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ACT MP Donna Huata Faces 12 Fraud Charges
The long running saga of ACT MP Donna Awatere Huata and her involvement in the misuse of Government funds provided to an educational trust called the Pipi Foundation came to a head this morning with the laying of criminal charges against the MP.
Opening Parliament this afternoon Speaker Jonathan Hunt announced that he had recently received a letter from the Serious Fraud Office Director David Bradshaw related to the matter.
He said the letter informed him that suspended ACT MP Donna Huata appeared in a Napier court this morning and faced 12 charges in relation to the Pipi Trust.
Eleven of the charges alleged the use of a document to defraud, namely a cheque, the Speaker said.
The remaining charge alleged that Ms Huata sought to pervert the course of Justice, Mr Hunt said.
Alastair Thompson
Scoop Publisher
Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.
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