George thanks family, friends and colleagues
Below is the full text of the Media statement issued by Norman George following High Court decision by Justice Nicholson on Friday morning 30 March 2010-05-04

This concludes 5 years of mental torture and suffering for me and my family.
It was a major challenge for my family. We kept our heads up despite the whispers and cruel innuendos. I am so proud of my wife and children throughout the years we waited for this decision!
My gratitude extends to our extended family, in-laws and friends who stayed with us throughout this ordeal. There are prayer groups all around the country who prayed for me every week.
To my beautiful people of Atiu thank you for the trust and faith and continued prayers and support. To the Crown witnesses, 68 of you testified, 64 of you were fair and impartial, which helped me a lot.
I thank Timothy Arnold, the maestro of the Cook Islands legal profession, whose performance mesmerised me endlessly. My deep gratitude is also extended to Paul Davidson Q.C. who in the final 4 weeks of the trail paved the way for our defence to follow smoothly.
To my son Brett James George, a brilliant and thorough forensics investigator, whose work blew the police investigation apart – thanks.
To crown prosecutor Mike Ruffin, many thanks for being extremely fair, helpful, and an absolute gentleman. To my witnesses (defence) thank you all so much for your support. To the 5 of you gave me outstanding character references we are eternally grateful.
I also thank our Lord Jesus Christ for answering my silent prayers.
TODAY I am free! I feel like Nelson Mandela!!
You see my prosecution was all political – those in power corruptly used public funds to try and destroy me. My prosecution was a political witch hunt. First a convicted criminal, lied about me to save his own skin. They never checked him out properly. As soon as my name was mentioned a frenzy of activities were launched.
My main persecutor was the man responsible for Toagate. As Minister of Finance, money was never a problem. Nearly $2 million was spent to investigate a $15,000.00 fake allegation. He kept the Attorney General’s portfolio to put pressure on Crown law and the police. My investigation and prosecution resulted in the promotion of a number of heads of the civil service.
There was an abundance of bounty hunters, glory seekers, and trophy hunters – with me as the prize!
It was the biggest and longest investigation in the history of this country. No murder investigation ever received such attention. Evidence was fabricated – people were encouraged to tell lies-some witnesses where repeatedly interviewed to change their evidence.
Two of my co-accused were encouraged to turn against me to finish me off. To do that, both Chris Vale and Charles Koronui would have had to tell lies and give false evidence. They being men of honesty and integrity refused, so they were charged with me.
The police officer in charge of the case behaved disgracefully, unfitting to the proud reputation of the New Zealand Police. He should never be allowed to conduct future police investigations again.
Now it’s over.
The shackles are off.
I am broke!
But I have my beautiful family with me and my wonderful friends and in-laws to support us.
I am too angry to laugh, and too old to cry! We have to move on. I will devote the rest of my life to serve this country, provide the leadership it badly needs and get on top of our economic crisis.
It is a great day for justice. God preserve the best judicial system in the world.
Kia Orana
Mr. Norman George

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