John Banks' lawyer is seeking details of Kim Dotcom's convictions in Germany to establish the tycoon's "credibility" as a key witness against him in his trial over donations.
David Jones, QC, was instructed by the High Court to serve Immigration NZ with papers aimed at extracting information supplied as part of Dotcom's residency application. The order comes ahead of the May 17 High Court trial of Mr Banks' allegedly filing a false electoral return. Mr Jones told the High Court he wanted permission to seek from Immigration NZ "information pertaining to the criminal convictions of Mr Dotcom in any country other than New Zealand".
Justice Edwin Wylie said the information was "potentially relevant". "It is information which should have been disclosed in the course of an immigration application. It could also go to the credibility of Mr Dotcom and he is a key Crown witness."
Official Information Act material released by Immigration NZ in 2012 showed Mr Dotcom had declared two criminal convictions from Germany.
The information, released to media, showed the convictions were voluntarily declared because no formal record of them existed after being wiped by the Germany's "clean slate"-style legislation.
