Cooks publisher defends defying court injunction

Transcript

The Cook Islands Herald publisher is defending his right to freedom of speech after publishing information on government spending 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 to be arrested.

He told Mary Baines it is his constitutional right to report what the government is doing.

GEORGE PITT: I have been writing for a long time saying this government is corrupt. I have raised issue after issue after issue. But Crown Law is in the pocket of government, the Public Service Commission doesn't do anything, the Office of the Public Expenditure Review Committee, they do nothing, Audit does nothing. So where does the individual go? You go to the press.

MARY BAINES: So you are defending your publishing of that information saying it is your right, your freedom of speech?

GP: I wasn't even supposed to say that I had been served an injunction. I wasn't even supposed to say anything about it. I was supposed to have absolute silence that I had been gagged. So I just said that this is what has happened. No, I didn't talk so much about the content. All I said is that I have been gagged because if this content had been revealed, it would validate what we were saying all along. That this government is acting corruptly. The police came round because Crown Law instructed police to come and charge me and arrest me, so the police came and did that. I told the police I am not going anywhere. I am not going because I know police procedure, and they weren't following it. I was under no obligation to do what they wanted.

MB: Do they still want you to go to court now? Are the police wanting to question you about this?

GP: Well they came here without doing their own investigation. They came here to arrest me and charge me. They said you have to come to the station to get the interview done. I said I am not going anywhere. They said okay we will arrest you and take you to the station. I said no you won't, I am not going to accept your arrest. Since then I have laid a complaint with the police and the police have been talked to by superior officers and I haven't heard from them. But I was told when they left that I would receive a summons to appear in court. I said you can send me all the summons you like, I am not going anywhere.

MB: So what do you expect will happen from here? Do you think the police will try to get you to court?

GP: I think Crown Law will withdraw their complaint. Because this whole thing is politically motivated. Because this whole thing is politically motivated - what crime have I committed? I am saying 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 have based my defense on my rights under the constitution on the freedom of speech.