Kim Dotcom gets access to £3m to pay legal fees

MEGAUPLOAD FOUNDER Kim Dotcom was granted access by a New Zealand court on Wednesday to over £3m (NZ$6m) in order to pay legal fees and living expenses.

Reuters reports that the court also will let Dotcom sell some of his luxury cars that were impounded when authorities raided his home and arrested him in January.

The funds will be a loan secured by a NZ$10m government bond posted by Dotcom to gain New Zealand permanent residency status.

"The plan of the US government and New Zealand prosecutors to keep us locked up and from access to a proper legal defence has failed," Dotcom, the 38-year-old German, also known as Kim Schmitz, said in an email to Reuters.

"We have a competent legal team that can now operate at full capacity to defend us."

Dotcom is fighting extradition to the US to face charges of copyright infringement, money laundering and racketeering. He continues to maintain his innocence and claims that Megaupload was a legitimate business that played by the rules with regard to copyright enforcement and didn't break any laws. µ