Last May, a four-month police investigation led to the arrest of 10 male patched or associate members of the Mongrel Mob Notorious gang.
At the centre of that investigation were four Dunedin men, who were charged with dishonestly converting $20,000 of Government funding for the ''We Against Violence Trust''.
Whanau Ora - a Maori Party flagship policy aimed at providing services and opportunities to all families in need across New Zealand - granted money to the trust, which billed itself as promoting non-offensive and non-violent lifestyles.
At the time, Mrs Turia said she would be surprised if the money allocated through the Government had been misappropriated because Te Puni Kokiri (TPK) - the Maori Development Ministry - and Whanau Ora had strict eligibility and reporting criteria.
Yesterday, the Minister said ''I can say that this is an isolated case and I am more than satisfied that the appropriate checks and balances are in place.''
TPK planned to refine funding procedures and practices, including internal reviews and an annual audit, she said.
She declined to comment further, or release an investigation file into the case, because the matter was before the courts.
Four men at the centre of the Dunedin investigation have all appeared before the courts, including Korrey Teeati Cook (36) who, in November, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment. He was deemed to be primarily responsible behind the trust.
The completed police investigation, which included electronic surveillance, found $20,000 of the grants allocated to the trust was transferred into personal bank accounts in order to buy cannabis.
Intercepted calls included Cook saying the Dunedin chapter of the gang was seen as a model by other chapters on how to source Whanau Ora funding.
Other calls revealed Cook was being mentored through the funding process by senior gang members elsewhere in the country, and he in turn was mentoring another local gang on getting funding.
Cook hoped to secure $115,000 in funding in a year, and said the Whanau Ora grants had''worked well for us down here''.
Money received by the trust from Te Puni Kokiri included $41,400 in December 2011 and $10,350 last April. The trust also received a $5000 grant from the SDHB in December 2011.
SDHB executive director planning and finance Robert Mackway-Jones said that grant was to promote healthy eating and establish a community-based garden.
The board checked the recipient was ''a registered charity''. The use of such funds was monitored via reporting, Mr Mackway-Jones said.
That grant application had included a $5000 shopping list for gardening equipment.
The charitable trust has been deregistered by the Charities Commission for failing to file annual returns.
