For­mer min­is­ter of na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty Gary Grif­fith is call­ing for an im­me­di­ate in­de­pen­dent in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to how an au­dio record­ing—pur­port­ed­ly cap­tur­ing Syr­i­an busi­ness­woman Star Sab­ga mak­ing com­ments that have been de­scribed as an al­leged threat against Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar—was leaked, ar­gu­ing that the ap­par­ent breach of the Strate­gic Ser­vices Agency's (SSA) in­tel­li­gence sys­tems pos­es a greater threat than the con­tents of the record­ing it­self.

The is­sue has al­so drawn a re­sponse from Hous­ing Min­is­ter Phillip Ed­ward Alexan­der, who said the record­ing "sound­ed au­then­tic" to him but de­clined to com­ment on whether its con­tents jus­ti­fied the le­gal ac­tion tak­en against those named un­til in­ves­ti­ga­tions are com­plet­ed.

Sab­ga has not been charged with any of­fence aris­ing from the con­tents of the record­ing, and the au­then­tic­i­ty of the au­dio has not been in­de­pen­dent­ly ver­i­fied by Guardian Me­dia.