The former director of Billy Te Kahika Jr’s New Zealand Public Party has labelled the group a “cult” and described its leader as a “lone wolf” in a letter to supporters posted on the party's website.

In the scathing post, dated January 4, Michael Stace accuses party leader Te Kahika of mismanagement, pocketing donations and being disrespectful and demeaning to colleagues.

Speaking to Stuff, former party secretary Michelle Hood said, in her opinion, Te Kahika became more interested in a rock and roll lifestyle than politics and was surrounded by “groupies” who couldn’t see the party for what it had become. Both Stace and Hood stood down from their roles on January 2.

Te Kahika, who ran for the Northland Māori seat of Te Tai Tokerau, declined to comment on the accusations.

“We don’t trust any New Zealand media, we see this as an internal thing. We are dealing with it with our members and our party people,” he said.

NZPP merged with Jami-Lee Ross’ Advance NZ for October’s election, but the two split after failing to gain any parliamentary seats.

Te Kahika messaging during the campaign included conspiracies ranging from Satanic teachings inspiring the UN, 5G causing cancer and coronavirus being no worse than the flu.

Stace’s post, titled The Party By the People. For the People. This is Your Party … Yeah, Right, claimed Te Kahika’s behaviour was “tolerated” for the larger good, but post-election, working with him had been “untenable and unsustainable”.

Stace’s post alleges issues emerged between the party leader and executive from the outset.

“When we had our executive meeting in Christchurch in November, I brought up the fact that as part of party registration we would need to provide a written constitution to the membership, and what’s more, we would need a Board of Directors,” the post reads.

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“Billy did not want a Board of Directors as he feared they would and could countermand him. He also did not want any written constitution that could possibly remove him as leader of the NZPP Party.”

“That, therefore, ISN”T (sic) a political party, it is a cult.”

Stace’s post to supporters details two instances where Te Kahika supposedly pocketed cash taken from donations to the party.

He said the first was at an event in Ashburton in November that took in $355 cash.

Stace claims Te Kahika handed him $150 cash from the Koha box and took the rest, despite the party having a policy of depositing koha into an NZPP bank account.

Stace also accused Te Kahika of pocketing $500 from a “Dinner with Billy” fundraiser held in Tauranga on November 18.

“Not one dollar ever reached the bank account of NZPP, as had been agreed,” Stace claimed in the post.

Stuff reported in September that Te Kahika admitted keeping thousands of dollars in donations in a tin under his bed and not following cash handling rules. But he denied accusations he had been fleecing the party faithful.

Stuff asked Stace why he had not come forward sooner if he had knowledge of koha donations going missing.

He said he was trying to give Te Kahika a chance to do the right thing.

“It’s about giving a person a chance, giving him a chance and [saying] ‘look, Billy - you’ve always done things by yourself, now you have a really strong team.”

“I know procedure and policy, but he doesn’t want to follow any of it.”

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) received a complaint relating to Advance NZ on September 9, with which the NZPP was involved.

The complaint was referred to the Electoral Commission, which dropped any investigation, saying NZPP was not subject to Election Act rules because it was not a registered party.

A spokesman for the SFO told Stuff there was no further investigation underway of the NZPP. A police spokeswoman said she was unable to respond to queries relating to specific individuals or organisations.

Former secretary Michelle Hood said she had witnessed both events involving donation cash allegedly going missing, detailed in Stace’s post.

Hood said she left the party on January 2 after roughly five months as company secretary.

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She provided screenshots of conversations with one of the “Dinner with Billy” organisers which suggested $500 was left over after settling the restaurant bill - a sum Hood claimed never made it to the party’s bank account.

Hood said she became involved with the NZPP after watching Te Kahika speak at an event in Havelock North.

“He really stirred up the audience and it was quite remarkable and I had lost my job due to Covid-19.”

“For me Billy is not the person I first met at that event.”

“It’s my opinion this is more about rock and roll for him than it is about the cause. The fame has gone to his head, he likes being recognised everywhere he goes.”

Hood said it was important to be transparent so supporters knew what they were being drawn into.

“People are like groupies for him, and it’s very hard for them to see it, and so I think they need the proof.”

Former NZPP party secretary and accountant Bill Karaitiana told Stuff accounting processes at the party were never followed despite his repeated insistence.

Karaitiana was stood down from the party at the start of August, so he could not comment on Stace’s claims of missing cash, which allegedly occurred in November.

But he said he did witness multiple instances of cash coming in that was never banked.

Karaitiana said he was stood down from the party via text message from Te Kahika, who justified the dismissal by saying the role of secretary was too onerous for him.

The future of NZPP now remains unclear as the membership database is locked in escrow, with Stace unwilling to release it to Te Kahika.

The website remains in control of Stace and Te Kahika is the sole director of Rubicon Crossing 2020 Ltd, which manages the party’s administrative business, according to the Companies Office.

Party funds were being managed through Rubicon Crossing and Stace claims all funds were transferred to Te Kahika on January 6 and the accounts closed.