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The chair of the Kahungunu ki Wairarapa’s treaty settlement trust is accusing the Maori Education Trust of moral bankruptcy over the sale of a Wairarapa farm.
The 320 hectare Mapuna Atea was gifted in the 1960s by owner Ned Holmes for the benefit of Wairarapa Maori, but ended up being to fund scholarships for all Maori.
The trust says it had to sell the farm because it had spent too much on new milking sheds.
Ian Perry says Ngati Kahungunu’s offer was turned down because of its conditions, including raising finance, having enough time to do diligence, and securing a mandate from iwi members.
"I chair the Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tamaki Nui a Rua Settlement Trust and we do not have a mnadate to spend the settlement interest and we have to go back to seek a mandate. That would have taken 10 days. So we were very disappointed at 20 to 12, tenders closed at 12, we were rung up to say if we did not withdraw the conditions we would not be considered." he says.
Ian Perry says the Maori Education Trust did not inform the buyers that Kahungunu wanted the farm as part of its treaty settlement.
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