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.
Abigail Dougherty/Stuff
In June, the Cerebral Palsy Society cut services and staff, surprising members. The society threatened members and removed staff that spoke out.
The former board of one of the country’s richest charities, tasked with helping those with cerebral palsy, loaned millions to property companies that have failed to provide a return for the charity despite using the money to invest in Auckland’s red-hot housing market. Questions are being raised by charity members and experts over the deals, which saw the former Cerebral Palsy Society president and a colleague paid tens of thousands of dollars in fees for masterminding and managing the arrangement, which appears to have left a $2m hole in the society’s finances as services were cut to those most in need.