By PAUL YANDALL
Tainui beneficiaries want the tribe to settle its leadership squabbles out of court and spend more on the people and less on "investments in mana."
The call comes after revelations that Tainui has spent up to $3 million on legal bills and financial advisers in the past eight months - $400,000 of it on legal fees during the tribe's leadership wrangle.
Tainui's ruling executive, Tekaumarua, has been battling the tribe's principal negotiator, Sir Robert Mahuta, for financial control.
Legal bills look set to skyrocket after Sir Robert started a Court of Appeal action on Tuesday to fight last week's High Court ruling giving Tekaumarua power.
In a street survey of Tainui beneficiaries in the tribe's Waikato heartland, Huntly, many said their leaders had squandered money since the tribe's $170 million settlement with the Crown in 1995 over land seizures.
In a rare interview this week at Tainui's Hopuhopu headquarters, Sir Robert revealed that the internal leadership wrangle meant the tribe was "paying twice" for court action. He said fees for financial advisers in the past eight months had come to more than $1 million, as had legal bills.
"The lawyers in this latest thing have cost about $400, 000, so we're talking about $2.5 million to $3 million."
Many Tainui spoken to by the Herald said the tribe's money had been wasted.
"I didn't see any of the money before the settlement, I haven't seen any after it, and I know I won't get see any of it in the future," said Stephen Tukiri.
Most people spoken to also believed the tribe should wash its hands of the troubled Warriors rugby league club.
The New Zealand Rugby League is waiting for the Australian-based National Rugby League to transfer the club's competition licence to it before it announces a completed purchase.
Tainui has poured $6.27 million into the club in the past two years and will write the investment off as a loss if the Warriors sale proceeds.
Sir Robert said the tribe could use its settlement money as it pleased.
"People see that settlement as one big cake that they want to get their share of - it's not that at all. This is compensation for us.
"What we do with our money is our business. It is not public money. people should know that and keep their noses out."
He said the Warriors provided Tainui's "young people with role models in the future."
"We went into it knowing consciously that we would be losing money with it for the first three or four years, but this is a long-term investment."
The acting chairman of Tekaumarua, Kingi Porima, said the huge fees bill was a disappointment, but "if you want your point proven in court then the legal fees have to be paid."
He said the bill would just get larger if Sir Robert pursued his appeal.
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