The Aotearoa Tonga Relief Committee (ATRC) has denied claims by the man dubbed the Tongan Robin Hood that committee members had stolen goods donated for volcano relief.
The newly-established relief committee said it categorically refuted the claims which it said were made by Kennedy Tau who is also known by the name Kennedy Maeakafa Fakana’ana’a ki Fualu.
Tau is alleged to have said that some leading committee members took tins of corned beef that were meant to go to Tonga.
He made the claims online, which were then shared by his followers on Facebook.
The committee said Tau’s allegations were defamatory and threatened legal action.
“We believe in the rule of law, and we will settle this matter in court as some of our members completed law school,” the committee said.
Members of the committee included Jenny Lātū Salesa, local MP for Panmure-Ōtāhuhu and MP Anahila Kanongata’a-Suisuiki.
The committee has sent shipping containers with $1.6 million of food and groceries following Tonga’s volcanic eruption and fatal tsunami.
The containers were filled with close to five thousand individual pieces of drums and boxes.
Threats and attacks
In a press statement, the committee claimed Tau had “threatened and attacked the character of current sitting members of Parliament, local board members, Church Ministers, respected community leaders, senior academics, business owners and even youth.”
The committee said the people Tau had attacked had shown “remarkable restraint and composure.”
The committee also threatened action against “those people who share his posts or feed misinformation and lies regarding the ATRC.”
The committee then launched into a serious of personal attacks on Tau, including describing his support of overstayers during the pandemic as “manipulation” and questioned his association with “people of influence.”
“One hundred and thirteen volunteers ranging in age from 12 -72 sacrificed their time, energy and sweat in the heat and rain, working late into the night, to get over 70 containers of much needed provisions to Tonga. Ask yourself this question, was the Tongan Robin Hood physically there?” the committee wrote.
The media, which described him as the Auckland Tongan Community secretary, reported that Tau was organising shipments of relief supplies to Tonga in the second half of January.
Tau was dubbed the Tongan Robin Hood for his support of overstayers during the pandemic when they were denied support by the New Zealand government.
