Key to Dotcom: put up or shut up

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

Mr 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,’’ Mr Key said ‘‘I’ve got nothing to hide.’’ But he did not believe Mr 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.’’

Mr Key has repeatedly said the first he heard about Mr Dotcom was the day before police raided the ‘‘He’s a conspiracy theorist, he makes things up, he’s got a proven record of doing so.’’ German’s home on US-instigated copyright charges.

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

Mr 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 select committee chaired by Mr 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 Mr Dotcom.

An investigation found the GCSB may have spied on more than 80 New Zealanders illegally.

The Government says the legislation only clarifies the status quo after the GCSB believed it had the power to intercept the communications of New Zealand citizens and residents when acting under warrant from other agencies like the police.

But most submitters have criticised the legislation as going far wider than that.

Mr Key appeared to offer a concession yesterday, saying the legislation was likely to change in response to some of those concerns.

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

‘‘The reality is we have an inspector-general and we have a commissioner of security warrants. That’s standard with like-minded partners. But what is true is that their intelligence and security committees have a greater and more direct oversight. So there are things we can learn from that.’’