Maori educationalist Toni Waho can hold his head high. Vindicated by the High Court for bringing allegations of fraud within Te Pataka Ohanga to the attention of government in 2014 he was acting within his mandate as a trustee of Te Kohanga Reo National Trust to comply with government’s ‘no surprises’ policy in Te Kohanga’s funding agreement.
A majority of trustees voted Mr Waho off the Te Kohanga Trust board alleging he had brought the Trust into disrepute by going to government behind the Trust’s back. Justice Clark ruled Mr Waho was unlawfully dismissed. He was awarded trustee fees lost: three years and eight months lost at some $29,900 per year.
In 2014, Te Kohanga Trust was receiving about $2.56 million per year to support retention of te reo Maori. Wholly-owned subsidiary Te Pataka Ohanga Ltd linked the Trust and individual kohanga reo. Allegations of financial mismanagement swirled around Te Pataka. General manager of Te Pataka Lynda Tawhiwhirangi was under suspicion over use of her corporate credit card. The High Court was told Ms Tawhiwhirangi in league with her husband went on the offensive, attempting to extort a settlement package totalling some $800,000 out of Te Pataka by threatening to release spending and funding issues to media. These allegations were contained in a document which became known as ‘the Rakai list’ named after Mr Tawhiwhirangi. Mr Waho told the High Court the Rakai list contained allegations against both the Trust and Te Pataka. Some of the allegations were trivial, Justice Clark said, but many were serious enough to demand investigation by Te Kohanga Trust trustees. These allegations have not been made public, other than cryptic references to ‘purchases and loans for board members’ and ‘car for the King’.
Mr Waho was disturbed that the Rakai allegations were not followed up; other Te Kohanga trustees viewed them as a sideshow in what was an employment dispute between Ms Tawhiwhirangi and Te Pataka. He had legal advice that supressing potential criminal activity left trustees vulnerable as accessories.
In the background, accounting firm Ernst & Young was finalising a government-commissioned report into internal financial controls within the organisation. Its enquiries were restricted to accounting information up to the end of December 2012. A media presentation was timetabled to publicise Ernst & Young’s report. One day prior, Mr Waho sent an email to the then Minister of Education recommending a delay. ‘Certain matters’ should be first discussed, he wrote. He left it to the Te Kohanga trust board to provide detail. Press releases went out with government left in the dark. Within 24 hours there was a dramatic turnaround. Government became aware of Mr Waho’s concerns. A Serious Fraud Office inquiry was announced. By June 2014, Serious Fraud announced it would not be taking any further action; no criminal offending was identified. The Te Kohanga Trust board trumpeted this news as proof Mr Waho’s serious allegations were unfounded. Justice Clark pointed out that the Rakai allegations were not referred to Serious Fraud for investigation. She further said Serious Fraud had been critical of failures in corporate governance by Te Pataka. A separate Internal Affairs investigation into Te Pataka found gross mismanagement in relation to credit card use, governance and financial management, directors’ fees, koha and financial assistance loans.
Mr Waho was dumped from the Trust board by fellow trustees in November 2014, ostensibly for bringing the Trust into disrepute. There was no factual foundation for this dismissal, Justice Clark ruled. Mr Waho acted not only with a sense of personal integrity, she said, but in conformity with the obligation on each member of the trust board to disclose to government allegations of any serious wrongdoing at Te Pataka or the Trust.
Waho v. Te Kohanga Reo National Trust – High Court (31.07.18)
18.154