The leader of New Zealand's ACT party, John Banks, is vowing he's innocent of electoral fraud and says he'll prove it in court.
"I would never knowingly sign a false election return. I wouldn't do it and I didn't do it," the former Auckland mayor told reporters in Wellington on Thursday.
"I'm going to go through the process of law and prove it."
Banks on Wednesday resigned his ministerial portfolios after a District Court judge ruled he must stand trial, accused of breaching the Local Electoral Act by filing a false return on his campaign donations after his 2010 Auckland mayoralty campaign.
Banks declared in his 2010 electoral return that donations from casino operator SkyCity and internet mogul Kim Dotcom were from anonymous sources.
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But evidence in this week's court hearing was that he received the cheques himself and knew where they came from.
Banks' defence argued the MP signed the return without reading all of it.
Banks has a support agreement with the National government which guarantees he will support it on confidence votes.
Prime Minister John Key accepted Banks' resignation and says he will reinstate him if he isn't convicted.
Banks, defiant when he faced the media at parliament, said he would clear his name and stand for his Auckland seat of Epsom in next year's election.
"I have nothing to fear, I have nothing to hide. All this will be well past us by the time of the next election."
Banks said his legal team was considering what to do next - one option is to appeal the decision handed down by Judge Phil Gittos.
"We believe he was totally wrong, but we respect his decision," Banks said.
"We're not going to sit back and just take it. We don't quite know yet how we're going to manage this and we're looking at many legal options."
Banks said he would be voting for the bill that allows SkyCity to have more pokie machines in its casino in exchange for building a national convention centre.
Opposition parties say Banks should abstain from voting on the bill because of donations his party received from SkyCity.
His vote is critical, and Banks said he had no intention of abstaining.
