John Banks saga ends but at high price

Cost of a cleared name measured in career, money and marriage

The prosecution of John Banks cost him his job and a small fortune in legal fees. Did it cost him his marriage?

"I'll tell you a secret ... it hasn't helped."

Is that a yes?

"It hasn't helped."

The shame of being labelled an "unreliable witness" by a High Court judge drove Amanda Banks out of Remuera, where she has lived and worked for decades, to a pharmacy in Alexandra.

Justice Edwin Wylie rejected her evidence that two American businessmen attended a contentious lunch at the Dotcom mansion and instead believed Kim and Mona Dotcom. Her husband, John Banks, the MP for Epsom, was found guilty of filing a false electoral return.

"Stung by these findings", in the words of the Court of Appeal, the shame also drove Mrs Banks to track down the two American businessmen who swore affidavits to corroborate her story.

This led to the Court of Appeal quashing the conviction and ordering a retrial late last year. What the three appellate judges were not told was that Dotcom, when presented with the new evidence ahead of the appeal, changed his story. There were now two lunches, he said, and the Americans were at one of them.

These comments were contained in the now infamous "Butler memorandum", which was not disclosed to the Court of Appeal, or David Jones, QC, representing Mr Banks.

It came to light in February only after the appeal was successful, leading Mr Jones to ask the Court of Appeal to take another look at the case.

"It is important to bear in mind that it was by no means certain the appeal would succeed. Only in hindsight does that result seem obvious," Justice Forrest Miller said in the Court of Appeal decision released yesterday.

"Had we rejected it on the grounds that it lacked cogency or the defence could have called it at trial, the appeal would have failed."

Justice Miller said the Crown could not both withhold the memorandum and oppose the appeal on the grounds that it did.

"The effect was to mislead the court ... we are satisfied that there has been a serious error of process. It is, we accept, attributable to an error of judgment rather than misconduct."

The appellate judges found they would not have ordered a retrial had they known of the Butler memorandum, therefore there was a miscarriage of justice. They recalled the earlier judgment and ordered there would be no retrial, which has the effect of an acquittal.

A final victory for Mr Banks, but at what cost?

At an emotional press conference a few hours later, Mr Banks said his family had been to "hell and back" over the past three years, since Graeme McCready took a private prosecution against him.

"You've got no idea how punishing this has been ... you've got no idea how lonely this has been," he told waiting reporters with tears in his eyes.

"But if you believe in yourself and the truth, then honesty will prevail. And it has."

Mr Banks paid tribute to his wife, Amanda.

"She is the hero in this piece of drama."

The Banks affair

April 2012:

Kim Dotcom's $50,000 of anonymous donations to John Banks' mayoral campaign in 2010 become public.

July 2012: Police do not lay charges after investigation.

November 2012: Graham McCready takes private prosecution against the Act MP.

October 2013: Banks resigns as a Minister after Judge Phil Gittos rules he should stand trial.

June 2014: Banks found guilty after a High Court trial. He later resigns from Parliament.

November 2014: Banks is successful in overturning the conviction in the Court of Appeal.

January 2015: Solicitor-General Mike Heron, QC, confirms a new trial, scheduled for July.

March 2015: Banks' lawyer David Jones, QC, asks the Court of Appeal to recall judgment because of 'Butler memorandum'.

May 2015: Court of Appeal recalls judgment and orders no retrial. Banks is acquitted.