King's staff selection alarms Tainui faction

King Tuheitia gets $1 million a year to run his office, Tainui tribal sources say. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Tainui members have expressed disbelief that a man who was once implicated in a bad business deal involving King Tuheitia's mother is now on his payroll.

Rangi Whakaruru is the King's new chief of staff. Yesterday, he accompanied the King's delegation as it flew out to meet the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum.

Tribal sources say they still haven't forgiven business dealings that "dragged" Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu into the Auckland District Court in 2002.

In a civil case, an architectural firm named Mr Whakaruru, business partner Helen D'lala, and Dame Te Ata as co-defendants for non-payment of nearly $80,000 for work designing a theatre planned as a tourist venture for Ngaruawahia, next to Turangawaewae Marae.

At the time, a legal representative for Dame Te Ata said she was not responsible for the deal. The case was later settled out of court.

One tribal source said many were appalled that Mr Whakaruru was allowed back into the Kingitanga's inner circle.

"She took them into her confidence and they hung around here [Turangawaewae Marae] for years.

"They were so flamboyant that she was mesmerised by them."

Waikato Tainui people thought Mr Whakaruru's Kingitanga connection would have been severed, the source said. The Herald understands he is not from the tribe.

"Everyone has had a gutsful of it. It's unbelievable."

Mr Whakaruru fronted a public relations disaster for Television New Zealand in 2000 when he was the face of a campaign against domestic violence. He admitted a violent past soon after the advertisements were screened.

The Herald tried to contact Mr Whakaruru but a spokeswoman for the King said Mr Whakaruru declined to be interviewed.

Another source said many in the tribe did not know how much the iwi was paying the chief of staff.

Tainui executive chairman Tuku Morgan said he would not talk about staff. "I don't have comment to make about the office of the King."

Dame Te Ata was provided with a grant of $200,000 a year to run her affairs but sources said that amount had increased during King Tuheitia's reign to about $1 million.

The King is also travelling to New York to support Helen Clark installation as head of the United Nations Development Programme.