Five key points from the Darleen Tana report

Wednesday, 17 July 2024

The Green Party has released the executive summary of the final report into the investigation into what ex Green MP Darleen Tana knew about allegations of migrant exploitation at her husband Christian’s business.

The report canvasses the complaints of four former employees of E Cycles NZ, two of which were uncovered during the investigation process and which had previously been resolved through the Employment Relations Authority (ERA).

The aim of the investigation was to interrogate what Tana knew about the claims, not the substance of them. Two of the complaints are before the ERA.

Here are the key points from the report, compiled by barrister Rachel Burt. It’s also linked below in full.

Tana has disputed the report’s findings, saying she didn’t think natural justice processes had been followed, and she does not accept the findings. She said the party had come to a predetermined view and the report substantially misrepresented her involvement in her husband’s business. “The report does not say that migrant exploitation has occurred, let alone that I am responsible for it.”

The ERA found in favour of two complainants

One employee who arrived in NZ in 2018 had complained during his time working at a Blenheim E Cycles, in 2019, that he hadn’t been paid. The matter wasn’t heard until 2023 and found in the complainant’s favour.

A second employee, who worked at E Cycles for a month in 2021, complained he was unjustifiably dismissed by Christian. He complained to the authority in 2021 and the matter was heard in 2023. The claim that he was owed lost wages was successful.

Tana called her husband “Captain Chaos”

Burt said Tana was essentially the co-founder of the e-bike business at the centre of the allegations, although Tana distanced herself from involvement in interviews with Burt. Tana was initially a 50% shareholder and director but ceased being a director shortly after the ERA was alerted to a first complaint.

“While in her interviews with me Darleen said from the outset the business was Christian’s business, I find she was integrally involved from the early days as it developed into a much larger business stretched across multiple stores,” Burt wrote.

Tana described her husband Christian as “Captain Chaos” according to the report, saying her involvement extended to “planning and implementation skills…and created effective systems for the business”. Said Burt, “Darleen told me she and Christian struggled to work together given their different styles, and she was frustrated with his lack of structure, so had deliberately created more distance from the business.”

Burt said Tana and Christian were not credible witnesses

In relation to their responses to one of the complainants, Burt said, “Christian set out responses to me that were plainly wrong and not corroborated by evidence. Throughout our interview he also changed or adjusted his answers and so lacked consistency of account, meaning I found him unreliable. Darleen’s credibility was significantly compromised too…” Burt sets out multiple ways throughout the report that Tana’s explanations were inconsistent or not backed up by evidence.

One of the complainants made a police report about Tana

The report describes increasingly fraught communications between Tana and a former employee, whose identity is not revealed, over his claims over missed wages. It culminated, according to the report, in Tana allegedly approaching the complainant at his new place of employment, allegedly threatening defamation proceedings and telling them to “stop saying negative things about E Cycles. Employee A reported the incident to the police and a police report dated 23 March 2023 was provided to me.”

Tana acknowledged the confrontation, according to the report, saying she had tried to suggest there was a better way of resolving things. The report says Tana said her “mama bear instincts got the better of her”. She acknowledged she acted inappropriately.

Tana’s explanations to the Green Party were inconsistent

Burt described instances where Tana’s explanations to the Green Party, including co-leaders Marama Davidson, Chlöe Swarbrick, and the party’s chief of staff, were inconsistent, which she described as “striking”. Tana explained this as being stressed during Green meetings, and being emotional. Davidson, Swarbrick and chief of staff Huhana Lyndon told Burt they had believed Tana’s initial explanations in a March 14 meeting with Tana - four days before Burt signed on to investigate.