The former deputy prime minister and two former senior civil servants have been handed prison sentences for fraudulently using $70,000 in public funds.

Former deputy prime minister Robert Tapaitau, and husband and wife, former National Environment Service director Ngatokorua Puna and former Infrastructure Cook Islands (ICI) secretary Diane Charlie-Puna, appeared before Chief Justice Patrick Keane at the High Court this morning for sentencing.

Tapaitau, the former Penrhyn MP, was handed a prison sentence of two years and nine months. He was convicted on three charges of using a document to obtain pecuniary advantage and one charge of conspiracy to defraud.

Nga Puna was sentenced to five years in prison. He was convicted of several charges of using a document to obtain pecuniary advantage, one of conspiracy to defraud, one of uttering a forged document and five charges of forgery.

Charlie-Puna was sentenced to 18 months in prison for seven charges of using a document to obtain pecuniary advantage and one charge of conspiracy to defraud. She entered a guilty plea to these charges on June 1, 2023.

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