The Crown breached the privacy of the internet mogul Kim Dotcom when it refused to release private information about him, the Human Rights Review Tribunal finds.
Internet mogul Kim Dotcom leaving court from his extradition appeal hearing in Auckland in August 2016. Photo: AFP PHOTO / KATE DWEK
The Tribunal's finding released today said Dotcom wrote to 28 Ministers of the Crown in July 2015 requesting all private information held about him.
The 52 requests were in near identical terms and were forwarded to the Attorney General.
Mr Dotcom also said the request was for pending legal action and urgency was sought.
One month later the Solicitor General declined the request, saying they were vexatious, meaning it did not have sufficient grounds or was purely intended to be difficult.
Today, the Tribunal found the Crown had breached the Privacy Act by refusing the request for information. The Crown has been ordered to pay $90,000 in damages.
Big Win JUDGEMENT:
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) March 26, 2018
Attorney General of New Zealand broke the law by withholding information I’m legally entitled to.
The Government & Ministers are ordered to comply with my requests and provide all documents.
Damages for loss of benefit and loss of dignity are rewarded to me.
The Tribunal ordered the Crown to release the information.
Mr Dotcom, who is charged with copyright infringement, racketeering and money laundering, is fighting extradition to the US where the case would be heard.
On Twitter he called for the Privacy Commissioner to resign.
I call for the immediate resignation of the Privacy Commissioner of New Zealand for his complicity with the former Attorney General and Crown Law in unlawfully withholding information that New Zealanders were legally entitled to.
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) March 26, 2018
Meanwhile, Mr Dotcom's immigration status remains in limbo.
Immigration New Zealand has made a decision on whether the internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom should be deported, but it won't make a recommendation to the government until his fight against extradition to the Unites States has concluded.
Read the full tribunal decision below:
