Brett Michael Hastie (44) was arrested with Australian fugitive Guido James Eglitis (68) in Siem Reap on Friday after a 66-year-old Briton was attacked in his hotel room and his passport and camera were stolen.
After the arrest, a photograph of Hastie wearing an All Blacks shirt and being held by a policeman was posted on the Cambodian police website.
Helicopters Cambodia operations manager Luke Bezett, of Phnom Penh, the son of Dunedin city councillor John Bezett, said Hastie was ''a very good friend''.
''He went to school with my older brother. He's known me since I was a little kid.''
He saw Hastie regularly when Hastie lived in Phnom Penh for two years before moving to Siem Reap.
''It was quite a shock to everybody when we found out,'' Mr Bezett said from Phnom Penh yesterday.
Hastie, since being arrested in Siem Reap and while in custody, had been communicating with a Christchurch man in the Cambodian resort town, Mr Bezett said.
Siem Reap was ''the Queenstown of Cambodia'', Mr Bezett said.
Mr Bezett had been communicating with the Christchurch man, and Hastie told the man he was an innocent party ''in the wrong place at the wrong time''.
Hastie - who grew up in Dunedin and attended King's High School - had not been charged and the investigation was continuing, Mr Bezett said.
Eglitis, formerly of Warrnambool in Victoria, fled Australia on the eve of being committed to stand trial in Brisbane in 2007 after a magistrate ruled there was enough evidence to potentially convict him of attacking businessman Ronald Ryton-Benson.
Eglitis faces outstanding charges of kidnapping, deprivation of liberty, robbery, impersonating an officer and possessing restricted items.
Mr Bezett said he did not know how Hastie knew Eglitis.
''He [Eglitis] sounds like a real ratbag and if you've ever met Hastie, he's the complete opposite of that ... it's unbelievable to think he would be associated with such a person.''
Hastie formed the company Conarch-Construction Management and Architectural Consultants in Siem Reap.
Cr Bezett said he did not know Hastie but his son would only stand by someone ''worthy'' of the support.
Cr Bezett had visited his son in Cambodia several times and believed corruption was common in the country.
''You should be cautious in any conclusions that people might draw about what is going on because the police have been known to fabricate stories,'' Cr Bezett said.
- Additional reporting AAP
