The High Court has found the Kōhanga Reo National Trust was wrong to sack a trustee who spoke out about claims of wrongdoing.
Toni Waho. Photo: RNZ / Leigh Mclachlan
It has been a year since the court case in Wellington in which Toni Waho challenged his dismissal in late 2014.
The trust fired him after he notified the Associate and Minister of Education that there was a list of allegations of wrongdoing in the trust.
He also blew the whistle that someone was trying to blackmail them.
Mr Waho said he was trying to do the right thing.
"My disclosure of the existence of allegations to the Ministers of Education was to protect Te Kōhanga Reo, as was my action before the Court," he said.
"I am still extremely saddened my fellow trustees decided I had brought the trust into disrepute. I am overjoyed by this result."
His lawyer Felix Geiringer said the judgement vindicated Mr Waho.
"It just feels like a complete vindication of everything he has been saying for years now," Mr Geiringer said.
"This is just such an enormous relief - it is everything he ever wanted."
Mr Geiringer said the ordeal had a huge impact on Mr Waho's personal life, finances and health.
"He lost other jobs as a consequence - the stress built up to the point that he got terribly sick, he had two strokes and ended up in hospital."
Felix Geiringer. Photo: RNZ / Leigh-Marama McLachlan
Mr Waho's disclosure to the minister triggered an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office into the trust's financial arm, Te Pātaka Ōhanga.
The SFO later found no crimes had been committed, however Mr Waho was accused of bringing the trust into disrepute and lost his job.
But the High Court has found Mr Waho acted with integrity and did not bring the trust into disrepute.
In a judgement released last night, Justice Clark said he was unlawfully removed from the office.
"Mr Waho acted not only with a sense of personal integrity," she said.
"..but in conformity with the contractual and fiduciary obligation on each member of the Board."
A new era
The Kōhanga Reo National Trust has to pay Mr Waho what he would have earned since his dismissal in November 2014, which equates to about $100,000.
It also has to pay his court costs.
This afternoon, the board said it had not had a formal discussion on the judgement, and would take time to consider it before commenting further.
The judgement is 30 pages long and the outcome is one page.
Last year, the trust actioned a long-awaited plan to restructure and replace old trustees.
It saw the departure of both co-chairs, Dr Timoti Karetu and Tina Olsen-Ratana.
The chair Matua Hook said, since this court case was initiated, the trust had a new board and chief executive.
"Both were committed to the movement and continuing the work of fostering and developing te reo Māori."
