By EUGENE BINGHAM
Labour MP John Tamihere yesterday rejected accusations that $200,000 of public money was misused during his time as head of a West Auckland Maori trust.
Act leader Richard Prebble raised allegations of criminal conduct at Te Whanau O Waipareira Trust and tabled documents in Parliament claiming that large amounts of money had been inappropriately transferred between the Aotearoa Maori Rugby League club and the trust.
Mr Tamihere, who was chief executive of the trust until he resigned to run for Parliament last year, denied any wrongdoing and said no money had been misappropriated.
"I can give an unfettered, unequivocal undertaking that at no time have I been involved in any action in a fiduciary position that I have held, either as a chief executive or otherwise, in personal pecuniary gain," he told Parliament.
"Nor has the trust been involved in any form of misappropriation."
The Henderson-based trust is a pan-tribal group providing social services, including job training and employment opportunities.
Under parliamentary privilege, Mr Prebble asked Prime Minister Helen Clark if she had seen reports that $200,000 of Health Funding Authority money had been diverted from the trust to the league club.
Helen Clark said she had received anonymous information about Mr Tamihere, which she had passed on to him for comment.
"The allegations, if printed and untrue, would clearly be highly defamatory. I have his assurances on the matter."
One of the documents tabled by Mr Prebble was a letter from trust member and former league club chairman Hyrum Parata alleging his signature was forged in fraudulent withdrawals amounting to $200,000 of the club's money.
He also said $281,000 of the club's money was paid to the trust.
Though some of the alleged transactions occurred while Mr Tamihere was in charge of the trust, his name is not mentioned in the document.
The letter said Mr Parata was holding talks with the Serious Fraud Office.
The second document was an internal memo written by the trust's new chief executive, Ian Mackintosh, who claimed the trust was experiencing cashflow problems that went back to Mr Tamihere's time.
"The fundamental cause was a serious deficiency in financial planning and budgeting at a corporate and business unit level," Mr Mackintosh said.
"This resulted in normal day-to-day working capital being utilised for unplanned and/or unbudgeted capital expenditure."
Mr Tamihere told the Herald last night that he had nothing to hide.
"There's a lack of substance and a heap of allegations. I'm still trying to find out what the problem is. What's the allegation? Am I a fraudster, a forger, a misappropriator? None of that can be construed from the documentation apart from some headings."
On the claim that HFA money went into the league account, Mr Tamihere said: "On one or two occasions I understand an error was made where money rightly owed to the health account was paid into the league account."
The trust runs accounting facilities for several organisations, including the league club and the trust's health company, Wai Health.
Mr Tamihere said a number of audits were being done which would clear up the allegations.
MP rejects fraud claims
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