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A former spokesperson for the Māori king is welcoming the Serious Fraud Office stepping into an investigation into the king’s charity.
The SFO yesterday exercised a search warrant on the offices of the Ururangi Trust near Ngāruawāhia.
Tukoroirangi Morgan says investigation was started by the Charities Commission. which ended in June when the trust voluntarily disestablished itself.
He says it’s important for the tribe that questions over the trust are cleared up, and the SFO has the focus and resources to do that.
"It’s tribal money that has been hard fought for. It began as part of our treaty settlement. Because we give annual distributions to the office we have to have certainty around how any of the tribal funds are spent," Mr Morgan says.
He says it could be time for the king’s office to come back under direct funding by the tribe rather than being channeled through a trust.
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