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DOTCOM WONDERS IF winning will look much like losing. Defeating the case against them would isolate every senior official or civil servant who followed orders to create the nightmare which captured their business, fortune and lives. The Megaupload accused would become, if successful, “the most hated people”.

“If I would die tomorrow, they would have a party. These guys want me gone and they don’t give a damn about all the illegality, all the shadiness.”

Would he ever be free, he wonders? “I am pretty confident we are going to win this and expose the case for what it is. But what comes after that? Will you be allowed to live in peace with your family and will that be the end of it? If I’m successful in my fight, my biggest fear would be they wouldn’t just accept defeat. They would look for something.

“I would put myself in a situation where if I stayed here, I would be under the magnifying glass. I would always be on the watch list.”

The fear exists regardless of the politicians. They come and go. It is the bureaucrats whose relationships have been strained and careers imperilled by the case. “These people will still be there and they will always be branded and marked by this ridiculous event. I don’t know if you can have a fresh start. Can you be in New Zealand and not fear an ongoing persecution where they keep doing things to just get back at you?”

And if not New Zealand, then where in the world?

Just weeks after Mega launched, Dotcom was flying to Hawke’s Bay on New Zealand’s east coast for a meeting with the company’s new chief executive, Vikram Kumar. It was a high-profile signing — Kumar had come straight from working as chief executive of Internet New Zealand, the online sector’s lobby and advocacy group. The hiring was hugely significant. Kumar was widely respected throughout the industry and his acceptance of a role at Mega gave it a huge credibility boost.

The helicopter trip was a return to life as it had been. The money had not been available to rent the machines, or enjoy the indulgences, that had previously been commonplace. Mega made everything different. The helicopter was to be met by a stretch Humvee, which would take Dotcom and the other accused to a vineyard for lunch with Kumar.

The flight path south is thick with bush or forest. It is possible to fly for dozens of kilometres without seeing houses — or even finding space to land.

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