Probe into Maori King adviser’s spending
Trips to Tonga and Hawaii under investigation into multi-million dollar iwi investments, writes Tony Wall.
A Maori leader who ploughed millions of dollars of iwi money into a failing Tongan forestry company used another trust’s credit card while in Tonga, running up bills at a top restaurant and a club.
Roger Pikia, an adviser to Maori King Tuheitia, is at the centre of investigations into the finances of two wealthy Te Arawa iwi trusts which he chairs.
A forensic audit is investigating a number of investments and expenditure relating to the Te Arawa River Iwi Trust (Tarit) after a group of elders took their concerns to the Government.
Tarit is to receive millions of dollars over the next two decades to care for its section of the Waikato River.
Large sums of Tarit money have been invested in companies linked to Pikia, and other expenditure is also being looked into.
Pikia, a business consultant who describes himself as ‘‘Ambassador for Diplomatic Relations and International Trade’’ for the office of the Maori King, says he’s confident the audit will clear him.
He is a controversial figure. In 2013, a High Court judge said his actions in claiming his grandmother’s land could be described as a ‘‘fraudulent breach of trust’’.
Using his power of attorney for his grandmother he’d transferred $438,000 from her estate without her consent and used it to buy a pig farm.
It was announced in June that the small Tahu Whaoa iwi, which Pikia also chairs, had covered the $2.6m debts of a state-owned Tongan forestry company and had agreed to pay a further $3.5m in return for control of the company for 50 years.
Sunday News has obtained invoices and bank statements showing that Pikia used a Tarit credit card while in Tonga in 2015, racking up $1500 at the Seaview restaurant and the Ladies and Gentlemen Club in downtown Nuku’alofa.
Upon his return from Tonga, Pikia stayed for a week at the Novotel Hotel at Auckland airport, notching up $1600 for accommodation and $435 for food, according to the invoice, which was sent to Tarit for payment.
Tarit’s staff are understood to have questioned the expenditure as the organisation had no business in Tonga. Pikia said at the time there was a mistake by his travel agent but no further explanation was forthcoming.
Pikia refused to discuss any of the allegations while the audit was under way.
‘‘It’s been a costly exercise but it’s best that this is clarified and if there’s further action that needs to be taken . . . then that’s likely what will happen,’’ he said.
He confirmed the audit was also looking into a trip he took to Hawaii in 2014 with the King’s eldest son, Whatumoana Paki.
An $18,000 invoice for the Hawaii trip, which included business class flights and nine nights at the Waikiki Beach Hilton, was sent to Tarit.
It’s understood staff were unaware of the Hawaii trip until the invoice arrived.
Pikia said he expected the audit would ‘‘provide answers to a lot of your questions’’ around the Hawaii trip and other expenditure.
Pikia’s finances have been in the news since it was revealed in 2015 that Lincoln University had paid his consulting company more than $400,000 for advice on ‘‘new revenue streams’’.
In June a joint investigation by RNZ and TV3’s The Hui revealed $775,000 of Tarit money invested in Ka Ora Ltd, a health food company of which Pikia is a director and had been a shareholder. Ka Ora is part owned and directed by Wira Gardiner, husband of Education Minister Hekia Parata.
Former Attorney General Paul East has been appointed to the Tarit board and is understood to have been instrumental in getting the forensic audit started.
Te Arawa elder Maanu Paul, co-chair of the New Zealand Maori Council, said he was very concerned and had recommended that trust beneficiaries call in investigators.