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11

‘WHY ARE YOU RED, PRIME MINISTER?’

Dotcom prides himself on being a brilliant poker player. He knew, he says, that Grant Wormald had more to give. Push him, he said. And out tumbled the spies.

As his case unfolded, Dotcom engaged in what was domestically as high stakes a game as could be played. The other player, as the game developed, was Prime Minister John Key.

The grand conspiracy theory saw Hollywood pulling levers with the White House, and the White House, in turn, leaning on New Zealand. Key, Dotcom claimed, was complicit. There was no way the operation to destroy Megaupload could have happened without the Prime Minister being involved.

The allegation was made early and raised the question: "How could the Prime Minister not be aware that so many parts of government were moving without his knowledge?"

Yet, when asked about the raid just days afterwards, Key claimed he knew nothing. The first he heard Dotcom’s name was the day before the raid in a briefing which revealed what was about to unfold.

"I was aware that there was a German resident living in that house," he said. But Dotcom? "The first time I heard Kim Dotcom's name was from David Collins."

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