Secret video appears to show trucking boss telling driver to falsify logbook

Thursday, 23 May 2019

During a hearing on NZTA's application to revoke Stan Semenoff Logging's operating licence, a secretly recorded conversation between Semenoff and a former employee was played in the High Court in Auckland.

A Northland trucking boss under investigation by the transport safety regulator appears to have told a Filipino truck driver to manipulate his logbook or risk his job.

A secret recording of a conversation between Stan Semenoff, the former Mayor of Whangārei, and a former employee was played in the High Court in Auckland on Monday, during a hearing on the New Zealand Transport Agency's (NZTA) bid to revoke the operating licence of Stan Semenoff Logging.

The recording was suppressed until Thursday as Justice Christian Whata heard submissions about whether the media could report on it.

Although he said the recording did little to help him resolve the dispute between the regulator and the company, Justice Whata gave clearance for the conversation to be published, but repeatedly instructed reporters that reporting 'must be balanced and fair'.

Stan Semenoff, a former Whangarei mayor, has denied the secret video is evidence he told his driver to break the law.

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'Mr Semenoff does not accept the allegations levelled at him and/or the rather limited perspective of him afforded by the secret recording,' Justice Whata said in his decision.

Monday's hearing was held to determine whether interim orders allowing Stan Semenoff Logging to continue operating were appropriate.

The hearing heard how Stan Semenoff Logging, owned by Stan Semenoff and his son Alexander, had been informed of NZTA's move to revoke its licence on August 9, 2018, a day after the transport agency provided it with an audit which claimed the company had systemic problems, including tolerance of speeding.

Justice Whata wrote that he was 'satisfied NZTA's concerns are justified' with Semenoff's non-compliance suggesting 'a systemic problem'.

NZ First MP and Cabinet minister Shane Jones has been actively interested in the Semenoff Logging case.

'I have reviewed, albeit briefly, the nature of the audited non-compliances, including large numbers of truck maintenance infringements, speeding violations and work time breaches'.

But the lengthy experience of the company's top staff, lack of any fatal accidents under their control and the 'constant scrutiny' Stan Semenoff Logging was now under meant the interim orders were appropriate, pending a substantive review. That meant the company could keep operating until that review was completed.

The secret recording

NZTA argued the recording points to systemic problems at the company.

In an affidavit, the driver said his understanding of the conversations was that Semenoff was instructing him not to take breaks as required by New Zealand law.

Semenoff denies this.

While he acknowledged that at more than 70 years old at the end of a busy week he was prone to saying things which he would later regret, Semenoff said he was simply telling the driver to take breaks at his origin or destination, something he believed was industry practice.

According to the NZTA website, drivers must take a break of 30 minutes after they have been working for five and a half hours, irrespective of whether they have taken breaks during that period.

The conversation took place in November or December 2016.

Semenoff is heard telling the driver that its other drivers were taking breaks 'when they're on the port or when they're on the skids'.

When the driver said he took a break on the side of the road, Semenoff said: 'Well you got it wrong. No one else is doing it.'

Semenoff explained that this was why a colleague had 'crossed off' hours from the driver's timesheet.

'Because you're not doing what the rest – the rest of the Filipinos are doing it. You're the only one that's not doing it,' Semenoff said.

'Oh, there's one others not doing it and he'll be going to the ff..well he's not part time – he's going back to the Philippines.'

Semenoff added: 'If you don't understand, and you don't want to do it, you tell me – that's okay – but I'm not going to put up with it because I'm not going to have – you're the only Filipino I'm having trouble with,' Semenoff said.

When the driver said he was 'doing a legal for my logbook', Semenoff told him he was not going to argue.

'There probably won't be a job here for you.'

Semenoff appeared to suggest his technique could evade detection by the Police.

'I know the policeman says you've got to stop – f*** him – he's not doing, he's not, he's not doing the company much,' Semenoff said.

'They can't catch you, they won't catch you, and that's the way these boys do it.'

As well as being a significant employer in the region, Semenoff was Mayor of Whangārei from 1989 to 1998 and again from 2007 to 2010.

In his affidavit, Semenoff said that other employees had been told him that the driver 'seemed to be 'dragging the chain' and 'milking the hours' for his personal advantage'.

Semenoff said he was surprised to learn that as he valued the driver, even providing an interest free loan of $2000 to allow him to bring his wife to New Zealand.

It was 'not correct at all' to suggest that drivers were being forced not to take breaks as required by New Zealand law.

Instead, he believed the industry generally acted in the way he explained to the driver.

'I was certainly not telling him not to have breaks or to break the law.'

His statement about police was 'obviously an unfortunate expression for which I apologise', Semenoff said.

'I think this was a more general comment along the lines that he needed to listen to his bosses at the company, rather than what a policeman may have said to him.'

Semenoff's lawyers argued that the media should not be allowed to publish the video as it was 'obtained by improper means' and had the potential to cause irreparable harm for the company.

Semenoff's lawyer David Neutze said the video was of marginal importance, and the driver worked for a different Semenoff Group company, Stan Semenoff Sand.

Lawyers for NZTA said there was no risk that publishing the video could prejudice Semenoff's right to a fair trial because the time limit for taking a prosecution had passed.

Discussed in Parliament

Semenoff is a significant employer in Northland, but action by NZTA gained wider attention after NZ First MP Shane Jones spoke publicly about the economic implications for Northland if Semenoff's company was not allowed to operate.

Jones has said in Parliament that he raised the matter with the chief executive of NZTA, questioning the legal authority under which the agency lawyers was inviting Filipino workers to act as 'pimps' or 'informants' on New Zealand companies.

Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway has also confirmed Jones visited him in his office to raise Semenoff's application for accredited employer status from Immigration New Zealand.

Jones, who has publicly confirmed that he and Semenoff are related, has not responded to requests for comment.

National's economic development spokesman Paul Goldsmith said the video further called into question Jones' judgement in lobbying for Semenoff or publicly commenting on the case when he was aware of the NZTA investigation.

'He should have stayed well clear instead of actively interfering in the investigation.'

In March NZTA revoked the licence, however later in March the company won a High Court injunction to stay on the road until a court ordered otherwise.

Neutze argued that there were a number of flaws within the original transport agency order including the decision to label directors Alexander Semenoff, Stan Semenoff and general manager Daron Turner as not being fit or proper persons to run the transport company.

The transport agency said the three men were responsible for the systemic 'individual and collective failures' at the company.

But Neutze said the agency's order should have focused on the company rather than the individuals.

'The way that the decision makers have gone about this, they have destroyed the character reputation of three people involved in the case,' he said.

Neutze claimed that the transport agency had misapplied the law by focusing on the men.

'If they are going to assassinate their character, they need to do it properly,' he said.

'They have acted hastily and they have overreached.'

Since the NZTA order, around a dozen drivers had left the company, Neutze said.

NZTA's lawyer Paul Wicks QC said the Land Transport Management Act gave the agency wide discretion when it came to public safety.

Wicks argued the law allowed the agency to pursue the individuals however, he was questioned by Justice Whata over whether the person who made the decision on Stan Semenoff Logging's transport licence had conflated the faults of the company and the responsibility of the Semenoffs and Turner.

'Taking this approach gives the company the opportunity to survive, in the case of revocation it gives the company the opportunity to find interim measures of alternative management,' Wicks said.

He said the issues with the company included speeding and falsified log books.

In April, Turner told Stuff that the NZTA order posed a significant risk to New Zealand's economy.

'We think the downstream effect alone of our business being shut down is probably going to affect another 1000 jobs in the north,' Turner said.

'The infrastructure is stretched anyway so if the service isn't there, the wood doesn't move. We move about $87million of logs a year - that $87m isn't going to get to market.'

Stan Semenoff Logging is just one of many transport operators facing closure after an NZTA crackdown.

The agency issued another 114 'notices of proposals to revoke/suspend' transport operator's licences.

Revocations mean the operators must get off the roads.