8PM: Another gay organisation has alleged that the person at the centre of Auckland's Pride Centre fraud investigations has left it also out of pocket. Up! Newspaper co-publisher Andy Boreham says the paper had business dealings with the same person, who appears to have disappeared owing them "thousands of dollars." For legal reasons GayNZ.com cannot yet identify the person at the centre of the allegations but we can reveal that a complex web of deceit, undelivered promises, deceptive book-keeping and possibly outright theft appears to have occurred, leaving Up! financially shaken and the Pride Centre and its chair, Edward Bennett, destitute. Pride Centre spokesperson Kerry Mountstephens says she fears that the person has gone to ground while police work to review the case. "I'm also concerned that he might try to flee the country, if he hasn't already done so, before the police can lay formal charges," she says. "We would like him to show his face and talk with the people he has affected," says Up!'s Boreham. "We feel especially devastated for The Pride Centre, which has been a great organisation behind the GLBT communities of New Zealand for 18 years." Continuing attempts by GayNZ.com to contact the person at the centre of the allegations for his comments have so far proved fruitless.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 17th March 2004 - 12:00pm