Scheme ripped off- Peters

The Government's Whanau Ora scheme is being ''ripped off by all and sundry'', New Zealand First leader Winston Peters claims, following revelations over possible widespread gang involvement.

Yesterday the Otago Daily Times reported how four members of the Mongrel Mob Notorious gang were able to obtain Government funding, via the Dunedin-based trust ''We Against Violence Trust''.

Those included $51,750 Whanau Ora grants given to the trust to promote non-offensive and non-violent lifestyles, and $5000 from the Southern District Health Board to build a community garden.

However calls intercepted by police reveal $20,000 of grant money was transferred to a personal bank account and used to buy cannabis.

Mr Peters said he was concerned over reports police surveillance found a key person involved with the Dunedin chapter was being mentored through the funding process by senior gang members elsewhere in the country.

''That suggests it is happening elsewhere,'' he said.

The initial Whanau Ora grant also added ''respectability'' to the trust, and made it easier to obtain funds from the health board, he said.

Funds sourced from the district health boards were gained with the stated intention of buying $5000 worth of gardening equipment for the community garden project.

Documents released by the health board reveal the trust claimed ''our project is a resolution as to how we can help our whanau support themselves without the help of outside agencies, therefore giving the whanau their mana and self-respect back''.

A health board spokesman, when asked to clarify where that garden was, confirmed the trust was looking at two possible sites, one within Dunedin and one on the peninsula.

''The Southern DHB is unaware if a site for a community garden was ever secured by the trust,'' he said.

Mr Peters questioned why the cash-strapped district health board would have granted the money.

''$5000 for gardening equipment? Hell's bells, that is just appalling.''

He also accused Whanau Ora Minister Tariana Turia of being ''in denial'' over the effectiveness of the Maori Party flagship policy - ''This is kindergarten stuff with taxpayer money''.

''She should be explaining why on earth she set up a system of discretionary taxpayer funds that is so loose, so amateurish that it is capable of being ripped off by all and sundry, which it is.''

The Whanau Ora Integration, Innovation and Engagement Fund report, which was released late last year, identified deficiencies with the scheme, he said.

''It highlighted the fact that no basic data is available on participation levels, and there are glaring gaps on where millions of taxpayer dollars are going.''

Questions to the Te Puni Kokiri, which administers Whanau Ora, went unanswered yesterday.

- hamish.mcneilly@odt.co.nz