Jailed former ACT Party MP Donna Awatere Huata has been granted home detention and is likely to return to her Bridge Pa home in Hastings sometime next week.
The hearing was held at the low to medium security Waikeria Prison south of Te Awamutu this morning.
"On the face of it, it was pretty straight forward," her lawyer Jeremy Bioletti said afterwards.
Mr Bioletti said his client was likely to be home by the middle of next week and the usual home detention conditions would apply.
Awatere Huata and her husband, Wi Huata, were found guilty in Auckland District Court last August of fraud and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The charges related to over $80,000 taken from the Government-funded Pipi Foundation - a foundation set up to help under-privileged Maori children.
The trial heard some of the money helped pay for a stomach stapling operation for Awatere Huata and some went on private school fees for her children.
She was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison, while Wi Huata was sentenced to two years.
The pair are appealing their convictions and sentences later this year, and Huata was granted bail to care for the couple's children until that appeal is heard.
Parole Board spokesman Steve Rendle said Awatere Huata had got "back-end home detention" - something prisoners could apply for once they got within three months of their parole eligibility date.
She would appear for a parole hearing in July.
Mr Bioletti said an appeal against the convictions and sentences would be heard in Auckland on October 24.
Mr Rendle said the written decision on Awatere Huata's home detention hearing would be officially released within the next couple of days.
Jailed ex-MP to return home
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