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John Banks. - Source: Breakfast -
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A hearing has taken place in the Wellington District Court concerning the private prosecution against John Banks for alleged electoral fraud.
Banks was not in attendance and had been excused by the judge to attend a funeral in Auckland.
The private prosecution has been filed by Graham McCready, a retired Wellington accountant, who is acting on his own behalf.
The case relates to donations made to Banks for his campaign for the Auckland mayoralty in 2010, which were recorded as anonymous.
Banks was investigated by police this year over the donations, but they decided not to prosecute.
In court today, discussion took place around obtaining the electoral return document which McCready has been unable to obtain.
The judge suggested he go away and do a little more research on his case, unless he wanted to fold on it now, which he didn't.
The judge set down a date for a three-hour hearing of legal argument on February 11, at which time the document issue would be discussed, as well as the issue of location and whether the court process should be moved to Auckland.