Rescue chopper stoush in court
Two trustees at Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust have taken legal action to stop a plan to strip the organisation of tens of millions of dollars worth of assets and vest them in a private company instead.
Trustees Scott Rice and Nuwanthie Samarakone have filed a statement of claim at the High Court to try to stop a plan they allege goes against the purpose of the trust.
The Auckland rescue helicopter service runs hundreds of helicopter missions a year through a private company, Northern Rescue Helicopter Ltd (NRHL), that is half-owned by the trust and contracted by the government-run National Ambulance Sector Office to deliver air ambulance services to Auckland, Northland and Coromandel.
But the Auckland rescue helicopter service’s significant aviation assets – which run to a value exceeding $30 million and include three rescue helicopters – are owned by a separate charitable trust that is governed by a five-member board Rice and Samarakone sit on.
The proposal advanced by some of the trustees is for the trust’s assets – and the fundraising activities of the trust – to be transferred to NRHL.
While NRHL is part-owned by the trust, the move would put the assets and its fundraising activities beyond the reach of the trust and its original charitable purpose.
Two of the three board members allegedly in favour of the transfer also sit on the NRHL board.
Samarakone, a former National Party candidate for the seat of Manurewa, declined an interview but released a statement alongside Rice. ‘‘After trying for months to get the trust chair and the chair of NRHL to address these issues, we have lost confidence in both chairs,’’ Rice and Samarakone said. They want the court to declare that trustees supporting the deal are in breach of the trust’s deed, and they have asked the court to appoint more trustees.
Samarakone said the proposal had been debated for months but important questions about whether it was in keeping with the trust’s purpose had not been answered.
Trustees said to be supporting the proposal are the trust’s chairperson, Simon Tompkins, who is a former Fay Richwhite investment banker and current Alvarium Wealth chief operating officer; Auckland War Memorial head of development Jane Sheetz; and former Auckland Council chief investment officer John Duncan. Duncan and Tompkins are also directors of NRHL.