Police botched Dotcom raid papers: judge

Police botched Dotcom raid papers: judge

news.ninemsn.com.au

New Zealand police botched the paperwork in getting search warrants for the high-profile armed raid of internet tycoon Kim Dotcom's mansion, the chief High Court judge has ruled.

Justice Helen Winkelmann on Thursday ruled the search warrants were too broad and police exceeded their powers in seizing what they did.

She also said it was unlawful for copies of Dotcom's computer files to be taken by US authorities and New Zealand police should return copies to 38-year-old Dotcom.

FBI agents, who had sought help from New Zealand police, seized a massive 150 terabytes of data.

It is the latest court decision in favour of Dotcom, who has won bail and the return of some assets since the high-profile raid on his rented $NZ30 million ($A23 million) mansion north of Auckland in January.

Up to 70 officers, including the elite special tactics group and armed offenders squad supported by two helicopters, stormed the property.

Soon after his arrest, news reports were published with images of the mansion and of police hauling away his pink Cadillac and Mercedes Benz.

This is a very good outcome for Mr. Dotcom. It seems that many aspects of the raid were unlawful and unfair. While there is a strong effort to have him extradited to the US to face racketeering, copyright and money laundering charges, for now it appears that extradition will be unlikely. While some of the charges against him might have some merit, the way in which the situation was handled was rather poor. Perhaps this will send a stern message to US corporations and NZ law enforcement.

news.ninemsn.com.au
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reply to post by Dark Ghost


Serves the Yanks right, they seem to think that they can prosecute anyone anywhere no matter if they are a US citizen or not. How dare they invade the sovereignty of other countries and attempt to take their citizens to trial when they yell and scream about others having done the same thing to them.

Originally posted by Kryties
reply to post by Dark Ghost

 

Serves the Yanks right, they seem to think that they can prosecute anyone anywhere no matter if they are a US citizen or not. How dare they invade the sovereignty of other countries and attempt to take their citizens to trial when they yell and scream about others having done the same thing to them.

edit on 28/6/2012 by Kryties because: (no reason given)

No kidding, As an American I am embarrassed the way our government thinks and acts that US law applies worldwide. If you read the TPP agreement that the US is negotiating with the far east this will be codified in the treaty... it is pretty scary when you read it (well to me since I don't trust government)

I am glad to see this outcome for Dotcom. I have viewed everything published on this situation and it did not smell right from the start. The entire affair seemed dodgy to me. The US Feds are way out of line and the NZ prosecutor should lose their jobs for this. It has been a travesty of justice from go. This is driven by I think payoffs from very large powerful corporations. This situation speaks of corruption at the highest levels of the corporate state. I guess we can expect no prosecutions of the govcorp employees that took the graft in this deal.

10 July 2012 - 03H50

Megaupload N. Zealand extradition case delayed

www.france24.com/en/20120710-megaupload-n-zealand-extradition-case-delayed

AFP - Megaupload boss Kim Dotcom's extradition case against US authorities has been delayed until next year amid legal wrangling in New Zealand over evidence disclosure, his lawyers said Tuesday.

A hearing to decide if the United States can extradite Dotcom from New Zealand to face online piracy charges was scheduled for August 6 but would now take place on March 25, a spokeswoman for his Auckland-based barrister said.

She said more time was needed to settle legal arguments relating to the extradition of the 38-year-old German national and three co-accused, part of a case US prosecutors have described as the world's largest copyright action.

Dotcom, who denies any wrongdoing, took to Twitter to complain about the hold-up, accusing US authorities of deliberately stalling the case.

"Dirty delay tactics by the US," he tweeted. "They destroyed my business. Took all my assets. Time does the rest."

(...)