5 Nov 2015

Cooks publisher defends defying court injunction

3:57 pm on 5 November 2015

The Cook Islands Herald publisher is defending his right to freedom of speech after publishing information on government spending, which the High Court ordered him not to.

On Friday, George Pitt was ordered not to publish the contents of a draft legal opinion commissioned by the Financial Intelligence Unit, after Crown Law successfully argued it was confidential.

Mr Pitt defied the injunction on Monday by discussing it on local radio.

He says the police then came to his house, where he refused arrest.

Mr Pitt says it is his constitutional right to report what the government is doing.

"I have constitutional rights to the freedom of speech. They say I have broken the law - I have broken no law. I have ignored a court injunction because I base my defence on my rights in the constitution on the freedom of speech."

George Pitt says no matter how many summons he receives, he will not go to court over the matter.