John Banks, Member of Parliment, Finally Admits Accepting Money From Kim Dotcom

[skooch]

[img]http://static.stuff.co.nz/1337150688/203/6876203.jpg[/img][img]http://static.stuff.co.nz/1333069650/417/6667417.jpg[/img]

[quote]
[b]Banks admits receiving gift from Kim Dotcom[/b]

ACT leader John Banks has admitted he received a $1000 gift basket from internet tycoon Kim Dotcom, which should have been declared under parliamentary rules.

Banks, the lone ACT MP in government, received the basket during a stay at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Hong Kong during 2011, according to a New Zealand Herald story today.

In reply, he sent Dotcom a note thanking him for his hospitality, saying he enjoyed his stay.

Cabinet rules require members of Parliament to disclose to the Registrar of Pecuniary Interests any gift accepted worth more than $500. This declaration includes hospitality and donations in cash or kind.

Tonight 3News reported Banks did not declare the gift, but would now do so, making it a late declaration.

The note from Banks was sent less than a month before the raid on Dotom’s Auckland mansion, where he was charged with copyright infringement and other offences by the FBI and briefly jailed, before being released on bail to await an extradition hearing.

Previously, Dotcom had made an anonymous $50,000 donation to Banks to support his mayoral campaign, which dragged the pair into the spotlight amid allegations Banks was rorting the donation system, as he knew where the money came from.

Labour leader David Shearer has repeatedly called for Banks to stand down, however Prime Minister John Key continues to support him as minister.

[url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6934800/Banks-admits-receiving-gift-from-Kim-Dotcom][i]Source: Stuff.co.nz -- Thu, 17th May 2012[/i][/url]
[/quote]

Its his second time and he still refuses to step down.

:v:

[RyanH]

What an ass.