SOME TRIBES LOST ALL THEIR MONEY WHILE OTHERS JUST ABOUT?

TRUSTS AND MAORI SETTLEMENTS INVESTMENT FUNDS

TURNING BAD BY THE VERY PEOPLE WHO SHOULD BE HELPING THEIR IWI

1995 Tainui settlement of $170m. We are reminded of Tainui who in 1999 invested in the Auckland warriors and went near bankrupt losing millions. Tukoroirangi Morgan's legacy to the Tainui tribe has been one of all sorts: good and bad, corruption, costly lawsuits, deceit amongst other things? it was noted on this blog? In 2009 Tainui lost around $91m we are told? true or false it makes for a good story. Waikato Raupatu Lands Trust and Group revaluation of its property and investment portfolio left a $51 million deficit. In June 2013 the Tainui tribe is considering a major investment in Kim Dotcom’s Mega website venture, and Dotcom’s staff said it could be the start of an era of Maori investment in the digital world. Tuku better get this one right if he goes ahead as he may have missed the boat for when Dotcom got nailed, the world woke up about Megas file sharing business and now everyone & lookalikes have jumped on the bandwagon including godaddy the largest hosting corporation in the world. Then in Jan 2013 LeaseWeb, one of Europe's biggest hosting providers, wiped 630 servers that contained Megaupload data file-sharing. Maybe Tuku will need to rethink what he will do to further Tainuis slowly depleting stockpile. In 2022 Waikato-Tainui's Tukoroirangi Morgan was appointed to lead the northern Three Waters iwi body.Tuku is chair of the iwi’s Te Arataura tribal executive so he's doing alright at the helm in spite of his past escapades?? Yes the controversial 3 Waters Saga: essentially the Government setting up four regional bodies to oversee council-owned drinking water, stormwater and wastewater (about 85 per cent of the total).

Ngati Tuwharetoa 2013: Bad investments, bailouts, mismanagement, accountancy fraud, you name it & now the latest revelations Taupo's Tuwharetoa Iwi has just lost $29m of its $66-million share of its treaty settlement = $37m left---well not quite?. Ngati Tuwharetoa follows Taranaki's Ngati Tama who lost its $14.5-million payout it received in 2003, also due to bad investments & bad secular management. The Tuwharetoa Settlements Trust not only got cash but also received a share of 176,000 hectares of Crown forest land ($197-million), 25.9 per cent of annual Crown forest licence fees ($2-$3million a year) and a share of three million carbon credits?? An audit realized a cash asset drop from $66-$37million. due to fraud, embezzlement or other financial factors like not declaring expenditures which sounds very familiar. When ex National Party MP Georgina te Heuheu & general manager, Temuera Hall came into the Trust they said the accounts were a mess. But whats new? Georgina te Heuheu, once Maori affairs spokeswoman for the National Party, was on the Maori Affairs select committee that pushed through the Central North Island Forests Land Collective Settlement Bill in 2008. The bill allowed vesting of the Central North Island Crown forest land and the transfer of rentals in relation to that land so that those assets can be allocated to the Central North Island Iwi Collective in settlement of their historic forest land claims. Her brother-in-law, Tumu te Heuheu, as Ngati Tuwharetoa paramount chief, was a key recipient of the settlement. In 2008, the trust bailed out two tribal entities with $10.2-million? and secured a 649ha block of land near Turangi after Te Whenua Venture Holdings went into liquidation. It also advanced a loan to another tribal entity to get a hotel with a $2.7-million mortgage attached. A total of $16.2-million has been distributed to hapu trusts as required by the 2008 Deed of Settlement.

Sir Wira Gardiner & accountant Graham Pryor had been part of the Central North Island (CNI) settlement representing Tuwharetoa and Pryor was made a director of CO2 New Zealand Management Company as a result. Pryor did not adhere to an audit report when he was advised that it was maybe a bad investment before he committed but the way it sounds he was already saying yes. Wira Gardiner it seems approved the $3.8 million deal with C02 New Zealand Management Company without gaining approval from NAGHL (Ngati Awa Group Holdings Ltd) board or the Te Runanga o Ngati Awa (TRONA) board. Is this a conflict of interest? you bet your life it is. The report showed there was no prior approval as stated before Pryor was a director as neither shown nor forthcoming. Pryor was also Chairman of the Investment Committee & if he was told the investment could be a little toxic, then why did he not pass this info on and why did he go ahead with the deal? Its not hard to fathom.

Wira Gardiner in his role as minder for the tribe never checked the necessary approvals before committing the $3.8 million? cause its not his money I guess? Plus no doubt he saw it as a windfall of air & they all fell for it as in those days the highs were just that? One must also remember a few years back the other pet venture where Ngati Awa Asset Holdings invested $5.2 million in the failed golf course venture of Birnie Capital and the internet service provider company, Go Net. Bill Birnie as we know was the 1990s high-flying merchant banker at Fay Richwhite who couldn't do no wrong, so many thought? Ngati Awa Asset Holdings cried foul & claimed Birnie and Steve Norrie breached fiduciary duty by voting against the exercise of a put option that would force the return of $19 million to BCPP. By the way this was back in 2010 when the Lion Rock Golf Course and Lion Rock Development scheme were on the cards. Finally in Nov 2012 Bill Birnie's Bergdorf Investments were liquidated with creditors - including the estate of his late wife. The liquidator Glenn Walker said the company owed $11m more than it held in assets. Too bad for Ngati Awa Asset Holdings who were really getting on top of things or maybe it was just a pause as the story continues......

Entering the tangled fray we then have one respected Kaumatua, Waaka Vercoe who was chairman of Ngati Awa’s audit committee saying Wira Gardiner had forced him off the committee after he refused to allow Omataroa Trust, which he also chairs, to back a honey venture that Wira Gardiner was promoting. Waaka ia a very respected Kaumatua and an excellent conveyor of central government & Maori trust affairs and it is sad to see how this kaumatua was subjected to this kind of action? General Manager, Ngāti Awa Social Services, Enid Ratahi-Pryor said Waaka Vercoe stood down voluntarily because he was getting old and tired. One has to then wonder what Enid's real motive was in saying such a thing????? Again we see Wira Gardiner in super play but for whom & whose pocket? New Zealand Manuka, chaired by non other than education minister Hekia Parata's husband Sir Wira Gardiner, signed a memorandum of understanding with Beijing Tong Ren Tang for the export of manuka honey to China in April 2013 and we are told, signed up with another Chinese business.This was done on the back of the Key expedition to promote NZ business in China. For Waaka we must say it must be totally degrading to be even told he was too old for his role ?? Beijing Tong Ren Tang got done in 2019 selling expired honey & fined $US2.07m for export of out of date manuka honey & with Cyclone Gabriel demolishing over 5000 hives in NZ in 2023 the honey bee saga isnt looking that good for many Maori enterprises who ventured in to make a quick buck....

The New Zealand Manuka deal was one of the commercial outcomes of a "Maori Inc" mission to China last year. A cross-section of the $37 billion-plus "Taniwha Economy" joined biligerent Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples on the 10-day mission visiting Beijing, Guiyang, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Jiangmen and Hong Kong.Among the business delegates: New Zealand Manuka, Wakatu, Central North Island Holdings; Maori Trustee, Maori Tourism, Poutama Trust, Ngai Tahu Seafoods, Te Wananga O Aotearoa, Whale Watch Kaikoura, Federation of Maori Authorities, ANZ, Kiwi Media and Kahungunu Asset Holding. Yes & we see Maori Trustee Jamie Tuuta progressed his own discussions with Chinese players in the money making honey bonanza? & the Maori had the Chinese in their pockets or so they thought...a free ride on Sharples, plenty of kai & chinese wine & the ride to stardom in the honey bee industry.....

Sad to say the quick riches didnt last--- In 2022 Based on reports from 41% of beekeepers managing 49% of New Zealand’s honeybee colonies, we estimate the overall loss rate during winter 2022 to be 13.5%, or approximately 98,000 colonies.

Losses attributed to queen problems, wasps, and suspected starvation were close to their long-term averages whereas losses attributed to suspected varroa continued to increase. Indeed, 6.4% of all living colonies entering winter 2022 are estimated to have been lost to varroa.

But theres more to the issue of the CO2 New Zealand Management Company as at the time 2010 we were all looking at $25+ ETS per tonne even down here in the Horowhenua in carbon credits; big money, profits etc just like winning lotto. The idea behind the ETS is to put a price on carbon pollution or better still a carbon tax of sorts. It means that polluters pay for each tonne of emissions, creating a disincentive for high carbon activities and making low carbon options more competitive. But it didn't work quite like that. Maori Iwi invested heavily in credits. But unbeknown it virtually fell on its face within a year & then dropped below $2 & has become a rotten lemon for those who bought farms thinking their carbon credits would pay the mortgage? It also spells bad for Maori Iwi as we are the largest recipients @ 30%. The European Union’s Emissions Trading System was intended to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by setting a market price on them but it was based on purely stable economies, not rocky ones. Carbon credits are not a commodity unit but exist as a vacuum. The system, set up in three phases, required polluters to acquire credits to offset their emissions. A glut of credits, combined with lower demand because of the weak economies, drove down the price to close to zero & in NZ it was hard to fathom, which to many was a god save. Most who read the prospectus couldn't make head nor tail out of it which in a way was good as those of us who thought about getting in hesitated & never took the plunge. Our premonitions were right.eg. if your trees blew over in a storm you had to pay back as happened in the Taranaki Patea storm? It is not what one would call a safe investment but at the time for those who could get their head around carbon credits it was a way to make quick money, or so they thought. The problem was it never functioned right as the pollutors could now buy in at cheap costs that mean't nothing to those holders of credits so the pollution remains. People bought farms as banks were as per usual ready to portray the easy way of paying back mortgages using credits as equity props. Today in 2013 many who listened to the sales pitch banks gave will be regretting the move as they will slowly lose their farms as the credits they relied on now erode. In reality it is another way of taxing and profiting on thin air just like the Fed printing $$$ & our tribes losing because of total mismanagement by a few who don't have clue and perception of doing business with no safeguards or protection mechanisms in place. The worst is that Maori rely on quick get rich schemes by promoters whose only thought is profit?.

You can see why now Wira must be a little hot under the collar at the leaks happening & said when he realized what had happened he had asked for Graham Pryor to resign? He also wanted to mum this blog website which is exposing the exploits for whanau in the tribe & rightfully so? Then one must ask what in the world the rest of the Board and Trust were doing about all this for the tribe just as we ask the MTA for Muaupoko? How strange for a corporate wizz like Wira after the fact that he could do such business yet can direct tribal monies at will & overstep the mark? Perhaps being a negotiator paved the way? or is it being a Sir, or is it because of his wife? But we are allowed to guess as one does not have to be a rocket scientist to analyse the "information stifle tactics" not only Wira wants, but also how other tribes & Trusts also try to mum meetings from tribal owners who have a right. Somewhere along the line the question arises "whose money is it and what are you really doing for your people?". Sir John Te Herekiekie Grace one of the great tipuna must be saddened as he lays in Tokaanu knowing what was going on with Tuwharetoa.

Sir John wrote the Tuwharetoa tribal history book in 1959 & was one of the initiators of the Tuwharetoa Trust Board & a totally honest Maori dedicated to his people as well as others. He was born on 28 July 1905 in Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui’s (Major Kemp’s) whare in Wanganui and the author here is well acquainted with Sir John who was indeed a man who deserved more merit than those of todays "tribal saviour Sirs". In between he was a farmer on the Pararparas but he was much liked by all. He helped start Tuwharetoa Trust Board and many Maori causes during those early days where maori were back benched & deprived of their culture by the Government of the day. This was the era where even at school they had no Maori Te Reo yet they made it an obligation to speak French and Latin? no doubt pushed by the Colonial idiots of the day. John Te Herekiekie Grace was typical of Maori leaders that emerged in the 1950s together with Ralph Love, Heteriki Te Kani te Ua, Apirana Ngata etc. They never stifled anyone, they always sort mediation, they listened to their people, & they were the ones who advanced Maori. They realized all whanau not a few must be involved. How today this whole perception has changed and greed and power become a relentless obsession as the "new wave" of Maori highflyers emerges ?

HOROWHENUA LAKE COMMISSION:

Wira Gardiner by the way was the Commissioner brought into the Horowhenua to unravel the pollution and lack of whatever. He visited the Lake with the Lake Trustees and then spoke to the Lake Domain Board who haven't done a thing about getting rid of the sludge out of the Lake nor want to. The Councillors on this Lake Domain Board know what the problem is and they will not even suggest dredging our Lake. Just read there minutes over the years and ask yourself--. But they are all too ready to get the Government grant of we are told around $5m to spend on beautifying a lake, jobs for themselves and to stretch it out over many years. Even the Mayor on this board Duffy has said it would take 15-25 years to clean but he won't even be here that long as the seat will be too hot for him as Horowhenua District Council is in the 2nd lowest ratings for councils in NZ. The Domain Board has said not one word of removing the sludge from the toilet thus solving the problem yet 19th July one councillor Tony Rush has said it would take a decade to complete which means never. Amazing how they can sign off on a $4+m farm the Council bought in Shannon & the extravaganza Council Building that blew out well over $10m yet cannot even get it right with this Lake. Tony Rush has been a Councillor for many years now and knows what must be done but plays dumb. A disgrace and its time he retired.

The leases of the buildings on the Domain they still cannot comprehend as in July 2013 & t0 2023 ? Wira looked into Lake Horowhenua affairs but he never met with those who know the Lake like the Wai Claimants and after reading what he has or has not achieved in his own tribe we ask why is he a commissioner for us and not even in our tribe? He never met with the very kaumatua who know this Lake and when you read about the Lake Trust on this website you have to wonder just why he even bothered to come here? We are still waiting on what exactly Wira did for his pat on the back let alone the report on his work if he actually did any work?

AFTER THOUGHT : What we are seeing in post Treaty Settlements is an influx of the new generation of high flyers and Maori who have been propped on the pedistal running corporations with tribal monies and a lack of real economic guidance in the real world. Non owners on trusts, commissioners from outside, lack of overseas business experience, all taking over the affairs of a tribe without seeking within. There is a lack of Trust understanding that the MLC [ Maori Land Court ] notes with their brochures given out when trusts are now formed to help Trustees? Kawanatanga is missing because of this lack of experience. Trustees are propped by whanau, a concern for all Maori with little understanding of the workings and responsibilities of a Trust or Board and as we see with tribes all over NZ the few manipulate the many for self gain more than not. Some believe they have an inherent right to use tribal settlements & dip into the till as they want. Maoridom has entered the stage that has bred the word oligarchy. And in amongst this lot we have all the new era knighthoods given out to keep the receivers backing the Government as its a way of saying thank you for the support. The very word Knighthood is now an in thing given to coaches of a football team so the true meaning has taken on a new edge? But as we read between the lines many have never earned what they profess to perceive for others or what our forebearers endured. Today Maori must safeguard their land from the likes of Te Tumu Paeroa so they do not use as colateral to keep their business ideals alive. Some have coerced their way to the top positions & then surrounded themselves with self supporters to consolidate control not only of one business but several as this is the 21st century. We see the same in many countries where it is tribal so NZ is not an isolated case. If anything its copycat. We follow USA and we now have the word CEO indented in our business world & workers are mere expendable pawns. But in saying that how many of these CEOs and Maori business chairmans, directors etc have ever invested their own monies at risk to themselves in their own business & succeeded?? This is the question all Iwi must ask before they lose what little they have left including their lands that multi ownership swallows up..

But not all is Bad. There have been very good results from tribes who have managed exceptionally well with their assets. They have used methods that allow them time to make excellent assumptions & analytical research in their endeavours for their people by not looking at short term goals; nor to themselves; nor having incompetent Iwi members making there decisions. By using due diligence in there undertakings they have turned the tables & such tribes keep this to themselves while those who have problems follow the opposite trends as the exponants are questioned !!!!!?.