A 40-page document “cherry-picked” from nearly 22 million emails is the only information the FBI believes should be made available to Kim Dotcom before his extradition hearing.
Lawyers spent yesterday arguing over what the internet mogul will be able to see before the case, set to begin next month.
With the deadline drawing closer and lawyers on both sides unable to reach a compromise, it seems increasingly likely proceedings will be delayed.
Dotcom said he believed the delays were deliberate. “Everyone can see there is a strategy of delay on the part of the US Government and the Crown.”
At the centre of the argument is a document called the “Record of Case”, effectively a summary of the FBI information relevant to the case. It is subject to a non-publication order, but the defence team revealed yesterday it was a summary document from more than 22 million emails obtained by the FBI.
Guyon Foley, lawyer for Dotcom’s co-accused trio of Finn Batato, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk, said it “cherry-picked” from emails and did not provide a fair amount of information on which the defence could base its argument.
Mr Davison did not see why the rest of the information could not be provided, given that it was electronic. “It’s just a case of putting it on a device and delivering it.”
The defence team only wanted material relevant to the case, he said. “This is not a fishing expedition.”
Crown lawyer John Pike argued that there was no need for Dotcom to have access because he was not being tried in New Zealand.
The judge in the extradition case needed only to decide if there was a case for him to answer in the US, Mr Pike said, and that question was answered by the record of case.
More:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/7222754/Dotcom-can-see-one-file-of-22-million-says-FBI
