1.30pm: Around $30,000 has been reported missing from the coffers of the Auckland Pride Centre as it struggles to find enough funding to remain operating. The Karangahape Road centre provides information for local and visitng GLBT people and is also a meeting venue for a number of small community organisations. Pride Centre trustees say they reported the matter to the police on Sunday but charges have yet to be laid. A spokesperson for the Pride Centre, Kerry Mountstephen, says the person at the centre of the allegations, understood not to be long-time Centre stalwart Edward Bennett, fraudulently accessed money "mostly over the Christmas period". The Centre's doors were closed today and Mountstephen says it may remain open for a few weeks "on a sporadic basis" while it seeks to come to an arrangement with possible funders and its landlord. She says the Centre's future remains very uncertain. Phone calls to the person at the centre of the allegations have remained unanswered, with a woman in his office saying that he is out of town with no indication of when he will return.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 17th March 2004 - 12:00pm