCSB, including illegally spying on Dotcom.

Those controversies sparked an investigation which found the GCSB may have spied on more than 80 New Zealanders illegally.

Key said the legislation was likely to change in response to concerns that the law change went further than giving the GCSB the power to intercept the communications of New Zealand citizens when acting under warrant from other agencies such as the police.

Greater oversight of the GCSB was something the Government and select committee would consider.

‘‘I think there’s room improvement.’’

He also believed there was room to compromise on NZ First’s demand for a three-person panel to act as a watchdog.

‘‘That’s one of the possibilities we are considering.’’

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