Trust drops Ngatata threat
‘‘Essentially, if there isn’t a legal basis for something, there’s absolutely no point pursuing it.’’ Trust chairman Morrie Love
The Maori trust that Sir Ngatata Love was jailed for defrauding says it has no plans to pursue him through the courts, even as it chases his former partner.
After Love – who had his first hearing before the Parole Board yesterday – was jailed in October, the Wellington Tenths Trust said it would establish a panel to investigate other business from when he was its chairman.
Love, who has dementia but was deemed fit to stand trial, originally faced a raft of corruption charges, but these were dropped when his former partner, Lorraine Skiffington, was granted a stay of prosecution on account of her poor health.
Although details of its investigation have not been released, the trust has said the panel that conducted the review included a forensic accountant at Deloitte and a lawyer from Bell Gully.
But according to the trust’s new chairman, Morrie Love, the panel’s report found it would be difficult to obtain evidence to mount a case in the civil courts.
‘‘You’ve got to be able to get information from people who are not related in any way to the Wellington Tenths Trust and, unless you have the powers that the [Serious Fraud Office] has, you are not going to get that information.’’
Ngatata Love, 79, an emeritus professor at Victoria University of Wellington and former chief executive of Te Puni Kokiri, was found guilty of defrauding the trust, which Justice Graham Lang described as an ‘‘elaborate deception’’.
At least $1.5 million that developers believed was going to the trust went to a company controlled by Skiffington. Trustees said they had no knowledge of the payment, which was used to pay down a loan on a house the pair jointly owned on Plimmerton’s Moana Rd.
While the Wellington Tenths Trust has won a freezing order over Skiffington’s assets, Morrie Love said the trust had no plans to pursue a case against Ngatata Love.
Morrie Love declined to release the panel’s findings, which have also not been seen by the trust’s mostly Wellington and Taranakibased beneficiaries.
A summary would be included in the trust’s annual report, ahead of its annual meeting in Wellington next month.
Morrie Love said the decision not to pursue court action was not related to Ngatata Love’s former position in the trust, nor his relationship to other trustees.
‘‘Essentially, if there isn’t a legal basis for something, there’s absolutely no point pursuing it.
‘‘A question was asked for us to investigate these matters. They were investigated by an independent party as extensively as was possible, and that’s the end of the matter.’’
The situation in the case of Skiffington was different to that of Ngatata Love, Morrie Love said.
‘‘He received no payments, and that’s the basis upon which we’re pursuing Lorraine [Skiffington].’’
In June, the Court of Appeal dismissed Ngatata Love’s appeal against his conviction and sentence, which argued that he was not fit to stand trial.
Love, who has been serving his sentence at Rimutaka Prison in Upper Hutt, appeared before the Parole Board yesterday morning. It has not announced the outcome of the hearing.
After the deadline for Love to appeal to the Supreme Court passed, Prime Minister Bill English said he had asked the Cabinet Office for advice on whether to strip him of his knighthood.