Police last week reopened their investigation into allegations the Clutha-Southland MP secretly recorded staff in his Gore electorate office, claims that ultimately led to him announcing he would leave politics in September.
The original investigation was dropped after 10 months when officers cited a lack of evidence for a successful prosecution.
IPCA spokeswoman Sarah Goodall said yesterday they received a complaint on June 21 from someone not directly involved in the matter.
‘‘We have received one complaint about the police handling.
‘‘We are in the process of gathering and assessing what, if any, role there is for the authority,’’ she said.
It was expected to take several weeks to look into the matter.
Prime Minister Bill English said yesterday he had told Mr Barclay to co-operate with the new police investigation, but had not spoken to him since he announced he would not stand for re-election in September.
Mr Barclay initially said he would co-operate with the original investigation, but later declined to be interviewed by police on advice from his lawyers.
Taxpayer money from the former prime minister’s leader’s fund was used to pay for legal advice as well as top up the settlement in the Todd Barclay case, it has been revealed.
The settlement was paid to former electorate office staffer Glenys Dickson to settle an employment dispute with Mr Barclay
Most of it was paid by her employer, the Parliamentary Service, but had to be topped up from former prime minister John Key’s leader’s fund.
The amount is not known, but New Zealand First managed to find out, through the Official Information Act, $2609 was used to pay lawyers
