Boss not aware of claims

The chairman of the Hokonui Ru¯ nanga says he was not aware of a submission his organisation made which claims money laundering may be happening in the Gore District by organised crime.

The claim was made by the Ru¯ nanga in a submission to the Gore District Council’s Draft Gambling Policy and TAB Venues Policy, which will be heard next week.

But chairman Terry Nicholas said he was not aware of the submission, written by staff member Joann Brand, which said ‘‘there seems to be a link between P users and gambling practices which indicates a money laundering process may also be employed by organised crime locally.’’

When told what the submission said, he said: ‘‘I don’t think we want to be saying that.’’

He declined to comment further until he had read the submission, but did not return calls for comment later in the day.

The submission was made in 2019, but a hearing into the council’s policy review is only being held next week.

The Mataura Licencing Trust runs premises in the Gore district where pokie machines are in operation.

Its general manager Mark Paterson and chairman Horace McAuley did not return calls for comment yesterday.

Gore District Council chief executive Steve Parry said the allegations in the submissions ‘‘floored him’’ when they were raised with him by general manager Rebecca Taylor.

‘‘It’s a very potent comment made by the Ru¯ nanga and if it’s true, it’s concerning,’’ he said.

‘‘We need to find out if it’s a real issue, but that is a decision for the council, even if we have to have a further review.’’

The Problem Gambling Foundation says it has heard anecdotally that money from organised crime is being laundered through gaming machines in parts of the country, but it has no concrete evidence.

Problem Gambling Foundation Group director of marketing and communications Andree Froude said nationally, the amount of money being spent on gambling was increasing throughout the country.

‘‘We hear that sometimes the proceeds of crime are fed through machines. It’s a way of cleaning the money so that even if they take a small loss, they have a receipt to say they have been on a gaming machine,’’ Froude said.

‘‘We are still at a bit of a loss to understand how it is happening, and we certainly don’t have evidence of it.’’