John Banks has just announced that he will resign from Parliament.
John Banks outside the Auckland High Court. Photo: RNZ
The Epsom MP was on Thursday found guilty of filing a false electoral return after a two-week judge-only trial before Justice Wylie in the High Court at Auckland.
The judge has not yet formally convicted him as his legal team seeks a discharge without conviction.
Well....he gave us the word Transmogrification #johnbanks
— wallacechapman (@wallacelchapman) June 8, 2014
On Sunday afternoon John Banks issued a statement saying he would resign the seat of Epsom effective from 5pm on Friday 13 June.
He said he would write to the Speaker on Monday advising him of the resignation. Mr Banks said the timeframe allowed a number of constituency, administrative and staffing matters to be dealt with over the next few days.
“I have been privileged to serve the people of Epsom and New Zealand at both a local level and in Wellington,” said Mr Banks.
