I'm not sure if NP was evasive or if he didn't know what Dr. Been was asking. The question itself was fairly ambiguous unless you had heard the rumor that NP somehow had a part in shenanigans with Dr. BP's paper. So if NP wasn't sure what he was talking about because these are, after all, rumors, then he wasn't avoiding anything. He just talked about the papers that are being published that he knows about.
Keep in mind I don't know know anything for sure. Some people have sources they trust that believe they know what happened. I am not in that boat, because I only read what I know on internet messages boards and I take that with a grain of sea salt which has less sodium as I understand it. I try to be healthy when I can.