May 24, 2018
River trust defends whitebait farm investment
Te Arawa River Iwi Trust or TARIT has hit back at calls from kaumatua Sir Toby Curtis and Maanu Paul that its funding from the crown to clean up the Waikato River be frozen until it can property account for the money.
The pair are concerned at the activities of the trust's chair Roger Pikia and in particular in an investment in a failed whitebait farm.
The Serious Fraud Office is investating Mr Pikia.
TARIT chief executive Eugene Berryman-Kamp says the elders should know to not meddle in affairs outside of their iwi.
He says a forensic audit was completed by KPMG in November 2016 has been shared with the boards of the trust's three beneficial Iwi authorities, but Sir Toby and Mr Paul are not entitled to see that audit.
Mr Berryman-Kamp says New Zealand Premium Whitebait was tipped into receivership when one of the 12 shareholders withheld a scheduled capital injection, but it's just one of a range of investments the trust has made in a bid to become self-funding.
The trust is also concerned Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little weighed into the row.
It has offered to show ministers what it has achieved in eight years including riparian fencing and planting, wetland restoration, restoring and recognising sacred sites, microhydro power generation, history wananga, education projects with schools in the rohe and active participation with four councils and seven ministries on policy and planning, submissions, resource consents, easements and customary fishing regulations
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