Video will play in Play now Don't auto playNever auto playPrime Minister Bill English has backed the awarding of citizenship to billionaire Peter Thiel, but also called on the reasons that lay behind such approvals to be made public. Thiel's citizenship was approved under an "exceptional circumstances" clause of the Citizenships Act by the then-Internal Affairs Minister Nathan Guy in 2011. Beyond saying he couldn't recall Thiel's citizenship application, Guy last night would only say:"As minister I tended to follow the advice of DIA officials on these issues; I'm advised officials recommended granting citizenship in this particular case." Labour Party immigration spokesman Iain Lees-Galloway said this morning:"We now know that Nathan Guy did grant citizenship under exceptional circumstances, but is refusing to front up and explain what these exceptional circumstances were. "Why did the minister believe that granting New Zealand citizenship to Mr Thiel was be in the public interest because of exceptional circumstances of a humanitarian or other nature," Galloway asked.

Source: New Zealand Herald January 25, 2017 22:39 UTC