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The Whangarei Hearing Association faces liquidation amid allegations it has squandered assets and mismanaged finances.
The Registrar of Incorporated Societies has applied to the High Court to have the association liquidated, following an investigation sparked by allegations of flawed management.
In the spotlight is the association's president Erika Kemp and her husband, Mark Whitfield, the association's manager.
Ms Kemp and Mr Whitfield are fighting the application. They claim they have abided by the association's constitution and have acted in its best interests.
An investigator who scrutinised the association's dealings told the Northern Advocate the association would run out of cash within months if it was allowed to stay operating and needed to be liquidated to protect what assets were left.
A High Court judge will decide whether to place the association into liquidation, which would mean the organisation would be wound up. Both sides have filed statements in the High Court at Whangarei.
A court hearing date has yet to be set.
John McPherson, an investigating accountant with the Ministry of Economic Development, said in his affidavit the association was operating in a "fundamentally flawed" way that had allowed assets to be sold to generate money to cover growing expenditure.
The only option was to liquidate the association to protect what assets were left, which would also give a liquidator the option of recovering any money found to have been misspent, he said.
- NZPA
