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extraordinary wealth the family had, and the lifestyle which went with it, proved as isolating for the Dotcoms as the security gate at the entrance to the property. “We were not welcome at all. We felt like outsiders. We were treated like people from a different planet,” Dotcom recalled.

His lifestyle had an enthusiastically consumptive quality to it which jarred with the wider community, unused to the power of money being used as a way to vault the hurdles of life.

Dotcom had enjoyed the benefits of extraordinary wealth in East Asia, which was more accustomed to the whims of the powerful and rich. “When you live in Hong Kong you get used to a certain pace. In Hong Kong, everything is possible and it is possible ‘now’ and you can do it and people will make things happen for you, if you want a certain product or to have a certain service they will go out of their way to make it happen.

“New Zealand is the complete opposite. They are just much more relaxed. If you want to get something done ‘now’ you have to wait two weeks. When you talk to the contractor and say, ‘I'm willing to pay more, what does it take to do it now?’ they approach that with an attitude where you feel like they think just because you have money you can do anything and ‘I'm not going to go along with that’ and ‘I will show you that even if you throw more money at this I'm doing it my way’. It is completely irrational and non-business savvy.”

As an example, Dotcom recalls renting out an entire cinema complex so he and friends could watch a movie.

“Excuse me,” he recalls the usher saying, pointing at a bag of crisps, “you can't eat those in the theatre.”

Dotcom couldn't understand the problem — or even that there would be a problem. He was seated, ready to watch a film while eating his favourite crips.

“The only food which can be eaten on the premises is that which is bought on the premises,” the usher explained.

Dotcom, recalling it later, was incredulous. “I just rented out the whole cinema. There was nobody else there and I can't take my favourite snack in with me?”

On another occasion, an internet search on his name led to a car dealership refusing to sell him a Mercedes. “Even though I already gave them my Amex card and they got the code from Amex saying payment confirmed, they were supposed to deliver the car the next day, they called me a few hours later to say, ‘No we don't want to sell you the car because we Googled you and we think it is not safe.’ ”

It wasn't the only occasion — Dotcom says “the examples go on forever. For example, the whole country shuts down for a month over Christmas. In Hong Kong something like that would never happen. And

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