October 10, 2019
Tau quits rūnanga as allegations swirl
Te Rūnanga-ā-iwi ō Ngāpuhi has accepted the resignation of its chair Rāniera Tau.
Mr Tau offered his immediate resignation after the runanga was asked about unspecified allegations made about him.
Chief executive Lorraine Toki and deputy chair Mere Mangu says "at this time we have not been notified by Mr Tau, his lawyers or Police of any charges", and they don’t know the substance of the allegations.
Any pending investigation is a police responsibility which the rūnanga is not a part of, and it has no further comment.
Mr Tau was re-elected to the rūnanga earlier this year by a record margin after facing a challenge in his Hauāuru Takiwā.
The high voter turnout was hailed by the rūnanga at the time as a demonstration of support for Mr Tau.
But in the wake of the failure of the Tuhoronuku process last year, he has not been able to marshal support around a new structure to negotiate a unified settlement of Ngāpuhi claims.
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