Wananga CEO says report finds no fraud

Te Wananga o Aotearoa chief executive Rongo Wetere says an auditor general's investigation found no fraud, no corruption and no nepotism at the wananga.

But it had found unacceptable practices around his international travel and credit card use, Mr Wetere said today.

The report is due to be tabled in Parliament tomorrow.

The wananga has been under fire since February after former Act MP Ken Shirley made allegations of nepotism and extravagance at the country's largest tertiary institution.

Mr Wetere today said the completion of the report was an opportunity to bring an end to "politically-driven attacks" on the institution.

He took leave from the wananga to work on responses to the investigation.

"The auditor general found there was no fraud, no corruption and no nepotism," Mr Wetere said.

"He did identify poor decision-making practices for some expenditure, inadequate identification and management of conflicts of interest and unacceptable practices regarding my international travel and credit card use," he said.

Mr Wetere said he accepted there was "room for improvement" in some of the wananga's procedures.

However, the wananga council had made significant progress on many of the issues even before the auditor general was called in, he said.

"I am disappointed the auditor general ignored most of the responses provided."

Mr Wetere said he was disappointed the Crown's wananga managers did not fully co-operate with the investigation by making available all the documentation held by the wananga.

Since March the wananga had been under the control of Crown manager PriceWaterhouseCoopers partner Brian Roche.

Since July it had been governed by a reduced five-member council, which included a majority of Crown appointees.

Tertiary Education Minister Michael Cullen last month wrote to wananga council chairman Craig Coxhead expressing concern the five-member council was not legal and recommending a proper council be put in place as soon as possible so decisions could be made on funding for 2006.

Mr Wetere said he looked forward to sitting down with the full council as soon as possible to map the wananga's future.

"I also want to meet Dr Cullen as soon as possible so we can put the unfortunate events of this year behind us," Mr Wetere said.

- NZPA