By PAUL YANDALL
HAMILTON - The sacking of Tainui's ruling executive may stall its attempts to sell the Warriors rugby league club.
Seven members of the Tekaumarua were forced to step down after the 183-member Tainui parliament, Te Kauhanganui, on Saturday backed a call from the Maori Queen, Dame Te Atairangikaahu, for them to quit.
The move has catapulted the tribe's principal negotiator, Sir Robert Mahuta, who is Dame Te Ata's adopted brother and her representative on Tekaumarua, back to the helm.
But it leaves the sale of the Warriors club up in the air and raises questions over who holds ultimate power within Tainui.
Sir Robert, who was stripped of his corporate powers by Tekaumarua, is now expected to be part of an interim committee to be appointed tomorrow.
His attempts to sell part of Tainui's share in the Warriors were curtailed last month after Tainui's financial advisers moved to offload all of the tribe's shareholding.
Tainui has spent $6.5 million since 1998 on a two-thirds share of the underperforming Warriors, while fellow owners Malcolm Boyle and Graham Lowe put up just $100,000 between them.
Potential investors like the Yes Group consortium and the New Zealand Rugby League may now be forced to negotiate the sale with Sir Robert once again.
NZRL chief executive Gary Allcock said he would continue to negotiate with the tribe's financial adviser, Michael Stiassny of the Auckland accountancy firm Ferrier Hodgson, but was wary about what the change of leadership would mean for the sale.
"There seem to be so many factions within [Tainui] that you could end up chasing your tail all day."
Neither Sir Robert nor Tainui's legal adviser, Shane Solomon, would respond to Herald inquiries about the sale, but ousted Tekaumarua acting chairman Kingi Porima said it was still on track.
Sackings threaten Warriors sale
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