Kim Dotcom mansion raid legal, Supreme Court says
Tuesday, 23 December 2014
Police raids on Kim Dotcom's mansion in 2012 have been declared legal by the Supreme Court.
Police executed search warrants on the properties of Dotcom and computer programmer Bram van der Kolk on January 20, 2012, seizing 135 electronic items, including laptops, computers, portable hard drives, flash storage devices and servers.
In June 2013, the High Court ruled that the search warrants were invalid because they were not sufficiently specific.
In February this year, the Court of Appeal overruled that decision and found the raids were legal, but the FBI removal of electronic information seized in the search was an unauthorised breach.
Dotcom's legal team appealed against that decision but it was dismissed by the Supreme Court today, although Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias dissented.
'The majority of the court has decided that although the search warrants were deficient in their description of the offences to which they related, these defects did not result in any miscarriage of justice to the appellants,' the Supreme Court said.
'While the search warrants did not specify that the offences were against United States law, or that the offences were punishable by two or more years' imprisonment, this did not cause any significant prejudice to the appellants.'
Justices John McGrath, William Young, Susan Glazebrook and Terence Arnold agreed that the warrants for the raid were not unreasonably vague and general.
'Undoubtedly they could have been drafted rather more precisely,' they said in their written decision.
'We agree with the Court of Appeal that the appellants were reasonably able to understand what the warrants related to and that the police were adequately informed of what they should be looking for.
'Any issues relating to matters such as the way the search of the computers was conducted or the handling of irrelevant material should be addressed through other processes.'
In dissenting from the majority, Chief Justice Elias said the Court of Appeal's decision that the search warrants did not cause any significant prejudice to the appellants was wrong.
'That conclusion is I think based on a mistaken view of what constitutes a miscarriage of justice in this context,' she said in her part of the written decision.
'A search warrant properly issued would not have authorised the seizure of irrelevant material, at least not without setting up conditions to ensure secure and expeditious sorting under the supervision of the court.
'Where, as here, a search warrant was overbroad and no protective conditions were imposed, the relevant miscarriage of justice is complete.'
She would have allowed the appeal and reinstated the decision of the High Court but was overruled by the other judges.
In June 2013, the High Court ruled that the search warrants executed on Dotcom's mansion were invalid because they were not sufficiently specific.
With the majority of Supreme Court justices siding with the Court of Appeal decision, this part of Dotcom's legal saga is now closed.
Dotcom tweeted his dismay at the decision, saying Chief Justice Elias had got it right.
TIMELINE
2010
Kim Dotcom, an internet businessman with old convictions for hacking and insider trading (wiped under Germany's clean-slate law), applies for New Zealand residency. Rents mansion of Chrisco founder Richard Bradley in Coatesville, northwest of Auckland.
November: Granted residency.
2011
Early 2011: FBI asks New Zealand to help investigation of Dotcom's file-sharing business Megaupload.
December 2011: Government Communications Security Bureau spies on Dotcom at request of police.
2012
January 20: Armed raid on Dotcom's home. He, Finn Batato, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk arrested. FBI accuses him of half-billion-dollar copyright theft. He denies it.
February 16: Organised and Financial Crime Agency New Zealand and GCSB debrief; police raise concerns surveillance may have been illegal because of permanent residency status.
February 22: Dotcom is granted bail.
February 27: GCSB's lawyer concludes surveillance was lawful.
June 28: In the High Court, Justice Helen Winkelmann rules the raid on the Dotcom mansion was illegal.
August 10: Ofcanz's Detective Inspector Grant Wormald tells High Court about a 'mystery group' of officials at December 14 meeting.
August 16: Deputy Prime Minister Bill English signs certificate suppressing GCSB involvement in Dotcom raid. The fact gets out anyway.
September 13: GCSB says it became aware the spying was illegal.
September 17: Prime Minister John Key launches an inquiry, headed by inspector-general of intelligence Paul Neazor.
September 24: Crown files memorandum confirming GCSB involvement. Key goes public.
September 27: Key apologises to Dotcom after Neazor says GCSB surveillance was illegal as Dotcom is New Zealand resident.
September 28: Green Party co-leader Russel Norman lodges complaint with police over GCSB.
October 1: Cabinet secretary Rebecca Kitteridge begins review of GCSB.
All year: Legal hearings in New Zealand and United States over bail conditions, the legality of the raid and attempts to extradite Dotcom.
2013
January 20: Dotcom launches his new 'Mega' file-storage business with a celebrity-studded party.
March 7: The Court of Appeal rules Dotcom can sue the GCSB and New Zealand police, upholding a High Court decision.
April 3: Scrutiny of GCSB head Ian Fletcher reveals he got the job after an approach by Key. The pair were childhood friends.
April 8: Fairfax's Andrea Vance reveals details from leaked copy of Kitteridge's report into GCSB, which says more than 80 people may have been illegally spied on.
April 9: Kitteridge report officially released.
June 9: CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden reveals Prism surveillance programme by American National Security Agency. Dotcom talks up links between GCSB and NSA.
July 3: Dotcom appears at select committee hearings on proposed law to let GCSB spy on New Zealanders. Dotcom and Key trade insults.
July 30: Dispute over evidence disclosure reaches the New Zealand Supreme Court.
August 21: New Zealand Government rushes through law change giving GSCB powers to spy on New Zealanders.
2014
January 15: Dotcom unveils a logo revealing his political venture, the Internet Party.
February 19: The Court of Appeal deems the raids on the Dotcom mansion to be legal.
September 15: Dotcom's Moment of Truth event, featuring Glenn Greenwald and Snowden.
September 20: Internet Party fails to win any seats at the election and takes the Mana Party down with it.
December 1: After a three-day bail hearing where the US wanted him remanded in custody, Dotcom is allowed to return home.
December 23: Supreme Court decision.