Epsom MP John Banks has been found guilty of knowing filing a false electoral return. Justice Edwin Wylie has just delivered the verdict, and is now outlining his reasons.
UPDATE: The Herald reports:
ACT MP John Banks has today been found guilty of filing a false electoral return.
In the High Court at Auckland, Justice Edwin Wylie has just delivered his verdict to a packed courtroom.
Justice Wylie said he was not persuaded beyond reasonable doubt that the return was false in relation to the SkyCity donation, but he was sure the return was false when it came to the Megastuff payments.
UPDATE #2: Stuff reports:
John Banks has been found guilty of knowingly transmitting a false electoral return.
Banks, the Member of Parliament for Epsom and the former leader of the ACT Party, appeared in a packed High Court at Auckland today where Justice Edwin Wylie delivered his verdict.
"Mr Banks, I find you guilty of the charge," the judge said.
The charge of "transmitting a return of electoral expenses knowing that it is false in a material particular" related to three entries in the electoral returns for Banks' failed 2010 Auckland mayoral campaign.
The donations were recorded as anonymous, but the Crown said Banks knew two donations of $25,000 each were from internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom and one of $15,000 was from SkyCity.
Justice Wylie said he was not persuaded of the charge on the $15,000 Sky City donation but he was "sure" that the charge had been proved in relation to Dotcom's donations.
The judge said he was "satisfied beyond reasonable doubt" that Banks either had actual knowledge of the Dotcom donations or he deliberately did not check the electoral return so it could be transmitted as anonymous.
Banks' lawyer David Jones, QC, asked that a conviction not be entered as an application on that issue would be made at sentence.
Jones will probably apply for a discharge without conviction.
Banks was remanded at large for sentencing on August 1.
The judge ordered a pre-sentence report and a report on the suitability of home detention.
This will be a sad ending to John Banks' political career, but he has no one to blame but himself. This case is a lesson to every politician, and local or central government level; be honest, open and transparent.
We're sure that other politicians have done exactly what John Banks did in late 2010. Fortunately for them, they hadn't received donations from a rather large bloke who was about to have a significant run-in with the law!
Kim Dotcom is gloating about the verdict, unsurprisingly. We are not going to dignify his tweets by publishing any of them; he has his own day in court ahead in just over a month when the application to extradite him will be heard. But he may not be so chipper by mid-July.
Banks will be sentenced on 1 August, after the 50th Parliament has been dissolved ahead the election campaign. He has not had a conviction recorded against him yet, but we would not be surprised if he tenders his resignation from Parliament in any event; it would be the honourable thing to do, and could be a first step towards rebuilding his reputation.
This is a sad day for New Zealand politics in a number of ways.
