Michael John Smith police interviews

The Cryptome website has just published the complete set of police interviews, which took place immediately following my arrest on 8 August 1992. These are transcripts taken from the original audio tapes, recorded during the interrogation, and reveal just how the issues unfolded.

Some points in these interviews may need explanation, as it is not immediately obvious what had happened behind the scenes. I was not telling the truth on several matters, but the police also lied about some details, and they continued to deny they were responsible for the trick phone call to my home on the morning of my arrest. There are several interesting subjects that arise from these interviews, including:

Page 12 - I mentioned my awareness of being under surveillance in the past.

Page 49 - I challenged police interrogator Malcolm MacLeod that he was behind the bogus phone call on the morning of 8 August 1992.

Page 89 - MacLeod mentions Viktor Oshchenko for the first time; at that time he had not been publicly revealed as a KGB defector.

Page 116 - the bogus phone call made by an MI5 officer is played to me during the interview.

Page 122 - MacLeod refers to archive leaks from Russia; this is obviously a reference to the contact made by Vasili Mitrokhin to MI6 several months earlier, but it was not until over 7 years later that the Mitrokhin Archive appeared in print.

Page 134 - MacLeod accuses me of leaking information about the WE177 nuclear bomb fuze, which was the case apparently to be brought against me; this was dropped because no evidence was available.

Page 253 - Viktor Lazin is said to be a KGB officer and my controller - this undermines later arguments in court that the "Viktor" referred to in the phone call of 8 August 1992 must mean Viktor Oshchenko.

Page 358 - Portugal is mentioned, and this later developed into the claim that a map of Oporto was evidence of a KGB training mission. The Portugal questioning, combined with use of the names "George" and "Viktor" in the phone call of 8 August, indicates that Prosecution witness Mr. E (a US citizen recruited to the KGB by Oshchenko) was already an issue at this early stage, although his existence was not revealed to the Defence until many months later.