Bounty-hunters used different names to secure Govt cash

By EUGENE BINGHAM

A group of bounty-hunters collected $1 million of taxpayers' money for enrolling Maori preschoolers by winning contracts under the guise of three different names.

Education Minister Trevor Mallard said yesterday that officials did not know of the links between the contracts when they were signed.

The revelation raises further questions about the $7 million Promoting Participation Project, which aimed to increase the number of Maori and Pacific Islanders in early childhood education centres.

Last week, the Weekend Herald revealed that audits had found alarming rip-offs, including payments claimed for "phantom" children and for youngsters already enrolled in school.

Loose contracts also meant that children did not have to stay at the centres long for the contractor to qualify for the payment.

One contractor is also suspected of ringing centres to find out the names of children on their books, and then claiming payments for those children. Police may be called in to investigate.

At least $60,000 is in dispute because the Ministry of Education has been unable to verify the authenticity of claims under which payouts of up to $1000 a child were made.

The Weekend Herald has uncovered links between the people behind four of the 59 contracts.

Two of them - a $600,000 contract with Whare Akonga Learning Centre, and $106,667 with Nga Whare Akonga Trust - were signed on April 30, 2001. The other two - a second Nga Whare Akonga contract for $101,250, and $202,500 with Manaaki Management Services - were awarded in March 2002.

The contractors are in Manurewa, Auckland.

Mr Mallard said yesterday that staff currently in the ministry did not know about the links when the contracts were signed.

He confirmed that at least one of the contractors was among five organisations the ministry had undergone mediation with because of disputes over claims.

A director of Whare Akonga and trustee of Nga Whare Akonga, Donna Walker, said the ministry was aware of links between the organisations.

"Of course they were. They know the trust is part of everything else. But there's no direct connection."

Ms Walker said she did not know about claims that could not be verified. "We got our audits clarified and paid out in full."

Act list MP Deborah Coddington, who first raised concerns about the project last year, questioned why there had not been earlier audits and why the ministry would audit only 10 per cent of the contracts in future.