Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader
28 MAY 2014

In-Depth, Not ‘In-House’, Audit of Trust by Auditor-General Required

New Zealand First Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters is calling for the Auditor-General to urgently launch an inquiry into Māori intellectually disabled services trust, Te Roopu Taurima O Manukau.

“Clearly there has been an accounting and auditing failure at the trust and only a superficial review by the Ministry of Health.

“It is time for an in-depth investigation from the Auditor-General’s office, not some cosy, in-house quick overview of their own affairs.

“New Zealand First has been provided with detailed incidents of deliberate mismanagement of finances.

“Among serious allegations is an under-the-table payment of over $42,000 to secure a vehicle supply contract that should be under investigation at this very moment.

“We have been reliably informed the so-called audit of the trust merely looked at funds coming into Te Roopu as the trust itself was concerned it was not receiving the correct level of funding.

“There was no overarching audit of spending, nor of policies and procedures to ensure transparency and accountability,” says Mr Peters.

ENDS

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