Fale Andrew Lesā- Stuff investigation reveals flawed CV
john luke made this Official Information request to Auckland Council
The request was successful.
From: john luke
Dear Auckland Council,
In light of recent news,
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/36076424...
I understand that Fale Andrew Lesā is a member/trustee of the Wiri Licensing Trust. Could you please confirm whether he did, in fact, hold this position? If so, from what period?
Also, I would like requesting all documents and information you hold pertaining to the appointment of Fale Andrew Lesā to the Wiri Licensing Trust. For example, what's his election nomination form or any information he supplied to the voters.
Can you please confirm when does he resign. I request to view his resignation letter as well.
Yours faithfully,
john luke
News Reader left an annotation ()
Hey again John, you may want to raise a further official information request to Auckland Council about the candidate information that Mr Lesa provided which was disseminated to the public to help them make an informed choice re: the last round for local board elections to be on the Manurewa Local Board to which he was eventually elected to. You can also possibly enquire re: any additional information requests whether the mayor or council CEO is aware of any complaints raised against Mr Lesa re: a possible breach of the code - https://governance.aucklandcouncil.govt....
From: Kim Green
Kia Ora John,
As per email request below the Wiri Licensing Trust has been asked to
respond.
I can confirm that Fale Andrew Lesā is an elected Trustee of the Wiri
Licensing Trust. He has held this position since the date of the 2022
Local Body elections.
The information you are asking for in relation to Fale Andrew Lesā
appointment is not held or received by the Wiri Licensing Trust. This
information sits with the Election Services. Here is the public notice on
our website - [1]https://wiritrust.co.nz/public-notice/
As of time of sending this email, I have confirmed with our Chair that he
has not received a resignation letter from Fale Andrew Lesā.
Thanks
Kim
From: Mary-ann Childs <[2][email address]> On
Behalf Of Official Information
Sent: Wednesday, 6 August 2025 10:03 a.m.
To: Wiri Trust <[3][email address]>
Subject: FW: Official Information request - Fale Andrew Lesā- Stuff
investigation reveals flawed CV
Kia ora,
We have received the below request for information. We believe your team
will hold this information.
In view of this, and under section 12(b)(ii) of the LGOIMA, Auckland
Council is transferring this request to Wiri Trust for a direct response
to the requestor.
Thank you,
Ngā mihi | Kind regards,
Mary-Ann Childs
Te Hoa Kaipakihi Pārongo Matatapu, Ōkawa hoki | Privacy and Official
Information Business Partner
Te Wheako ā-Kirihoko me ngā Ratonga Matihiko | Customer Experience &
Digital Services
Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland Council
135 Albert Street, Auckland
From: john luke <[4][FOI #31792 email]>
Sent: Monday, 28 July 2025 7:49 pm
To: Official Information <[5][email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Fale Andrew Lesā- Stuff
investigation reveals flawed CV
Dear Auckland Council,
In light of recent news,
[6]https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/36076424...
I understand that Fale Andrew Lesā is a member/trustee of the Wiri
Licensing Trust. Could you please confirm whether he did, in fact, hold
this position? If so, from what period?
Also, I would like requesting all documents and information you hold
pertaining to the appointment of Fale Andrew Lesā to the Wiri Licensing
Trust. For example, what's his election nomination form or any information
he supplied to the voters.
Can you please confirm when does he resign. I request to view his
resignation letter as well.
Yours faithfully,
john luke
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News Reader left an annotation ()
Hey John, you may want to raise an official information request with Auckland Council as well as I see you are looking into this matter regarding the Stuff article .
From the information available , it is stated by third parties that Mr Lesā is a former Councillor of Manukau City Council. I’m unsure if this position was provided by Mr Lesā or incorrectly stated by these parties. However, from a publicly available source like the Herald , it looks like he was only an advisory member of a committee on the then Manukau City Council though it was an elected position - https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/teenager-e....
References to where Mr Lesā was cited directly or indirectly as a ‘councillor’
https://www.facebook.com/velocityuoa/pos...
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/pacforum_...
https://open.spotify.com/episode/20v3P3o...
https://www.samoaobserver.ws/category/sa...
https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2019/11/27/p...
In the stuff article, it also stated he resigned all his positions for which I presume as a local board member of Manurewa yet on the council website (https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/abou...) it still shows he is a member. Not sure when the effect date is.
Unrelated to the councillor claim , I see some other potential concerns too - on https://sites.google.com/view/fale-lesa , it states he is senior fellow at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC, yet I can’t find any information on this - may want to check in with CSIS as well ; https://www.csis.org/programs/strategy-a...
Link to this