27 March 2018

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Kim Dotcom wins privacy breach case against New Zealand Government

Kim Dotcom wins privacy breach case against New Zealand Government
New Zealand -

On 18 January 2012 extradition proceedings were commenced against Mr Kim
Dotcom, Mr Mathias Ortmann, Bram Van Der Kolk and Finn Habib Batato when the
United States of America (USA) filed a without notice application in the District Court at North Shore and obtained provisional warrants for the arrest of all four men. The arrests
took place on 20 January 2012. Extensive, complex and overlapping litigation has
followed

Unsurprisingly, Mr Dotcom has in the extradition proceedings sought disclosure by
the USA and by the New Zealand authorities of not only evidence and materials relevant
to the question whether there is a prima facie case against him in relation to the alleged
extradition offenses, but also of evidence and materials relevant to the other extensive
litigation either in train or in contemplation by him and/or the USA and New Zealand
agencies


Kim Dotcom is facing extradition to the United States to face charges of criminal copyright violation.

He was arrested like a James Bond movie a never before seen arrest in real life of a common man.

In a complaint filed at the Human Rights Tribunal, Dotcom accused the New Zealand Government of improperly withholding information

In July 2015 Mr Dotcom sent an information privacy request to all 28 Ministers of the Crown and nearly every government department (the agencies). The 52 requests were
in near identical terms and requested all personal information held about Kim Dotcom including information held under his previous names. The requests advised that because
the information was required for “pending legal action”, urgency was sought. It is common ground that the litigation referred to included (inter alia) an extradition eligibility
hearing in the District Court then due to commence on 21 September 2015.

Nearly all the requests were transferred by the agencies to the Attorney-General.

On 5 August 2015 the Solicitor-General provided a response on behalf of the

Attorney-General in which the requests were declined on the stated ground that, in terms of the Privacy Act 1993 (PA), s 29(1)(j) the requests were vexatious and included
information which was trivial. The Solicitor-General also advised that insufficient reasons for urgency had been provided

The law officers of the Crown are the Attorney-General and Solicitor General who are the Crown’s lawyers.

The Attorney-General is the senior law officer and a politician. The Solicitor General is the junior law officer and is also deemed to be the Chief Executive of the Crown Law Office.

As a Law Officer the Attorney-General is the principal legal adviser to the government.

The Attorney-General and Solicitor-General are the officers of the Crown who determine what legal advice the Crown accepts and who instruct the Crown’s lawyers on the conduct of litigation.

The Crown Law Office is a government department that assists and supports the law officers of the Crown

On Monday, the Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the Attorney-General unlawfully withheld information from Mr Dotcom, meaning he perverted the course of justice.
The Government and Ministers have been ordered to comply with the original requests and supply all relevant documents to Mr Dotcom.
Mr Dotcom was awarded damages for loss of benefit and loss of dignity.
Mr. Dotcom was awarded $90,000 in damages for “loss of dignity or injury to feelings.

Kim Dotcom tweeted following -




Download the copy of the Human Rights Tribunal ruling PDF

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Tuesday, March 27,2018

Tags – Kim Dotcom New Zealand Privacy Case Win