Fight against Dotcom Cost NZ Taxpayers $1.6 million

While Kim Dotcom’s lawyer bills continue to skyrocket, the taxpayers of New Zealand also have to foot an ever-escalating bill. According to the recent estimates, around 10,000 hours have been invested in the case, which cost $1.6 million to the public.

It’s been years that Kim Dotcom and his MegaUpload associates brought profit to the lawyers in numerous countries – actually, legal costs is regular business expense for everyone running a large business with worldwide reach. However, by 2012 the revenue streams hadn’t just dried up, but all existing assets had been scooped up by the US, Hong Kong and New Zealand governments after the raids against the now-defunct MegaUpload hosting service.

As you know, for the last year and half, Kim Dotcom and his associates Mathias Ortmann, Finn Batato and Bram van der Kolk have been engaged in a never-ending legal battle on several fronts.

On the one hand, a businessman is fighting off an aggressive US government, which wants to see its prey extradited and face copyright violation charges. This is why Kim needs his legal team run by Ira Rothken, who together have spent hundreds of hours on his case. In the meantime, a parallel process is being played out in New Zealand, with Kim Dotcom and his colleagues fighting not just extradition, but an unauthorized raid against his home and property last year, damages against the police and Kiwi spy agency GCSB, and even efforts to have his money released.

As you can understand, all of this requires plenty of money, and over the last year and half the time invested in the case and associated costs have being increasing at an alarming rate. But at the same time, legal costs are also being accrued by the authorities, whose final aim is to send Kim to the US to face justice.

While costs to the American taxpayers haven’t been announced, the lawyers fighting MegaUpload founder on behalf of the New Zealand government have already run up bills of around $ 1.6 million. The legal team has invested almost 10,000 hours in the case so far, with a further 200 hours having been billed to outside counsel.

As you know, money to finance the government action comes from the public purse – i.e., it’s our and your taxes. At the same time, Kim Dotcom has to pay his own bills, which is not that easy, because he has to fight to have his assets seized last year returned to him.