Samoan Independent Seventh Day Adventist Church headquarters in Māngere, South Auckland.
Photo: Google Maps
It follows a two-year probe into the Samoan Independent Seventh Day Adventist Church (SISDAC) which operates 10 churches in the Auckland region.
An investigation report by Charities Services published today, reveals a web of financial mismanagement and corruption that saw vast sums of money sourced from the church's membership funnelled into the pockets of church officials, many of whom were family relatives.
The church, whose services are held in Gagana Sāmoa, preyed almost exclusively on Auckland's sizeable Samoan population. It has no association with the Seventh-day Adventist Church in New Zealand and is not recognised as part of the official Seventh-day Adventist Church.