3News reports that the Labour Party wants an inquiry into why the Police chose not to prosecute John Banks; check this out:
Labour is calling for an independent inquiry into recent investigations and prosecutions involving politicians, in the wake of the John Banks scandal.
Friday will be the Epsom MP's last day in Parliament as he is quitting after being found guilty of electoral fraud.
Labour's justice spokesman Andrew Little says the public is entitled to know why the police decided originally not to prosecute Banks.
"There is a real question now that has to be examined more closely by a very high-powered, legally trained person," he says.
Mr Little says an independent agency may be needed to look into allegations of electoral malpractice and corruption.
We actually agree with Andrew Little on his final point above. But we reckon that Andrew Little should be careful what he wishes for, given the Labour Party's past record of electoral infringements that were not prosecuted. Cameron Slater has refreshed a story published in Truth when he was editing it, detailing some outstanding and unresolved alleged breaches of the Electoral Act:
Back when I was editor of Truth I OIAd the Electoral Commission about outstanding complaints they had sent to the Police for prosecution.
To date nothing has happened with those complaints.
Here is what I wrote back then. The sentiments and facts remain the same:
In our January 3rd issue we reported the following story. This has since been picked up by other media agencies, so we thought we would refresh your memories on how you heard it first at Truth.
Police are sitting on more than twenty open investigations referred to them for prosecution under the Electoral Act by the Electoral Commission.
Truth has obtained details under the Official Information Act that reveal Police seem to have no interest in prosecuting offences and breaches of the Electoral Act.
Of the 32 cases referred, 6 have lapsed because the prosecution time limit has expired.
62 dual vote referrals remain open and un-prosecuted.
Headline cases referred by the Electoral Commission that remain open with little or no progress are the Green party worker Jolyon White’s alleged vandalism of National’s signs at the 2011 election, several of Labour’s flyers including their ‘Stop Asset Sales’, ‘Prices are Rising faster than wages’ and ‘Ohariu Census’ pamphlets.
Only 3 cases have been closed, with no action or prosecution resulting.
The Electoral Act is the governing act to keep checks on political parties and candidates. The Police do not appear to be interested in prosecuting these cases.
We agree with Cameron Slater that the Police seem to have no interest in getting involved in electoral offences. We even have a possible solution!
We reckon that the Electoral Commission should be given the necessary powers to set up a prosecutions branch, independent of the Police and of any political parties. Those staffing the branch would have an in-depth knowledge of electoral law, something that the Police seems to lack.
Whilst some of the offences listed above may seem trivial, they are breaches of the law nonetheless. Political parties are given extensive information from the Electoral Commission as to what they can and cannot do. If they choose to ignore that advice, as David Cunliffe did with his tweet on the morning of last year's Christchurch East by-election, a prosecution should be strongly considered. If there is no sanction for breaking the law, there is no incentive to comply with it.
If the Police lack the will to prosecute, then that responsibility should be passed on to an agency that will treat breaches of the law with due seriousness. That agency should be the Electoral Commission, which already administers the Electoral Act.
Do you agree?
