Kerikeri-based Ilchi Lee is a best-selling author and the founder of Dahn Hak Yoga and Brain Education. Photo / File
Kerikeri-based Ilchi Lee is a best-selling author and the founder of Dahn Hak Yoga and Brain Education. Photo / File
Lingering doubts over unresolved court cases in the United States convinced government ministers to refuse a Korean spiritual leader's bid to buy seven Bay of Islands properties, newly released documents have revealed.
However, Seung Heun Lee, also known as Ilchi Lee, is vowing not to give up and says heremains ''absolutely committed'' to developing tourism in the Far North.
From 2014-16 Lee and his companies Double Pine Investment and Meditation Tour bought four residential properties in Kerikeri, a 25ha block of land at Whangaroa Harbour, and a 156ha rural property on the edge of Puketi Forest, west of Kerikeri.
He also bought Marty's Golf Range and Café, north of Waipapa, and Haruru Falls Panorama Resort near Paihia.
When Lee later discovered he needed Overseas Investment Office (OIO) approval to buy the properties he made a retrospective application.
By then he had already started building an ''Earth Village'' on the Puketi property, which was to have been the global headquarters of his Earth Citizen Organisation.
Documents released to the Northern Advocate under the Official Information Act show both former Associate Finance Minister David Clark and Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage declined Lee's application because they were not convinced he passed the good character test.
A report prepared by OIO staff raised a number of court cases in the US, including class action by 27 people alleging that Dahn Hak Yoga, which was founded by Lee, demanded large sums of money from trainees and tried to indoctrinate them.
Ilchi Lee's property purchases included Haruru Falls Panorama Resort near Paihia. Photo / Peter de Graaf
There was also a wrongful death allegation after a woman died during a desert hike while training to become a Dahn Hak master.
The wrongful death lawsuit was settled out of court by another defendant while the class action was thrown out at an early stage with Lee awarded costs.
The OIO report said that was because the plaintiffs ran out of money but Lee's lawyers, Bell Gully, said it was because their case had no merit and they couldn't find a lawyer willing to represent them. As a result the allegations were never properly tested in court.
Bell Gully said the US was a litigious society where high-profile people were often subjected to lawsuits motivated by money.
The authors of the OIO report said they couldn't assess whether Lee was guilty of the allegations but ''the lack of a conclusive result to the United States litigation means that there will always be a shadow of doubt hanging over Mr Lee which will not be able to be dispelled''.
A meditation platform in the bush at Ilchi Lee's Pungaere Rd property west of Kerikeri. Photo / Peter de Graaf
The report also raised a criminal conviction in Korea in 1993 which Lee's adviser had not declared to Immigration NZ when he first applied for a visa.
The conviction was for selling herbal remedies and holding a lecture without a licence, which at the time was subject to harsh penalties in Korea.
The conviction was wiped under Korean ''clean slate'' laws and Lee declared it voluntarily in 2017 once he realised it was required.
The report's authors also examined why Lee bought the properties without consent.
They found the initial idea of setting up a New Zealand centre for Brain Education, a mind-body training technique espoused by Lee, and a meditation tourism business came from a Korean-New Zealander named Simon Kim.
Lee does not speak English so Kim, a real estate agent and immigration advisor, chose and bought most of the properties.
Kim's understanding of the Overseas Investment Act was poor and he wrongly assumed that Lee, as a New Zealand resident, did not require permission to buy land.
Lee was allowed to apply for retrospective consent because the breach was inadvertent.
A cut-out of Ilchi Lee welcomes visitors on a bush walk at his Pungaere Rd property west of Kerikeri. Photo / Peter de Graaf
In a statement to the Advocate, Lee said he would continue to live and invest in the Far North and help bring jobs and visitors to the district.
"Of course I am disappointed ... There were inadvertent mistakes made when I purchased the properties. I relied on advisers who were not aware of the OIO rules.''
"I have invested millions of dollars in the properties to build the Meditation Tour business that attracts thousands of overseas visitors to the Far North. Development on these properties has given local contractors much needed work and the businesses themselves employ around 40 locals during peak season. I love this area and am committed to being a part of it for many years to come,'' Lee said.
He was continuing discussions with the OIO about his next steps.
OIO enforcement manager Jeremy Ford said possible consequences for breaching the Act included penalties, ordering the buyer to sell the properties, and warnings.
If someone was ordered to sell land they were typically given 12 months but that could be extended if, for example, values had been reduced due to Covid-19.
Far North Mayor John Carter and Ngāti Rehia leader Nora Rameka wrote to the ministers in support of Lee.
Carter said Lee's businesses were a significant contributor to Far North tourism with flow-on effects for many local firms.
His contribution to the community included donating defibrillators and sponsoring programmes at Northland marae for at-risk youth.
