ormer ACT leader John Banks has been sentenced to community work for filing a false electoral return but says he is innocent and will appeal his conviction.
Banks was on Friday morning sentenced to serve two months' community detention and do 100 hours' community work for filing a false electoral return. He was also sentenced to a four-night-a-week curfew.
But outside court, Banks said he was innocent and would appeal the conviction with fresh, “watertight” evidence but did not reveal details.
Justice Wylie handed down the sentence in the High Court at Auckland after Banks abandoned his fight to keep his record clean when proceedings started. Justice Wylie ordered him to stand and formally entered the conviction against him.
The veteran politician was found guilty in June of filing a false electoral return in relation to his failed bid to become Auckland's first Supercity mayor.
