Keeper of the Maori of Far-North who defrauded nearly $ 1 million of convicted

JASON DORDAY / STUFF

Margaret Dixon defrauded the trust of money intended for the management of a forest in the far north (archive photo)

A woman who cheated a nearly $ 1 million Maori trust for forest management was sentenced to 12 months of house arrest and ordered to pay $ 5,000 in compensation.

Margaret Dixon, 59, pleaded guilty to three theft charges by a person in a special relationship at the Auckland District Court earlier this year.

The Serious Fraud Office charges the trustee for the Parengarenga 3G Trust

The trust manages Parengarenga 3G, a 511.8 ha block of Maori land in Tai Tokerau District in the Far North, on behalf of hundreds of landowners.

READ FOLLOWING:
* A woman pleads guilty of defrauding a trust of Northern Māori
* A serious fraud office claims money taken from a trust Maori

Dixon was sentenced Friday in Auckland court.

In June 2012, Dixon, along with his brother Stephen Henare and five other people, were appointed trustees in place of the Maori trustee.

In August 2012, approximately $ 1.1 million for land and forest management was transferred from the Maori trustee to the Parengarenga 3G Trust bank accounts.

The trust also obtained an additional $ 54,480

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) stated that Dixon had intentionally failed to process $ 934,270 in trust funds pursuant to the trust order 3G from Parengarenga.

She facilitated the transfer of a "significant amount" of the trust. According to the SFO, the debts due for the care of the forest were unpaid and, in January 2014, there remained only $ 13.41 of the funds

OFS. Director Julie Read said that Dixon's offense was serious.

"Although Ms. Dixon's cooperation with the OFS resulted in a reduction of her sentence, her offense was serious.

" She was kaitiaki, a guardian, of a forest block that had more than 400 beneficial owners.

"She was forced to treat the property in accordance with Parengarenga's 3G trust order, whose fraudulent activity has jeopardized a property that was to benefit future generations."

Henare, 60, pleaded not guilty to six charges of theft by a person in a special relationship, in relation to his role as trustee.

The OFS alleges that Henare was the instigator of the robberies and he also faces a charge of perversion of the course of justice for allegedly providing false information to the Maori Land Tribunal in 2013 regarding the financial situation of P3G. He denies the accusation.

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