The government has paid out nearly $2.5 million in twenty months to the board handling treaty negotiations for Ngapuhi.
Tuhoronuku, the controversial mandate authority, has come under fire from hapu for borrowing $500,000 this year from the Ngapuhi runanga.
The runanga - chaired by Sonny Tau - said it lent the money because Crown funding had been inconsistent, and Tuhoronuku faced extra costs with the Waitangi Tribunal's inquiry into its mandate.
A spokesperson for the Minister for Treaty Negotiations, Chris Finlayson, said since the Crown recognised the Tuhoronuku mandate in February 2014, it had paid out $1.4 million in standard claimant funding, and another $1 million because of exceptional circumstances.
Those included Tuhoronuku's legal and other costs for the Tribunal inquiry.
The spokesperson said the Crown recognised that Tūhoronuku represented the largest iwi in the country .
