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aggressive, go against that kind of behaviour and show whoever wants to report something like this that’s wrong or defamatory, that we are not going along with that and we are not accepting that.”

Dotcom decided to fight. He said his mind was turned to making the move to Coatesville work and for his family to flourish and grow in New Zealand. He turned to Simpson Grierson, where senior litigator William Akel was tasked with challenging the paper to prove the story to be true, or apologising and settling with Dotcom.

“I regret that now,” he says. “I should have just packed my stuff and said ‘fuck this’. At that time, we weren’t really happy here. We weren’t happy because we felt (we had) this alien appearance and the way people treated us (and) the media starting to attack us for no reason.” Neighbours emerged in stories about the family, quoted for their opinions although having never met the Dotcoms. “At that moment I should have just pulled the plug and said, ‘This is not the right place for us. Sorry Richard (Bradley) I’m not buying this. Let’s go back to Hong Kong and start afresh, looking for a different place to stay.’ I regret I did not follow my instincts. But the reason I didn’t do it is because of the family. All the other things were still valid. I want to build a nice place for my family to grow. When I had to make a choice and prioritise I made the choice for the family and I said, ‘We’re going to get through this. This is just a phase and we’ll be okay.’”

The Immigration NZ files show how the media coverage had a real impact on consideration of the residency application. Staff inside Immigration NZ considered the Herald on Sunday story and the weight it lent to the allegations of criminality. The retraction, when it came, apologised for the article and withdrew it — copies of the printed retraction are also in the Immigration NZ file.

Dotcom said the law suit cost $200,000 in legal fees. The settlement which went with it led to the newspaper contributing $90,000 to the Starship Children’s Hospital. “I never got a penny and it cost me $200,000 to get them to not do this kind of stuff. In New Zealand, the New Zealanders are used to this kind of media which is actually counter-productive. It is not helping the country when you go after your achievers and try and destroy them.”

The view was one he said he heard from other wealthy immigrants. It was also not one that was driven by the media alone, revealing a side of New Zealand different from the friendly and carefree country it considered itself to be.

“It’s not attractive. I’ve met a few people from other parts of the world that migrated here that share exactly the same view. They say they are not being treated right, they don’t feel they are welcome here and problems are being created for them where they should have support. They have attacks. I had to deal with all kinds of issues — my

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