Ray Chung amends pecuniary return after company details questioned
Tuesday, 7 April 2026
Wellington City councillor Ray Chung is correcting his pecuniary interest return after incorrectly claiming voting rights in property developer Willis Bond and omitting a company in which he holds a stake.
The details of all councillors’ pecuniary interests must be declared annually, with the 2026 list now released.
Chung, who chairs the council-controlled organisation subcommittee, declared he controlled more than 10% voting rights in Willis Bond – a major property development company behind many landmark Wellington buildings including the council-owned Tākina convention centre.
The claim was incorrect, Willis Bond chairperson Mark McGuinness said.
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Chung also claimed to be a director with controlling interests in property investment company R & R Limited – a company removed from the companies register, which filed its last annual return in 2011. There is another Auckland-based company called R&R Limited of which Chung is not a registered director.
But he didn’t claim any interest in 1 Glover St Limited, a company in which he holds a 35.5% stake and serves as a director.
After The Post asked about the anomalies, Chung said omitting 1 Glover St was an error and he would correct it with the council. The company had invested in Willis Bond, but that did not give him any directorship or voting rights, which he said he would also clarify.
R & R Limited was actually an unlisted partnership called R&R Investments Partnership, he said.
Mayor Andrew Little said he had spoken to Chung, who acknowledged he made errors in his return.
“I have impressed on him the importance of accuracy when submitting information of this nature,” Little said.
It is the latest in a series of missteps by Chung, who ran a failed mayoral campaign as the figurehead of the group Independent Together. The campaign was marred with links to a conspiracy group, a dossier compiled against his Labour rivals and the release of a lewd email Chung wrote about former Wellington mayor Tory Whanau.
When Chung narrowly scraped onto council, he was caught leaving his phone open to controversial social media identity Graham Bloxham for 40 minutes during a private meeting, meaning Bloxham was able to post about it in real time. Little accepted it was a mistake.
A leak in January put Independent Together under scrutiny for its declared spending.
What appeared to be bank statements showed Independent Together spent $36,777 with billboard company Jolly and $17,434 with software development company Bidbuy. The combined declared spending for IT candidates, plus backing group Better Wellington, was $6913 with Jolly and $11,695 with Bidbuy.
A $40,000 donation Chung claimed in The Post mayoral debate was from Vlad Barbalich‒ a property developer who bankrolled freedom party DemocracyNZ and now supports NZ First ‒ was nowhere to be seen in bank statements or declarations.
The cost of the Independent Together headquarters on the corner of Wakefield and Chaffers streets in central Wellington, which are owned by Barbalich through his Messenger Holdings, did not appear to be included either.