Employment Minister Willie Jackson (centre) with Kawerau Youth Care Centre Trust staff in 2018. Photo / Supplied
Employment Minister Willie Jackson (centre) with Kawerau Youth Care Centre Trust staff in 2018. Photo / Supplied
The fact charges had been laid against a youth charity staff member and ex-staff member was not known by a minister who visited the charity, despite a briefing carried out between Government departments beforehand.
The Rotorua Daily Post revealed last month a former Kawerau Youth Care Centre Trust staff memberwas convicted for committing an indecent act on an underage girl after his employment ended at the trust.
Another staff member, a woman, was charged with money laundering after raids on Mongrel Mob related drug dealing in March 2018 and is now awaiting trial.
The Ministry of Social Development was not told about the charges when they were laid - it found out through an outside party on April 10, 2018.
We can now reveal that when Employment Minister Willie Jackson visited the charity, he was unaware of the charges.
Jackson tweeted a photo and comment about his visit to Manna Services, operated by the trust, three days after the Government found out about the charges.
Jackson was in town for an Employment Forum organised by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, his press secretary said in a written statement to NZME.
"As part of that day he visited with some community stakeholders who were delivering services to the wider community. One of these was Manna Integrated Services and the Minister had not met with them before or visited them since.
"He was not informed and is unaware of any issues related to Manna Integrated Services and has not had any reason to receive any further updates on them. They received no contracts or funding from programmes that the Minister of Employment has oversight for."
The Ministry of Social Development's service and contracts general manager, Kelvin Moffatt, said at the time of the visit "our investigation into this information was in its very earliest stages, in terms of establishing facts and giving the provider an opportunity to respond".
"Ahead of any ministerial visit, ministers are typically provided with a written briefing to provide relevant details of who they will be meeting. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment was the lead agency for the visit and therefore provided this briefing to the Minister on April 11.
"We verbally made the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment aware of the concerns prior to the minister's visit and that we had not yet reached any conclusions. At that point, the written briefing had already been provided," he said.
A Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment spokeswoman said staff involved at the time "cannot recall advising the minister's office on any information in relation to the issues".
Employment Minister Willie Jackson. Photo / File
The comments come after an NZME investigation revealed government agencies were not told when two of the trust's nine staff were charged for separate "serious" offences.
When the trust did not provide a sufficient remedial plan, the ministry, Department of Corrections, Ministry of Education and Oranga Tamariki cut contracts and clients were transferred.
The first liquidator's report said the trust owed at least $133,000, in October last year.
The next liquidator's report will be complete in the coming weeks.
Previously, the Ministry of Social Development said the male staff member was charged during his employment, and this was also stated in the Official Information Act documents.
Subsequently, the ministry was told by the ex-chair of the trust the man was charged after his employment ended when he handed himself into police.
