Dear Ministry of Justice,

This is a request for information, made under ss 4 and 5 of the Official Information Act 1982 (“the Act”). I therefore would like the following information;

1. All documents, manuals or reports regarding private prosecutions in New Zealand; and
2. Anything that helps citizens understand the process of how to proceed with a private prosecutions; and

Please CONFIRM receipt of this email to prevent unnecessary follow-up emails and extensions being requested.
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As required by s12(1) of the Act, I am a New Zealand citizen. I will provide confirmation of this, if required. However, since all of our correspondence will be published on the FYI.org.nz site, I will only do so over the phone or email, with which you provide. This would only be for the purpose of citizenship confirmation, and nothing further related to this request.

As required by s12(3) of the Act, I shall provide reason(s) why this request should be treated as URGENT. The questions above raise important issues of accountability of the Government, its departments and agents. Any and all information provided as a result of this request could and may be published either by the writer online to a wide audience or passed onto media outlets for publication so that the public can be kept informed on important issues of transparency.

As required by s13(c) of the Act, if this request “has not been made … to the appropriate department or Minister of the Crown or organisation or local authority”, it is your duty to give reasonable assistance to me to direct my request to the appropriate department or Minister of the Crown or organisation or local authority.

Further to the above statutory requirement, under s14 of the Act, if the information I seek is either not held or you believe it is more closely connected with another department or Minister of the Crown or organisation, or of a local authority you shall promptly, and in any case not later than 10 working days after the day on which the request is received, transfer the request to the other department or Minister of the Crown or organisation, or to that local authority, AND inform me accordingly.

As required under s15A of the Act, if you believe that a time extension is warranted for this request, you must under ss15A(2),(3) and (4) give notice to me of this extension within 20 working days after the day on which my request was received. In that notice, you should state; the period of the extension, give reasons for the extension and remind me of my right to complain to the Ombudsman under s28(3). Finally, the extension must be for a reasonable time, having regards to the circumstances.

As required by s18B of the Act, you must consider consulting me before refusing my request under the provisions of ss18(e) and (f) which relate to a document not being able to be found or existing or where substantial collation and research would be required for my current request.

As required by s19(a)(i), you must provide reasons if you refuse any parts of this request.

I will, if required, complain to the Ombudsman, as is my right under s28(3) of the Act, if any of the above statutory requirements on you are not complied with. Further to this, if your reply is not “as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any case not later than 20 working days after the day on which the request is received” as required under s15(1) of the Act, I will also complain to the Ombudsman.

This request is made through the site FYI.org.nz. All correspondence will be automatically forwarded to me through the site and published online immediately. I require, where appropriate, all electronic copies of all documents in your response. For more information on how the site works, please visit www.fyi.org.nz/help/about.

Yours faithfully,

Liam Stoneley

Dear Ministry of Justice,

I have not received confirmation of receipt of this request.

I look forward to your answers within the next 6 working days.

Yours faithfully,

Liam Stoneley

Dear Paltridge, Antony,

Thank you for your reply.

I note you have refused my second question, as it does not exist. I contend that this is incorrect. Below is a link to a page on your website, which states at the very bottom in italics:

"*The process for issuing and serving summons in proceedings commenced by a private prosecutor is different and is not discussed in this page – this is covered in CPAI Factsheet 12." - http://www.justice.govt.nz/services/serv...

This indicates to me that you have OR have had a "Factsheet 12" that contains information on how to proceeds with private prosecutions. It is immaterial whether or not the document has been retired or no longer on the website. The fact is that one must exist and you should have provided it to me in my original request.

I can only make one of two conclusions; you have been negligent in collating the information requested (even though you had an extension of a further 20 working days, and still didn't provide everything). OR you have deliberately mislead me and the public by concealing this document. Either alternative is unacceptable, and I will be making my concerns known to the Ombudsman in due course.

However, I will allow until the weeks' end (25th Sept: 5pm) for you to respond with the document and an explanation, before I make my complaint.

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Liam Stoneley

Dear Paltridge, Antony,

Thank you for your reply, with further information and an apology.

Although this request should have been dealt with within the statutory time frame, I acknowledge that the volume of information provided would far exceed the time usually allocated to a single OIA request.

Thank you for not attempting to hinder the release of information by imposing a charge for any potential extra time used.

Yours sincerely,

Liam Stoneley