Serious Fraud Office investigating Te Arawa leader

Roger Pikia pictured here in 2012. PHOTO/FILE

An influential Te Arawa Maori business leader is being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office.

Roger Pikia, the chairman of Te Arawa River Iwi Trust, deputy co-chairman and chairman of the investment committee of the Waikato River Authority and chairman of Tahu-Whaoa Group Holdings, is the man under investigation, but the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) would not confirm what for.

SFO stakeholder relations manager Andrea Linton confirmed to the Rotorua Daily Post the SFO was investigating Mr Pikia.

"The SFO do not disclose details of ongoing investigations so there will be no further comment on this investigation," she said.

She said it was important to be clear it was not an investigation into Te Arawa River Iwi Trust.

Mr Pikia declined to comment on the investigation.

Acting chief executive of Te Arawa River Iwi Trust (TARIT), Eugene Berryman-Kamp, said he could also confirm the SFO had been in contact with the trust.

"We can confirm TARIT has received a request for information from the SFO that we are fully complying with."

Mr Berryman-Kamp said he could not make any further comment due to the ongoing investigation.

TARIT deputy chairman Eru George said the trust held a meeting on Monday with those discussions including the situation regarding Mr Pikia.

"We are going through a process with regard to this, and until I've spoken to our chief executive we have to wait.

"We need to be satisfied the SFO is on track with their investigation," Mr George said.

TARIT trustee, former MP Paul East, said he would not comment about the investigation.

In 2013, Mr Pikia resigned his position on Te Arawa Group Holdings after the High Court found he had taken $438,000 worth of his grandmother's land without her consent in 1999.

Justice Geoffrey Venning ruled Mr Pikia had transferred two blocks of his grandmother's land at Reporoa into his own name without her knowledge or consent.

Mr Pikia admitted transferring the properties but claimed his grandmother had approved the transaction as he was going to receive the land in her will anyway.

Mr Pikia was ordered to return the properties to the estate and pay it any rental income he had collected.