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Saturday, July 12, 2014

Kiwi leaders under pressure over sex case


The New Zealand government’s bid to dampen public outrage over its bungling in the attempted rape case involving a former Malaysian military attache has raised further criticism.

The ministerial inquiry which was established earlier this week is being slammed for its failure to include in its terms of reference the role played by the country’s foreign and prime ministers in the debacle.

The inquiry was set up after it was revealed that ambiguous communication relayed by New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) officials resulted in the accused Muhammad Rizalman Ismail, 38, being sent home to Malaysia despite being charged in a New Zealand court on May 10.

However, according to the New Zealand Herald today, opposition parties there are unhappy that Foreign Minister Murray McCully (left) and Prime Minister John Key are not facing any scrutiny by the inquiry.

"The prime minister and the minister of foreign affairs claim to have been out of the loop. So what on earth were they briefed about?

“You're the minister of foreign affairs. Red flags are coming up everywhere in front of your face, surely?” New Zealand First leader and former foreign minister Winston Peters was quoted saying.

However, the daily also quoted a spokesperson for McCully as saying the minister "fully expects that he (McCully), and staff from his office, will be interviewed".

However, the spokesperson reportedly said it was up to former secretary to the Treasury John Whitehead, who leads the inquiry, to conduct it as he sees fit.

Rizalman, who was staff assistant for defence at the Malaysia High Commission in Brooklyn, Wellington, is charged with burglary and assault with intent to rape a Tania Billingsley, 21, on May 9.

However, as a result of informal discussions between the Malaysian governtment and the MFAT, the Malaysian government invoked Rizalman’s diplomatic immunity and flew him and his family back to Malaysia on May 22.

Tania, who this week had her application for waiver of the automatic name suppression granted by the Wellington District Court, expressed frustration at the extradition and complained that New Zealand authorities had not pursued her case hard enough.

While the Malaysian government has promised that Rizalman will be sent back to New Zealand to face his charges, there has beenno indication as to when this will be done.

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