Ang Jury. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Porirua Women's Refuge has called in a forensic accountant after senior staff attempted to shift hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding to a separate charity.
The head of the National Collective of Independent Women's Refuges, Ang Jury, said the board of Whare Manaaki Porirua Women's Refuge took legal advice after the request to transfer "a significant sum of money" to the Porirua Women & Family Centre.
They subsequently consulted the national body about six to eight weeks ago, which confirmed that was "not an acceptable use" of their contracted funding.
While the Women's Centre evidentaly provided a valuable service, it was not the service for which Whare Manaaki was funded, Jury said.
"Funding that goes to the refuge in Porirua is provided - contracted - for the direct provision of women and children experiencing family violence.
"If money was being diverted to the women's centre, that was not the contracted use of that funding that's intended."
Whare Manaaki had contracted an accountant to look at its books and an investigation was underway, she said.
Meanwhile, another refuge from the region had temporarily taken over the management of Whare Manaaki to ensure it could stay open.
"The investigation is ongoing and really I can't say more than that."
The Porirua Women and Family Centre registered as a charity in August last year and established as a separate trust in December.
According to its website, it was "established and designed" as an extension of Whare Manaaki, and offered a range of social services, including food and clothing banks, and was used by a range of government agencies and community groups.
The Women and Family Centre has now closed, citing uncertainty over its financial future.