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Winston Peters is stepping up his demands for the government to sack the head of the army, while also accusing another senior army officer of misusing information from MP Ron Mark's personal file.
The leader of New Zealand First is calling for Major-General Maurice Dodson to be suspended and for an independent inquiry by a high court judge, after Dodson allegedly accessed the military records of one of his harshest critics.
Dodson is under investigation by the State Services Commission for digging into Mark's military past.
Now Peters, using parliamentary privilege, says Major Kendall Langston, the Public Relations Officer for the New Zealand Army, was boasting that he had the information.
Peters claims Langston's commanding officer - Dodson - had ordered checks on Mark's army files three times. He says each check came just days after Mark raised questions critical of the army leader.
"I say...he should be sacked because...his purpose clearly was, in my view, to blackmail an MP," Peters said.
The government says any evidence should go to an inquiry now under way. Both Dodson and Langston refused to comment while the inquiry is being held.
The inquiry spoke to Mark on Wednesday morning.
Act leader Richard Prebble is questioning the length of time it has taken the government to respond to the allegations.
And National's Tony Ryall has told parliament's Speaker that if the issue is about civil servants snooping into the files of MPs then parliament, not the government, should investigate to protect all MPs from undue influence.
