MegaUpload founder may get his seized property back

PanARMENIAN.Net - When New Zealand authorities raided the estate of MegaUpload boss Kim Dotcom, they confiscated nearly $200 million worth of property. But as it turns out, the court order authorizing this seizure was invalid because the police filled out the wrong paperwork, New Zealand Herald reported.

Prior to the raid, police commissioner Peter Marshall's office reportedly applied an inapplicable legal statute to the case and consequently filed for the wrong kind of restraining order - one that would have prevented Dotcom from properly defending himself in court. The police realized their "procedural error" on January 30 - after the raid went down - and refiled the correct forms while listing property already in their possession.

Basically, the police asked the court's permission to do something they had already done. Presiding Justice Judith Potter is not amused. She invalidated the initial (incorrect) order but did allow the new order to stand, though only on a temporary basis. The police are now arguing that despite the five errors on their initial filing, the fact that the new order has been granted - and that they've already got Dotcom's stuff - the entire situation is a non-issue. Dotcom's defense team, conversely, is arguing that since the seizure was carried out using an invalid order, it was "unlawfully seized and restrained" and should therefore be released.

Justice Potter must now decide whether or not to actually return Dotcom's property as the law in question does grant a degree of leeway for filing mistakes like these and the defense will have to prove the prosecution acted in bad faith. If she does side with the defense, Dotcom will likely dedicate obscene amounts of money to his cause - like dig up, reanimate, and hire Johnnie Cochran sorts of obscene money.