21 Mar 2014

Iwi Education Authority commends Parata

2:06 pm on 21 March 2014

The Iwi Education Authority is commending Education Minister Hekia Parata for the way she's dealt with the Kohanga Reo National Trust.

Te Maru o Nga Kura a Iwi o Aotearoa says it's been common knowledge for a number of years that there's been financial problems within the trust.

Hekia Parata.

Hekia Parata. Photo: RNZ

It says an independent review's found the trust innocent of mis-spending public funds, but it says what needs to be made public is how they used that money.

Te Maru o Nga Kura says it wants to make it clear that the authority supports the amazing efforts by kohanga, which has achieved its primary purpose to get whanau speaking te reo Maori.

But it says for some time the trust has required some decisive action - both for its own sake, and the interest of whanau and taxpayers.

The Iwi Education Authority says Ms Parata is making this happen by referring the matter to the Serious Fraud Office.

It says iwi should support her actions because it's an opportunity for the kohanga trust to move forward in a new way that reflects what whanau truly want.

Iwi Education Authority spokesperson Toby Curtis says the SFO is a powerful body that can dig deep into allegations of mis-spending.

He says there'll be a lot of finger-pointing until it's known what is going on at the Kohanga Reo National Trust.

Allegations not new - Fox

When the Education Minister referred the trust's commercial branch Te Pataka Ohanga to the Serious Fraud Office this week, she said fresh allegations had been made.

But a trust spokesperson, Derek Fox, says those allegations are not new and are the result of a "family spat".

Mr Fox says the allegations were made last year by people unhappy with the sacking of the trust's former chief executive, Titoki Black.

Ms Black lost her position in July 2013 after an internal audit discovered the trust received nearly 8-hundred-thousand dollars of funding for a course it had not gained accreditation for.

At the time about 300 whanau from the Mataatua-Tauranga Moana branch of the kohanga movement travelled to Wellington to oppose the way Ms Black was let go.

{h} Other inquiries

An Ernst & Young review found there was no misuse of public money by the Kohanga board. But as the money handled by its wholly owned subsidiary Te Pataka Ohanga is not deemed to be public money, the review did not look into the allegations that business credit cards were mis-used.

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) confirmed on Wednesday that its Charities Services division is investigating the Kohanga Reo National Trust. The department would not comment on the exact nature of its investigation, but Ms Parata said she understands it relates to Te Pataka Ohanga.