Kim Doctom could fill his own Year in Review list for 2012. The Megaupload mega-personality planned a cloud music service called Megabox. He unveiled a new domain, Me.ga, only to lose it in a preemptive strike by the African nation of Gabon. There were even rap songs and accusations against Joe Biden.

But hanging over all that was Dotcom's ongoing soap opera in New Zealand. On January 20, 2012, 76 police officers raided Dotcom's mansion on behalf of the US and took him into custody for extradition to face charges of racketeering, money-laundering, and copyright infringement. Twelve months later, the legal woes aren't over, and Megaupload remains down... but Dotcom is being invited to ceremonially turn on Christmas lights in the country.

The New Zealand Herald, the country's largest daily newspaper, has been following Dotcom's wild ride throughout it all. Today, the outlet published an editorial calling Dotcom "good for the country," both for the man's flair and his role in exposing politician John Banks and the ACT party.

Banks is the head of the ACT New Zealand political party and the current minister for Small Business and Regulatory Reform. He was formerly the mayor of Auckland, and during that campaign Banks received NZ$50,000 ($41,000) in backing from Dotcom. In April however, Dotcom revealed that Banks wanted the money split into two payments to conceal its origin. This set off an investigation through the summer, ultimately ending with insufficient evidence to prosecute Banks. The politician suffered in the court of public opinion however—Dotcom was deemed more favorable in public polls and a campaign finance reform law passed with the nickname "the John Banks bill."

"It remains to be seen whether New Zealand courts force him to face American copyright law," the editorial concludes. "But he has been good for this country. He exposed things we needed to know and did so with an unfailing sense of fun."