Waitakere gets its $2m back from Waipareira Trust

Troubled urban iwi authority the Waipareira Trust has repaid a $2 million debt to the Waitakere City Council.

The council said yesterday it had received full repayment on Friday of the principal sum of $2 million plus outstanding interest charged at a penalty interest rate.

The loan, granted in 1998 at an interest rate of 8.5 per cent, helped the trust to buy 12.6ha of land next to Hoani Waititi marae in Glen Eden for the development of a Maori tertiary institution.

The trust, in partnership with the marae, could not get Government support for the proposal and had to build housing on some of the land to help pay interest on the loan.

The council's finance and operational performance committee decided to seek full repayment of the loan in August.

Waipareira Trust treasurer Ricky Houghton said at the time that it was disappointing that the council would not allow the loan to run for at least another year.

The trust has been embroiled in controversy over its finances since July.

The controversy led to the resignation from the Cabinet of the trust's former chief executive and Labour MP John Tamihere.

The Tertiary Education Commission withdrew more than $2 million in Government funding from the trust last month.