The Involvement of Auckland Mayor John Banks
Former Auckland mayor John Banks was among New Zealanders who extended a welcoming hand to Dotcom. Banks met him when he was Auckland mayor and asked Dotcom for help putting on a fireworks display in the city's harbour. Banks later attended a New Year's Eve party thrown by Dotcom at the city centre apartment of now bankrupt property developer David Henderson. He said it provided a great view of the fireworks display detonated over the Waitemata Harbour. Banks said he offered advice to the millionaire on how to apply for Overseas Investment Commission permission to buy the Coatesville mansion Dotcom had been renting since coming to New Zealand.
On April 28, 2012 Dotcom revealed he also donated $50,000 to John Banks' mayoralty campaign in 2010 and claims Banks asked him to split the donation in two - so that each amount was below the maximum donation allowed and was made 'anonymously'. Dotcom said Banks later rang him up and thanked him for the contribution. This revelation was a major embarrassment for Banks, for New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, and for the National Party who were relying on Banks' support in Parliament to remain in power. The police were asked to investigate whether Banks had broken electoral laws. No charges were laid but the police file was made public and concluded that Banks had filed a false declaration of donations, but "had not done so deliberately because he claims to have signed the declaration without reading it". Dotcom subsequently recorded a song titled Amnesia, which mocks John Banks' inability to remember the $50,000 donation.
A poll in October, 2012, found the New Zealand public had a more favourable view of Kim Dotcom than Banks.
Read more about this topic: Kim Dotcom
Famous quotes containing the words involvement, mayor, john and/or banks:
“The mother whose self-image is dependent on her children places on those children the responsibility for her own identity, and her involvement in the details of their lives can put great pressure on the children. A child suffers when everything he or she does is extremely important to a parent; this kind of over-involvement can turn even a small problem into a crisis.”
—Grace Baruch (20th century)
“The populations of Pwllheli, Criccieth,
Portmadoc, Borth, Tremadoc, Penrhyndeudraeth,
Were all assembled. Criccieth’s mayor addressed them
First in good Welsh and then in fluent English,”
—Robert Graves (1895–1985)
“And that enquiring man John Synge comes next,
That dying chose the living world for text
And never could have rested in the tomb
But that, long travelling, he had come
Towards nightfall upon certain set apart
In a most desolate stony place....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“I am not impressed by the Ivy League establishments. Of course they graduate the best—it’s all they’ll take, leaving to others the problem of educating the country. They will give you an education the way the banks will give you money—provided you can prove to their satisfaction that you don’t need it.”
—Peter De Vries (b. 1910)