Former union boss, Sir Wira Gardiner vouch for ailing Love in fraud trial

Sir Ngatata Love's cross-examination was cut short in the High Court because of the fraud accused's ill health, paving the way for former public servant Sir Wira Gardiner and former Council of Trade Unions boss Ross Wilson to appear as character witnesses and vouch for his good name.

Sir Ngatata is charged with obtaining a secret commission and obtaining significant sums by deception. The Crown says he signed an agreement in late 2006 with Auckland property developers Redwood Group and Equinox Group to ensure they could lease land owned by the Tenths Trust, and that he received service fees through Pipitea Street Development Ltd (PSDL), a company owned by his partner Lorraine Skiffington, without the trust's knowledge. That money is said to have been used to repay a property loan.

Sir Ngatata was in the witness box for a second day, facing cross-examination, though the already abbreviated sessions were disrupted when he sought a breather heading into the lunch break. After a consultation with his doctor, who has been present in court during his evidence and cross-examination, defence counsel Colin Carruthers QC said Sir Ngatata would be fit to recommence tomorrow morning.

As a result, Sir Wira Gardiner, a former senior public servant knighted in 2008 for his services to Maori, husband to Education Minister Hekia Parata, founding chief executive of Te Puni Kokiri and founding director of the Waitangi Tribunal, and Mr Wilson, a former lawyer and president of the CTU, were called to the witness box.

Sir Wira, who was called first, said he had met Sir Ngatata in 1984 and had known about him for 40 years. In response to questions from Mr Carruthers, he described Sir Ngatata as a man of the "utmost integrity" who he had never heard mention pecuniary gain and who he had not known to be dishonest.

Crown prosecutor Grant Burston asked Sir Wira about his view on Sir Ngatata's mental acuity between 2004 and 2010. Gardiner said Love had an ability to articulate ideas and a capacity to make them work and said Sir Ngatata "continues to be" one of the most highly functional people he knows.

Mr Burston asked whether Sir Wira had any concerns in 2006 about Sir Ngatata having impaired executive function.

"His relationship with me was not impaired at all but I can't comment other than that," Gardiner said. "The relationship was more me taking off him than him taking off me – there was value-add my way."

Mr Wilson said he first met Sir Ngatata in 1997 and he had never had any reason to question Sir Ngatata's integrity.

The judge-alone trial continues this week.

(BusinessDesk)

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