Wellington Wharewaka owners seek $800k from former cafe operator in liquidation
Monday, 15 June 2026
The owners of Wellington’s waterfront Wharewaka facility say they are $800,000 out of pocket after the man who ran its cafe ‒ and sits on the board of the city’s economic development agency ‒ took a company into liquidation for a second time.
A liquidator’s first report shows Manaaki Management, owned by Paul Retimanu and others, was put into voluntary liquidation in May owing about $3 million.
Retimanu is a board member of WellingtonNZ, with a website saying he brings “leadership, business knowledge and entrepreneurship expertise” to the position.
Retimanu was also an owner of KPR Event Management, which went into liquidation in 2012.
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Liz Mellish is the chairperson of Te Wharewaka o Pōneke Charitable Trust, which owns the Wharewaka, where Retimanu until recently ran the cafe and function centre.
“He hasn’t paid us for bloody ages,” she said.
The trust in 2023 forgave $384,105 in unpaid historic invoices, but another $800,000 had since amassed in rent, money, use of the attached function centre and interest, Mellish said.
It got to the point she recently told Retimanu he was out and the trust had since taken over the running of the cafe and centre.
Retimanu confirmed he owed about $3m with a large portion of that to Inland Revenue.
He said he sold his house to his children, at market value, early in 2026 because he had worked out a payment plan for money owed to the tax department. He would sell the home to pay a lump sum then make instalment payments from there.
Retimanu said his landlords told him in March the lease was not going to be renewed. This was followed with a lawyer’s letter asking for an 18-month restraint of trade plus $15,000 a month in debt repayments. He alleged the trust threatened to liquidate the company if he did not agree.
He did not produce the letter.
He said he offered to settle the $800,000 debt for $100,000 – paid over time – but never heard back. On advice, he took the company into voluntary liquidation.
Retimanu said the liquidation came after a hard period across-the-board for Wellington hospitality.
He confirmed a debt was forgiven in 2023, but said this was largely a charge for using the conference facility. He had been trying to renegotiate the price for the conference centre hire.
Retimanu said about $250,000 of the estimated $800,000 he owed the trust was interest that he had only learned of in the past few weeks.
He had informed WellingtonNZ board chairperson Tracey Bridges of the liquidation, but had not been asked to step down. WellingtonNZ’s annual report showed he made $25,000 for each of the past two years for being on the board.
Retimanu told The Post in May that Manaaki Management was not going to be liquidated but was “sort of hibernating”.
Liquidator John Scutter confirmed the only known cash to settle the debt was $9397. There was $74,592 in equipment but the number of hospitality businesses closing meant there was not much of a market to sell equipment.
The company’s books showed $3.5m in “accounts receivable” but it was unclear if this, or any of it, could be recovered, he said.
WellingtonNZ chief executive Mark Oldershaw confirmed Retimanu remains on the board.