Hard landing for Donna Awatere Huata

Who?

The former Act MP who in 1999 was higher on the party's list than present leader Rodney Hide.

The 56-year-old this week completed a high-profile fall from grace after being found guilty on five charges of fraud and one of perverting the course of justice.

The charges involved Awatere Huata and the taxpayer-funded Pipi Foundation.

What is the Pipi Foundation?

Awatere Huata set up the foundation, a charitable trust, in 1999 to help improve literacy among underprivileged Maori children. It received $840,000 in Government funds over three years.

Suspicions were raised in 2002 when a Pipi staff member, who testified in court against Awatere Huata, pleaded guilty to defrauding the foundation.

How did this whole fiasco come about?

Allegations against Awatere Huata first surfaced in December 2002.

She always claimed to be the target of a malicious campaign, but the Act Party suspended her when she failed to meet deadlines at the start of 2003 to provide evidence against the allegations.

Police, the Auditor-General and later the Serious Fraud Office all conducted investigations into Awatere Huata and the foundation.

It was not Awatere Huata's first brush with the SFO, which investigated her over accommodation expenses she had claimed before the 1999 election. She was later cleared of wrongdoing.

How did Act react?

The SFO charged Awatere Huata with fraud in late 2003. Within a week, Act expelled her from its caucus.

Awatere Huata's vocal opposition increased as she was declared an Independent MP, but Act removed her from Parliament last year under the so-called party-hopping legislation

She fought, and lost, all the way to the Supreme Court. It was the first case before the court.

What was she found guilty of?

After a three-week case, a jury in the Auckland District Court found her and her husband, Wi Huata, guilty on four counts of fraud worth about $80,000. Awatere Huata faced two extra fraud charges, and was found guilty on one count.

The incidents involved Pipi Foundation bank cheques made out to cash, the maximum being for $30,946.

At the centre of the inquiry were allegations that Awatere Huata had used Pipi funds to pay for her children's school fees and for her $18,000 stomach-stapling operation.

Awatere Huata and her husband were both found guilty of cooking the books in the aftermath and asking people to lie for them in an attempted cover-up.

What will happen to her now?

Awatere Huata faces a jail term of up to seven years.

She was denied bail and will reappear next month for sentencing.