Dotcom set to claim $6m
Dotcom set to claim $6m: Taxpayers face a $6 million bill in damages over the unlawful raid and illegal spying on Kim Dotcom and others.
Legal papers filed with the High Court allege an “excessively aggressive and invasive approach” by police during a raid on Dotcom’s mansion 18 months ago.
They also accuse Deputy Prime Minister Bill English of acting unlawfully in trying to cover up the spying by the GCSB before the raid.
The statement of claim, filed with the High Court at Auckland, seeks compensation for the actions of police and the GCSB over the lead-up to and execution of the raid last year.
The raid was done at the request of the FBI, which is seeking extradition of Dotcom and three others to the United States on charges of criminal copyright violation.
Dotcom’s lawyers, Paul Davison, QC, and William Akel, from Simpson Grierson, described a chain of evidence taken from court actions since the raid. Among the actions was a finding at the High Court that the search warrant used for the raid was unlawful and the raid illegal. The claim accused police of “unnecessary force and aggressive intimidatory tactics” by using armed anti-terrorist police in an airborne assault on the north Auckland mansion.
The claim highlighted doors being kicked in and Dotcom’s wife Mona, pregnant with twins at the time, being kept forcibly from her three young children.
It also targets the GCSB in the legal action for illegal spying – and then attempting to legally cover it up.