Former MP and treaty negotiator Mita Ririnui has successfully won an interim order from the Supreme Court blocking Landcorp from selling farmland that a Bay of Plenty iwi says was confiscated.
Landcorp Farming Ltd has entered into an agreement to sell Wharere farm in the Bay of Plenty near Pukehina to Micro Farms Ltd for $19 million.
The agreement is to be settled on or before the end of this month.
However, local iwi Ngati Whakahemo launched legal action to challenge the sale.
A decision by the Court of Appeal yesterday ruled against the tribe, which had claimed the land had been confiscated through the legal process.
But today, they have been thrown a lifeline by the Supreme Court.
Former Labour MP Mita Ririnui, who is now chair of Te Runanga o Ngati Whakahemo, appealed to the highest court in New Zealand to block the sale.
In a decision out today, the Supreme Court made an interim order that "Landcorp not proceed with the sale of the Wharere Farm until further order of the Court".
"Given that ... there will be no irremediable prejudice to Landcorp if the completion of the sale is deferred in the meantime, we think it clear that the balance of convenience favours an interim order," the Supreme Court judgement says.
