PM refuses to say if Peters exposed Ali

The Prime Minister has refused to confirm claims that Winston Peters may have triggered the deportation of Rayed Mohammed Abdullah Ali after a tip-off.

If true, the claims would raise questions about Government assurances that security systems had worked well.

Newstalk ZB political editor Barry Soper said last night Mr Peters had been contacted by a man who said he had information on Ali and "demanded money to tell all". But Mr Peters' phone had recorded the man's number and the MP told him he would be in "serious trouble" if he did not simply disclose the information.

The man "dropped the money and spilled the beans" to Mr Peters, Soper claimed.

Beehive sources have denied the claims but were not prepared to go on the record.

Ali was deported last week for his links to the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. He arrived in February on a student visa, apparently escaping security alerts after adding "Ali" to his name.

Responses from Mr Peters last night were difficult to interpret, leaving it unclear whether he was ruling out discussing Soper's story or was suggesting he had never spoken to anyone about Ali. "I haven't said a word to anyone at all about this issue."

Asked if a member of the public had contacted him about Ali, he said: "I have not or will not say any words about this issue at all whilst I'm a member of the security and intelligence select committee."

Helen Clark also refused to confirm or deny the claim, with a spokesman saying "the man was located but we have not discussed how that occurred due to security".

The Prime Minister has stressed her satisfaction with national security in the Ali case. "The system was on to it and he was able to be successfully deported."

Immigration Minister David Cunliffe has said the same thing: Ali had been monitored, picked up and "appropriately and expeditiously removed".

The head of counter-terrorism, Assistant Commissioner Jon White, and Police Minister Annette King, meanwhile, came under attack yesterday after Mr White appeared to provide erroneous answers during an interview on Radio New Zealand.

National's Foreign Affairs spokesman, Murray McCully, has used the Ali issue to renew questions on why New Zealand has only adopted United Nations designations of individuals and organisations as terrorist entities and not developed an additional list.

A select committee report released in December found Australia had made 88 additional designations and Canada about 59.

But Mr White said the entities listed in those countries were all also listed here and disputed Mr McCully's figures.

In Parliament, contrary to Mr White's claim, Mrs King accepted that not all entities on the Australian and Canadian lists were also on the New Zealand one, but said the difference was much smaller than National claimed. Australia had separately listed 19 entities and only four were not on the New Zealand list.

"And let's take Canada, where he said there were 50. There are 39 entities listed. Fifteen of them come off the UN list, leaving 24, not 50."

However, it appears Mrs King was referring to separate lists in both countries. In Australia's case one list is drawn up by the Attorney-General, while the Foreign Affairs Ministry has responsibility for national additions to the UN list - the "consolidated list". These total the 88 the select committee and Mr McCully referred to.

The Canadian situation is similar.

Mr White continued to maintain last night that he had no idea what Mr McCully was talking about.

Mr McCully said it was "deeply worrying" that Mr White failed to understand how other countries' security systems operated.