Candidate’s financial dealings questioned
A Pacific leader at the centre of a critical Ministry of Health audit is standing at the local body elections.
Edwin Puni is running for a seat on the Mangere-Otahuhu Local Board under the National Party-aligned Auckland Future ticket.
Puni headed the inaugural New Zealand Pacific Leaders forum chaired by Prime Minister John Key at the Beehive in April.
Puni was chairman of the Health Star Pacific Trust, which a Ministry of Health audit in 2012 found loaned money to board members and to companies in which board members had an interest.
The trust received about $5.8 million from the ministry and Auckland and Counties-Manukau district health boards to promote breast screening, pregnancy support, immunisation and HPV awareness to Pacific communities.
The audit found Puni partly owned Event Polynesia Ltd, which was paid $70,000 for website costs “disproportionate” to the limited use of the site.
Companies Office records show Event Polynesia currently has two directors — Edwin Puni and Rosa Puni — both registered at the same South Auckland address.
Event Polynesia was paid $22,500 for secure storage of seven trust vehicles over two years at Puni’s property in South Auckland.
An aerial photo in the audit showed “insufficient” storage for six vehicles and said it appeared likely vehicles were parked on the roadside.
Event Polynesia was paid $10,000 plus GST for associate sponsorship at two boxing events, which the audit said appeared to give “very limited, if any benefit” to the trust.
The audit also found Puni ran up a $10,786 bill on a trust mobile phone and received an unsecured loan for $10,000 from the trust “to assist with cash flow” at 5.5 per cent interest when the ASB rate for unsecured personal loans was 17.95 per cent.
The trust loaned $310,000 to the Samoa Health Mission Charitable Trust, with which Puni and three other board members were linked. Interest was written off and only $76,567 was repaid, the audit said.
The audit contains responses from the trust. It said said the 5.5 per cent interest on the loan was higher than the bank investment rate, the boxing sponsorship promoted the trust and the phone bills were justified.
When approached last week, Puni said he had not declared the audit findings on his Auckland Future application form.
The form requires people to declare past or current aspects of their life that “might cause embarrassment to me or the party”.
Puni said it was a standard audit and referred questions to the Ministry of Health.
The ministry’s public health group manager, Grant Pollard, said that after the audit a recovery plan was reached with the trust that included a new board independent of the management team, an ex officio ministry representative on the board for 12 months, full repayment of staff loans and new financial systems.
The trust currently held two ministry contracts for services to Pacific communities in Auckland worth $365,265 and $184,000 a year.
The trust had fulfilled its contractual obligations, Pollard said.
Rick Johnston, an accountant brought in to chair the trust after the audit, said Puni had kept his position as the administration manager.