Extradition still on cards for Kiwi internet millionaire Dotcom despite raid being ruled 'illegal'

Welllington, June 29 (ANI): The raid on German businessman Kim Dotcom's mansion may have been an illegal "fishing expedition", but extradition remains on the cards for the flamboyant internet millionaire.

In a high court yesterday, the judge ruled the high-profile police raid that ended in the search and seizure of a large amount of Dotcom's property was done with invalid warrants and labelled the raid illegal and the subsequent removal of cloned hard drives as unlawful.

The judge also found that the warrants, taken out by New Zealand police acting on behalf of the FBI, were too broad and they it needed to be far more specific.

Dotcom is still facing possible extradition to the United States, while his San Francisco-based lawyer Ira Rothken claimed he did not know what impact the ruling would have on an extradition hearing due to be held in Auckland on August 6.

"We are pleased the court ruled the U.S. acted illegally by taking the hard drives offshore," News.com.au quoted Rothken, as saying.

American authorities claimed Dotcom and his three co-accused Mathias Ortmann, Fin Batato and Bram van der Kolk used the Megaupload website and its affiliated sites to knowingly make money from pirated movies and games. They have charged him in the US with multiple copyright offences. (ANI)