Former TPM staffer says ‘power can truly corrupt people’ after party makes allegation against him
Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Former Te Pāti Māori staffer Eru Kapa-Kingi has said “power can truly corrupt people” following his former party making a range of allegations against him.
Te Pāti Māori have made a range of allegations against their own MP and her son in a late-night email to members.
The unsigned email, sent to members just before 10pm on Monday night, follows weeks of turmoil within the party.
It is set out as a a “fact sheet” concerning allegations against Eru Kapa-Kingi, the former vice president of the party and leader of the Toitu Te Tiriti protest movement, although it also concerns allegations about his mother Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, who is an MP for the party.
The initial TPM email included links to six documents, seen by The Post, one of which was an emailed complaint from a Parliamentary Services staff member with allegations about Eru Kapa-Kingi on Budget Day 2024.
The complainant alleged Eru Kapa-Kingi shouted obscenities at Parliament staff late at night after “tailgating” someone through security at the Beehive.
That complaint included an allegation that Eru Kapa-Kingi shouted: “I will f…ing knock you out”.
In that email, the staffer called for Eru Kapa-Kingi to be sacked and blocked from having free access to Parliament.
Eru Kapa-Kingi publicly broke with the party several weeks ago, alleging a “dictatorial” leadership style. Mariameno Kapa-Kingi was abruptly removed from the whip position some weeks prior.
The email says the allegations came to light after TPM attempted to stand up any allegations made by Eru Kapa-Kingi himself.
“We have caused inquiries and investigations and have asked at Caucus meetings if people could come forward with evidence or substance around this allegation. No evidence was placed before us either overtly or anonymously,” the email reads.
The email also details some previously reported allegations concerning Mariameno Kapa-Kingi overspending her Parliamentary budget by $133,000.
An email from party president John Tamihere included as evidence showed he suggested that she might need to pay back the money herself from her salary or from external sources.
It says that this was not the primary reason for her removal from the whip role however, instead saying that the party was focused on making sure she had time to win her electorate at next year’s election.
The Post has contacted Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and her office to respond to the allegations.
It has also tried contacting Eru Kapa-Kingi to respond to the allegations.
Eru Kapa-Kingi posted a statement to his Instagram reading:
“The life of a whistleblower [laughing emoji], I am not responding to any media. Will put out a response statement soon.”
He later posted a brief statement reading:
“I joined Te Pāti Māori as a young, passionate man, with the belief I could help create a better world for our people. Instead, I learnt a long and hard lesson ‒ power can truly corrupt people you once looked up to.”
He said anyone who knew his family would know “there is no question of integrity”.
Mariameno Kapa-Kingi told the NZ Herald the overspend had been resolved and that the incident involving her had gone through a Parliamentary Services process.
“There was an incident and it went through the usual processes through Parly [Parliament] Services and, yeah, there was a process that was run and … I’ll leave that there,” she told the NZ Herald.
The Post has contacted Tamihere for comment.
Acting chief executive of the Parliamentary Service Amy Brier told The Post it did not comment on “individual employment matters or internal party correspondence.”