Questions over Tamihere's election funds

John Tamihere

A Serious Fraud Office investigation has raised questions over how embattled Labour MP John Tamihere funded his election campaign in 1999.

The office announced in March it would not be laying charges against Mr Tamihere after an investigation into financial irregularities at the Waipareira Trust, which he used to head before he entered Parliament.

However, documents obtained by the Herald on Sunday show questions remain over tens of thousands of dollars paid into a special fund set up by Mr Tamihere and his campaign manager Mike Tolich.

The documents, filed in court by the Serious Fraud Office, raise the possibility that $20,000 may have been transferred from the Waipareira Trust to the trust fund.
The papers also suggest the fund may have received another $40,000 from a pub charity.

The payment from the gaming trust - which is protected under suppression rules - was made just three weeks before Mr Tamihere's election win in November 1999.

The SFO has alleged half the money was paid back in "kickbacks".

In March, the office announced it had decided to lay fraud charges against Mr Tolich and a former publican after uncovering evidence of what it claimed were fake invoices.

Neither Mr Tolich nor the former publican has yet pleaded to the charges that have been laid.

Although both Mr Tamihere and Mr Tolich countersigned all the cheques that went through the fund, Mr Tolich has maintained that Mr Tamihere had no knowledge of what was happening.

Mr Tamihere maintains that most of the cheques he signed were blank.

Investigators are believed to have quizzed Mr Tamihere closely on the payments into and out of the fund, known as the Te Tahi Trust.

A report by Doug White QC, ordered last year by Prime Minister Helen Clark, said Mr Tamihere did not appear to have broken the law relating to political donations.

It noted that the Te Tahi Trust was established in 1999 by Mr Tamihere and Mr Tolich to support "cultural, social, political and economic development for Maori".

However, the SFO papers reveal that Mr Tamihere told investigators that the trust was for people to donate money to his political campaign without their identities being revealed.

Mr Tolich said he had been advised by his lawyer Gary Gotlieb not to comment to the media.

However, he also said: "You've obviously ... got more than the White Report."

Mr Tamihere did not return Herald on Sunday calls.

Prime Minister Helen Clark would not comment.

Act leader Rodney Hide, who has led accusations against Mr Tamihere, said the Labour MP needed to explain what the purpose of the Te Tahi Trust was.

"John Tamihere has told the public of New Zealand he is in the clear," Mr Hide said.

"He should demonstrate his confidence by making all documents public. No doubt John Tamihere told Prime Minister Helen Clark about all this.

"Given her claim of opennessand accountability she should demand he explain the Te Tahi Trust payments."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY