NEW ZEALAND Amanda Banks obsessive detective work saw her husband John Banks electoral fraud conviction quashed yesterday and answered a High Court judges doubts over her honesty. But the case has taken a toll on their marriage and the couple now live at opposite ends of the country as a result. The Court of Appeal yesterday overturned former Act leader Mr Banks conviction for filing a false electoral return, charges which ended his parliamentary career. A jubilant Mr Banks paid tribute to his wife who he said had been a hero for her part in clearing his name. Mr Banks was convicted in the High Court this year after failing to disclose donations from Kim Dotcom to his Auckland Mayoralty campaign in 2010. Crucially, the High Courts Justice Edwin Wylie believed testimony given by Dotcoms wife Mona over that of Mrs Banks about what was said at a lunch where both were present and at which Dotcom said donations were discussed. Mr Banks appeal introduced affidavits from two US-based businessmen who he says were at that lunch. The pair - David Schaeffer and Jeffrey Karnes - both said donations were not discussed at that lunch. The Court of Appeals Justices Ellen France, John Wild and Forrest Miller said that if the new evidence had been accepted in the High Court trial it likely would have changed the outcome. The Court of Appeals decision notes that Mrs Banks was stung by the judges opinion of her reliability. She became quite obsessed, as she puts it, with identifying the two Americans. She recalled that a transpacific communications cable had been discussed at the lunch and scoured news articles on the topic, eventually finding one which mentioned that Mr Dotcom had endorsed such a project and was trying to organise a............. - NZ Herald
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 01:17:55 +0000
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