Donna Awatere Huata

August 23 2005

Donna Lynn Awatere Huata (sometimes written Awatere-Huata, previously known as Donna Awatere) is a former member of the New Zealand Parliament, and former activist for Māori causes. In 2004 she was expelled from Parliament and subsequently convicted of fraud.

A jury found Awatere Huata and her husband Wi Huata jointly guilty of four charges of defrauding the Pipi Foundation and a fifth charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

What is the Pipi Foundation?

Awatere Huata set up the foundation, a charitable trust, in 1999 to help improve literacy among underprivileged Maori children. It received $840,000 in Government funds over three years.

Suspicions were raised in 2002 when a Pipi staff member, who testified in court against Awatere Huata, pleaded guilty to defrauding the foundation.

Allegations against Awatere Huata first surfaced in December 2002.

She always claimed to be the target of a malicious campaign, but the Act Party suspended her when she failed to meet deadlines at the start of 2003 to provide evidence against the allegations.

Police, the Auditor-General and later the Serious Fraud Office all conducted investigations into Awatere Huata and the foundation.

It was not Awatere Huata's first brush with the SFO, which investigated her over accommodation expenses she had claimed before the 1999 election. She was later cleared of wrongdoing.

Former Act MP Donna Awatere Huata's fall from grace was completed today when she was jailed for two years and nine months for stealing from a Maori trust set up to help under-privileged children.

Her husband Wi Huata was jailed for two years. Wi Huata's sentence was deferred for two months to allow him to apply for home detention.

During sentencing Wi Huata's sibling Hira Huata stood up in the public gallery and accused the court of administering "white man's justice".
He was then joined in a haka by Wi Huata's sister Huia.

Judge Roderick Joyce stopped the proceedings while police ejected Hira Huata from the courtroom before continuing sentencing.

They were found guilty of fraud and attempting to pervert the course of justice by an Auckland District Court jury last month after the Serious Fraud Office said they stole more than $80,000 from the Government-funded Pipi Foundation.


Source: NZ Herald