More claims emerge against suspended Green MP Darleen Tana
Saturday, 23 March 2024
A Stuff investigation last week revealed migrant exploitation claims against a business with links to Green MP Darleen Tana, leading to the party suspending her. Now more evidence has emerged of the business dealings of Tana and her husband. Steve Kilgallon reports on his ongoing investigation.
Stuff can reveal more documents have emerged tying embattled Green MP Darleen Tana to the financial problems of her husband’s e-bike business, which faces two complaints of migrant exploitation.
While Tana officially stepped away from E-Cycles NZ in 2019, Stuff has seen much later emails to staff in which her husband Christian Hoff-Nielsen says she deals with the business’ finances.
A Stuff investigation last week revealed an Argentinian migrant, Santiago latour Palma, was claiming about $25,000 in lost wages and holiday pay and said Tana had overseen a cash-paid work trial while he was still on a visitor visa.
A second worker had also lodged an Employment Relations Authority (ERA) claim for lost wages, and E-Cycles NZ had lost two previous ERA claims by former staff members.
Tana, a first-term MP, had told the Green Party in February of the looming issues. But in a statement supplied by Green co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chloe Swarbrick, they said it was not until this month that they learned “Ms Tana may have had some prior knowledge of the allegations”.
Documents seen by Stuff suggest Tana would have been aware of issues at the business much earlier than February.
Swarbrick has described the allegations against Tana as “serious” and that “we are clear and have long thought anyone coming to Aotearoa needs to be treated with respect … this has absolutely no place in Aotearoa”.
As a result of Stuff’s reporting, the Green Party stood down Tana and ordered an independent investigation by lawyer Rachel Burt.
Stuff can also now reveal:
An email from August 18, 2023 from Hoff-Nielsen to his staff, with Tana copied in, which reads: “as uve [sic] probably all discovered, things have gone totally awol with our cash flow, Im back soon next week and hope to be able to get it all back on track” and adds “this weekend funds will be in account”. Staff said this was Hoff-Nielsen explaining a European vacation while they were owed wages. “Don’t send photos of your holiday whenyou can’t pay your people, it’s absurd,” said one. Stuff has also seen staff WhatsApp logs from May 2023 showing Tana taking an active interest in the business, including arranging the sale and delivery of a bike.
Tana and Hoff-Nielsen are no longer welcome at the Waiheke Boat Club, with their membership cancelled after a dispute over the cost of repairing and storing Hoff-Nielsen’s boat. The boat club secured an Interim Charging Order in 2020 against Hoff-Nielsen for $4080 after he paid only $2000 of a $6000 bill for his boat. While former president Gerry Morgan declined comment, saying he considered the matter closed, Stuff understands the club walked away from the debt but cancelled their memberships.
A Personal Properties Security Register (PPSR) claim against Tana personally, and E-Cycles NZ, dates back to 2017, laid by Australian bike wholesaler Sheppard Bikes. A further 11 PPSR claims were lodged against E-Cycles between 2019 and 2023 including by Shimano, Watt Wheels and Phoenix Bikes. PPSR allows someone to claim an interest over the collateral belonging to someone who owes them a debt.
The IRD withdrew liquidation proceedings against the company in May 2023 after agreeing a settlement with Hoff-Nielsen.
Advocate Alex Kersjes said a process server served Hoff-Nielsen a Statutory Demand on Friday on behalf of E-Cycles NZ, as a potential precursor to a liquidation application, after E-Cycles had still not paid the about $30,000 they were ordered to give to former employee Nick Scott after he won an ERA case for unfair dismissal.
Burt has commenced her investigation and spoken to Palma, the other complainant and their advocate, Nathan Santesso. Kersjes, acting for Scott and Charles Simpson, the other worker who previously won an ERA case against the business, has offered to assist.
Other former employees of the business have described the investigation as “karma coming back to bite them”. Bike mechanic Rob Sullivan said he quit the business in 2023 after just a month’s work because he didn’t like how Hoff-Nielsen ran the business and didn’t want to sully his own reputation by remaining there. Sullivan admits he abandoned his employment, but says Hoff-Nielsen still owes him about $900 in wages. “The company was in dire financial straits,” said Sullivan. “I had to remind Chris to actually pay me; he would float around the shop avoiding the conversation… He would pay late, pay day was Wednesday but sometimes you would not see the pay until Saturday. I spent the majority of my time with disgruntled customers coming in asking ‘where’s my refund, I’ve been promised a refund’. He would put them off with excuse after excuse after excuse.” Sullivan says it angered the staff when Hoff-Nielsen went overseas. “He’s not paying the wages, and then he pisses off to Denmark.” Sullivan says he is prepared to be a witness at Palma’s ERA case, saying he knew Palma was owed wages and also that he was working without an appropriate visa. “They knew what the hell they were doing with Santi’s visa,” he said.
Another former employee, who did not want to be named, said he had approached Green leader Chloe Swarbrick to offer to talk to her. “I saw this coming… I thought ‘that’s karma’,” he said. “When this happened, I thought ‘well, I expected something to happen’.” He said he had received emails from Tana during 2021-2022 about his salary. “She can claim she resigned as a director in 2019… but that doesn’t take away that she was active in the company. Of course she knew about everything.” He said he had learned of what was happening to the two workers who have lodged ERA claims and encouraged them to take action. He also said he too was paid late on occasion. He said he was owed money when he left. “It was a small amount, so I said ‘forget it’. But I couldn’t stay around that dishonesty.”
The Green Party would not comment on the specifics of the new information.
Instead, in a statement, spokesman Danny Stevens said: “These allegations are being taken extremely seriously. The reason the Green Party is conducting an independent investigation is to establish what Darleen knew and when. The party has appointed an independent expert workplace investigator and barrister to establish the facts.”
Among Stuff’s questions to the Greens was whether, in the light of this new evidence, they had vetted their candidates sufficiently. Stevens said: “The Green Party is always looking at ways it can do things better. A routine review of the party’s election campaign and the processes supporting it is currently underway.”
Stevens confirmed Tana would not be commenting on Stuff’s latest enquiries.
Hoff-Nielsen responded after deadline to say “No comment. As per above no point - u could contact any dozen or so people that were witness to the events and verify the Nic - chuck etc [Scott and Simpson cases] . That would be journalism and interesting. Enjoy ur day.”