[smsm42]

For most governments, where lying does not come at a very high premium, the first instinct is to not tell the truth, but the information that appears to be the most beneficial at the moment. Knowing the truth is an advantage, why give it to others if one can avoid it without any major repercussions? So, one should not make a very far reaching conclusions from a government official lying - it doesn't necessarily mean they were involved in some conspiracy, they may just been routinely lying to not reveal something that has no relation to the case in point, such as something that may paint somebody in unfavorable light, or some minor secret of totally unrelated nature.

Additionally, when criminal wrongdoing is suspected, the authorities routinely lie about what they know about the case, in hopes that the criminals would operate under wrong model of their knowledge and thus be at disadvantage, and also they would be able to distinguish somebody genuinely knowing something about the matter from somebody just watching the news.