Celebrity tax file snooping an NZ problem

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, July 31 (UPI) -- An old controversy over New Zealand tax record privacy is again boiling, with new allegations of widespread prying into prominent people's tax files.

Inland Revenue Department Commissioner David Butler says the IRD has previously faced the issue of so-called celebrity surfing and people have lost their jobs because of such actions.

Butler told the Dominion Post: "We have dismissed staff last year and the year before for accessing high-profile taxpayer's accounts. Some people do it because their job requires them to do it, but where people do it in an inappropriate way we have dismissed staff for those things."

In July 2001 the IRD introduced new technology to better track what files staff members access. Butler said a recent audit uncovered 20 cases nationwide of inappropriate accessing of files, both of celebrities and also of family members.

Of the 20 cases raised by the audit, Butler said investigations into 11 resulted in four dismissals.