New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, facing a barrage of allegations over mass snooping, has reiterated that no domestic surveillance prevails in the country. At the same time he expressed his inability to rule out whether the United States is snooping on New Zealanders.

Mr. Key's proclamations of innocence became more pronounced after Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Cheryl Gwyn, stepped into back Mr Key, saying she never came across any instances of indiscriminate interception of New Zealanders' in her work. The clean chit from country's spy watchdog emboldened the PM to rubbish the allegations of snooping, reported TVNZ.Co.Nz

The PM clutched on to the support of the spy watch dog and described the agency as highly independent and the best authority to disregard all talk of state snooping on New Zealanders.

But Glenn Greenwald, the US journalist, who raised the issue of mass surveillance on Kiwis, dismissed Ms Gwyn's defence and doubted whether she was really in the know of things or kept in the dark. Greenwald told "One News" that it is the tradition of Five Eyes intelligence agencies to hide actions from people of oversight responsibilities.

Ex Minister Confirms Spying

Meanwhile, former Foreign Minister Winston Peters has slammed Mr. Key and said he can confirm New Zealand having spied on other countries. Peters said the Prime Minister is only blowing in the wind thinking that the Greenwald allegations will subside.

Labour leader David Cunliffe also said he was not convinced despite Cheryl Gwyn's defence and many grey areas in the spying tangle need to be uncovered.

Fair Probe

Unlike the relatively softer criticism on Key by other leaders, the Green Party Co-leader Russel Norman came out with caustic criticism and asked Mr. Key to shed his ambivalence and come clean. He said it is implausible for the Prime Minister to claim that New Zealand never participated in what the other Five-Eyes partners had been doing. Norman said the evidence now coming out proves that claim was untenable.

The Green leader said Snowden's allegations have struck at the heart of John Key's honesty and integrity. To know the truth, Norman called for a credible inquiry into the running of New Zealand's intelligence agencies and unravel what John Key has got the country into.