The under-fire Te Kāika health service has again failed to meet a government deadline to submit a critical annual financial report.
The charity — branded Te Kāika but called Ōtākou Health Limited (OHL) — is required to submit a report annually, including its financial accounts, to government agency Charities Services.
Its latest report for 2024-25 was due last September, an extension deadline was granted until the end of last month and the report has still not been delivered.
Before the latest failure to meet a reporting deadline, OHL had persistently filed its annual reports later than Charities Services requires.
The late filing, plus other issues flagged at the charity, meant OHL was already being investigated by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), the government department which oversees Charities Services.
The DIA, which said its investigation into OHL was ongoing, described the other issues as “a number of more substantive concerns”.
The latest failure to submit its annual report to a deadline has been added to the pile of concerns to investigate, DIA indicated.
“This delay will be considered as part of our ongoing regulatory assessment,” a spokesperson said.
When asked to comment on the most recent failure to submit its report to deadline, OHL said “OHL and DIA have mutually agreed on arrangements”.
OHL was asked to expand on this statement to aid understanding, but the charity made it shorter, saying: “OHL and DIA have an agreed arrangement”.
Responding to the claim, DIA denied it.
“No arrangement has been entered into with the company [OHL],” a DIA spokesperson said.
“Complete annual returns for Otakou Health Limited remain outstanding with no further extensions provided.”
The DIA added that further information “had been provided by the company [OHL] to support our investigation”.
The agency indicated it would not answer further questions until the investigation was complete.
DIA previously indicated it would provide an update on its investigation this month but then later said it could not give a “firm timeline”.
Charities’ annual reports are expected to be submitted within six months of a charity’s financial year end.
OHL’s reports should be submitted each September because its financial year ends in March; but in ten years it has never met this deadline, often sought extensions and also missed some extension deadlines.
In one instance, it submitted its report 15 months after the end of its financial year.
Chief executive of the governance advisory body Community Governance Aotearoa Rose Hiha-Agnew said transparency was “the foundation of charitable trust” and a key part of a “good governance code” that her body promoted to charity leaders.
Transparency meant “showing up — especially when questions are being asked”.
“Repeated late filing, particularly in the context of an ongoing investigation, weakens confidence not only in the organisation but in our community sector as a whole.”
Another expert in the charity sector, based in Dunedin and who did not wish to be named, said that if OHL did not already have an understanding with Charities Services about its latest delivery default then the charity “put their registration as a charity at further risk”.
“DIA’s tolerance is not inexhaustible.”