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armed), including two Reuters journalists, was the trigger.

“Wow, this is really crazy,” Dotcom recalls thinking, watching the black-and-white footage and hearing the operators of the helicopter chat about firing on the group. He made a €20,000 donation to Wikileaks through Megaupload’s UK account.

“That was one of the largest donations they got,” he says. According to Dotcom, the US, at the time, was monitoring Wikileaks and trying better to understand its support base. “My name must have popped right up.”

The combination of a leaking culture and a website dedicated to producing leaked material would horrify the US government, he says. A willing leaker and a platform on which to do it was “their biggest enemy and their biggest fear . . . If you are in a corrupt government and you know how much fishy stuff is going on in the background, to you, that is the biggest threat — to have a site where people can anonymously submit documents.”

Neil MacBride was appointed to the Wikileaks case, meaning Dotcom shares prosecutors with Assange. “I think the Wikileaks connection got me on the radar.”

Dotcom believes the US was most scared of the threat of inspiration Wikileaks posed. He also believes it shows just how many secrets the US has hidden from the public and the rest of the world. “That’s why they are going after that so hard. Only a full transparent government will have no corruption and no back door deals or secret organisations or secret agreements. The US is the complete opposite of that. It is really difficult to get any information in the US, so whistleblowing is the one way you can get to information and provide information to the public.”

THE ARGUMENT AGAINST Dotcom’s claims of conspiracy is the lack of any proof. As the second anniversary of The Raid approached, he had yet to produce anything to back up his claim the Prime Minister knew of the investigation into Megaupload.

The denials ran into a chain of coincidences which raised questions as to how Key could not know. The investigation was by one of New Zealand’s closest allies, involving an investigation threatening that nation’s national security. New Zealand government departments had constant and ongoing contact with Dotcom — and vice versa — throughout the course of the investigation. The Prime Minister’s own departments — the nation’s spying apparatus — were involved.

Journalist John Campbell would describe a wagon wheel of contact

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