A Stuff investigation has exposed links between the sex industry and a charitable trust apparently set up to help vulnerable youth.

It also reveals the involvement of a former political figure convicted for giving cash and cigarettes to a teenage boy in exchange for sex.

Christchurch-based Te Poaka Tipua Charitable Trust, which operates out of an old office block on Buckleys Rd, Linwood, was incorporated in September.

Its paperwork shows it was established to help poverty-stricken youths, particularly those in the eastern suburbs.

The investigation has found:

* Former Mana Party organiser Nicholas Kayne Nitro, 36, also known as Nikora, helped establish Te Poaka Tipua Charitable Trust. In 2012, Nitro was convicted of receiving commercial sexual services from a 16-year-old boy. The age limit is 18 under the Prostitution Reform Act.

* Te Poaka Tipua chairperson Veronica Rongomairatahi Stuart, 55, has convictions for fraud and previously operated a male sex club called The Closet with Nitro at a site on Ferry Rd. The pair were both directors of a company called Closet Holdings.

* A website continues to advertise a male sex club called The Backroom at Te Poaka Tipua's Buckleys Rd headquarters.

* Former sex workers frequent the site.

After learning details of the investigation, Christchurch East MP Poto Williams called on community leaders to "look seriously at what alternatives we can put in place".

"If what you're saying proves to be true, it's extraordinarily concerning for our young people," Williams said.

"It is not . . . healthy in the long term for . . people with significant and quite disturbing histories like that to be setting up services for young people. Now that it's on my radar, I'm certainly going to be making some inquiries."

Christchurch City councillor Paul Lonsdale said he was "horrified" to learn about the backgrounds of those involved with Te Poaka Tipua.

"There's no question it's a recipe for disaster," he said.

The trust approached the Hagley-Ferrymead Board asking for funding last year. That was declined, Lonsdale said but he was unable to immediately recall why.

"Your investigation has pulled up quite a lot of information about the particular personnel involved [that the board didn't know] and now with that bit of information I think we need to have a bit of a discussion about what we can do, if anything."

It's understood police are also concerned about activity at the trust's headquarters.

This week, Inspector Corrie Parnell said police had received no formal complaints about the building. Staff visited the site in October and November last year as part of normal policing activities. It was referred to the council for a compliance check because occupants indicated they had been staying there, Parnell said.

Council inspections and enforcement unit manager Anne Columbus said the council's assessment of the activities at the address "indicate there is no evidence of commercial sexual services being offered".

This week, Stuart said she took on the lease for 5 Buckleys Rd (opposite Eastgate Mall) about March last year.

She denied the building had ever operated as a brothel under her watch.

"There's no brothel, there's no girls, there's no men having sex," she said.

The site had hosted a "men's club" called Gollywood for a period until about July last year. Clients were private and discreet. Most were cross dressers, she said.

She was unaware of any sex on site during the period Gollywood was operating. Asked about The Backroom, Stuart said: "I've never advertised anything like that for this premise."

Stuff was shown around the building and saw no signs of prostitution. A transvestite who was there at the time said she regularly slept on site in a room with a double bed. She was a fulltime student and paid $150 a week for rent.

Stuart would not show what was behind a locked door. It was apparently rented for $150 a week by a plasterer, who used it as an office.

Stuart said Te Poaka Tipua Charitable Trust was established to help youth that were causing trouble and having a negative impact on businesses in the area.

However, the trust had struggled financially and had not been active since December last year.

A drop-in service for youth continued to operate at the site and she was giving kapa haka tuition, she said.

Rent was $750 a week, which she was unable to pay at present. Her "very patient" landlord allowed her to remain at the site.

Stuart acknowledged her criminal past but said she had turned her life around. She said she and Nitro had a falling out late last year and he was no longer associated with the trust.

"I do not want to have anything to do with that guy," she said.

Youth in the area said they believed Stuart was doing a good job.

Nitro confirmed he had helped set up the trust but cut ties late last year to concentrate on his Maori performing arts business.

The Backroom was an idea that was being "thrown around" but never eventuated. The website discovered by Stuff was "mocked up" and had accidentally gone live, he said.

According to obtained documents, Te Poaka Tipua lodged an application with the Canterbury Community Trust in October seeking $24,500 to help fund an initiative called the Christchurch Maori Leaders' Project.

"This particular project is about providing a space for young people of Linwood that are wanting to harness their leadership talents and to identify positive career and life pathways they are passionate about," the trust's application said.

The money would mainly cover rent at Te Poaka Tipua's Buckleys Rd headquarters, petrol and venue hire for an educational series.

However, the application was declined because it was not a police-endorsed project and did not provide a proven model and record, Canterbury Community Trust chief executive Louise Edwards said this week.

"In circumstances where red flags are raised we often seek advice from other agencies involved in these areas. This was the process followed around this particular application and was declined on this basis," Edwards said. She declined to comment further.

The intersection of Linwood Ave and Buckleys Rd, just metres from the trust's headquarters, is one of the city's crime hotspots.

Businesses are fed up with young people loitering on the street - drinking, selling and taking drugs, urinating in public and damaging property.

They do not believe Te Poaka Tipua is the right group to try and deal with the problem.

Parnell said police ran an operation in the area focusing on youth and anti-social behaviour late last year. "There are concerns regarding the number of calls to service in the area due to anti-social youth behaviour," he said.

Columbus said the council had received no complaints about the building. Staff had visited the site twice last year, September 25 and October 17, and did not find any breaches of relevant laws.

The owner of 5 Buckleys Rd, Dongjin Wang, could not be reached for comment.