Awatere Huata admits lying to Prebble over Pipi Foundation

Donna Awatere Huata, the former Act Party MP facing fraud charges, has told a court she lied to her then political leader Richard Prebble over her involvement in a charitable trust to help underprivileged Maori children.

On the second day of her defence, Awatere Huata admitted that a letter she wrote to Mr Prebble in 2003 after allegations were raised about the misuse of Pipi Foundation funds, contained a comment that she had kept an "arms length" distance from the Pipi Foundation.

She told an Auckland District Court jury today there was a potential conflict of interests as she was lobbying for funds for the Pipi Foundation.

She was asked if she had lied to Mr Prebble to conceal her involvement in the trust.

"I am not sure if I am being fair to myself by saying I lied," she told the court.

Under cross-examinations by Serious Fraud Office prosecutor Robert Fardell, QC, Awatere Huata said she was looking in the letter to conceal her true involvement in the trust. She said she had never used Pipi Foundation Funds for personal use.

She also said there was nothing legally to stop MPs sitting on trusts and Act MPs were encouraged to get other incomes because many had dropped when they entered Parliament.

Awatere Huata said she did work for the Pipi Foundation and benefitted from it financially, when an overdraft for the IHI Communications and Consultancy Ltd (IHI) went down.

However, at no time had she used Pipi Foundation money for personal purposes and she was not personally paid for her work with the Pipi Foundation.

Awatere Huata and her husband Wi Huata are facing a total of seven charges -- four joint charges of fraud and one joint charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Awatere Huata faces two additional fraud charges.

The Serious Fraud Office claims the couple took $82,000 in funds from the government-sponsored Pipi Foundation for personal use, including school fees for their children and a stomach stapling operation for Awatere Huata to lose weight.

Yesterday, during the first day of evidence in her defence, Awatere Huata said she had saved the money for the operation over nearly three years.

After the operation she lied about her weight loss, instead saying it was due to willpower and diet alone.

That lie was partly because she did not want to be ridiculed in Parliament.

The SFO said cash cheques drawn on the Pipi Foundation accounts were used to buy bank cheques which were then used for personal expenses.

The Pipi Foundation was established in 1999 to help under privileged Maori and Pacific Island children read and to develop their social skills.

In slightly more than three years from September 1999 to the end of 2003 the Pipi Foundation received $840,000 in Government funding, said the SFO.

The trial began 12 days ago and was due to end at the end of this week or early next week. It is before Judge Roderick Joyce, QC, and a jury of nine women and three men.

- NZPA