Police apologise to Nicky Hager over Dirty Politics raid as part of settlement

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Nicky Hager, author of Dirty Politics

Police have apologised to Dirty Politics author Nicky Hager over a raid on his Wellington house following the controversial book's release.

The 2014 book featured material derived from a tranche of hacked emails leaked to Hager by an anonymous source.

Police raided Hager's home as part of an investigation into the source, but have now acknowledged they breached Hager's rights and apologised for this as part of a settlement.

The settlement will also see Hager receive substantial damages from police and a contribution to his legal costs, but is not allowed to name the figure.

Police admitted they inappropriately obtained 10 months worth of Hager's banking information, and that they obtained a search warrant though he "was not a suspect of any offending".

Police noted in the settlement that they failed to mention while seeking the warrant that Hager was a journalist - and thus he could claim journalistic privilege.

Furthermore, the search warrant was overly-broad and, when they carried out the search, they searched his house for an hour before Hager claimed journalistic privilege. Police now admit they should have given him more time.

"Police also now accept and acknowledge that in certain respects the search warrant was overly broad and should have contained conditions to address concerns raised to protect journalistic privilege," a statement said.

Police also acknowledged that Hager had a reasonable expectation of privacy.

They went on to admit they suspected - without any basis - that Hager was suspected of fraud.

The High Court in 2015 found that the search warrant for the raid was "fundamentally unlawful".

The raid lasted 10 hours and took place when Hager was not home.

He said police had admitted to doing "many" unlawful things in their investigation.

"This sends a vital message that people can share important information with journalists with confidence that their identities will be protected."

Hager's lawyer Felix Geiringer told Stuff that the apology - along with a "substantial" but confidential payout - was too-long coming as the facts of the matter had always been known to police.

A court date - now cancelled - was scheduled in just over a week for the breaches of the Bill of Rights.

Police Minister Stuart Nash - who was not minister at the time - said it would be good that the issue was settled and people could "learn lessons and move on."

"It has been settled. It is a decision between Mr. Hager, the courts, and the police," Nash said.

He didn't think anyone should lose their jobs over the matter, but noted that this was not a decision for him as this was a "purely operational matter."

"The commissioner of police does not come to me to sign off search warrants in any way shape or form."

Hager has been approached for further comment.