Dotcom case: It’s not over yet

with the outcome but wished everyone a merry Christmas.

The ruling comes after almost four years of legal wrangling following a dramatic police raid on Dotcom’s mansion at Coatesville, Auckland, in January 2012.

Dozens of police, including New Zealand’s elite anti-terrorism unit, carried out a dawn raid, arresting Dotcom, Batato and Ortmann.

Van der Kolk, who like Dotcom has permanent New Zealand residency, was arrested at his upmarket Orakei home.

The FBI warrant is seeking the four

Immigration NZ knew because it was told by the Security Intelligence Service, which also told the police.

Then, when Dotcom arrived in December 2010, he declared additional sharetrading convictions from Hong Kong. A deportation inquiry took place, with Dr Coleman deciding in February 2011 it was fine and Dotcom could stay. Dotcom himself has said this makes no sense. Immigration NZ’s review of Dotcom’s residency doesn’t include its handling of the SIS information. A fresh review should be carried out. Would the spy agencies have been reformed without Dotcom? No. The revelation of illegal electronic spying by the GCSB after High Court proceedings triggered a series of events which have completely changed the face of the intelligence agency. It led to an inquiry by Rebecca Kitteridge, which resulted in a damning report every other government agency must look at and wince. men on a range of charges relating to the Megaupload business, from criminal copyright violation through to money laundering and operating an organised criminal conspiracy.

If they are eventually found guilty, the defendants could face lengthy jail terms.

The majority of the 13 criminal charges on which they would stand trial in the US carry a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment.

The defendants will remain on bail, reporting to their local police station twice a week, as they await the next step in the long-running saga.

The GCSB was rocked to its foundations. Kitteridge’s review appears to have raised questions about the SIS — of which she was then appointed director — and sparked massive change. Why has there not been a publicly released review of the police raid? The overly dramatic helicopter assault at dawn by the submachinegun-toting elite anti-terrorism police squad on January 20, 2012, undermined the faith many had that it was a righteous operation. Nothing that emerged seemed to warrant such an excessive approach.

The details were picked apart in the High Court, and none of it reflected well on the police.

Claims of risk to police fell flat, particularly when it emerged that an officer had visited the day before, at Dotcom’s invitation, and had done a recce of the mansion for the raid.

The police actions in the Dotcom case should be independently reviewed.