Te Kaha sub-sub-contractor goes bust with serial fraudster at helm

Tuesday, 17 September 2024

Triangle Steel was installing the radial trusses around the perimeter of the Te Kaha arena when convicted fraudster Les Orchard became a director of the company last month.

A company installing steel on Te Kaha stadium has gone into liquidation, weeks after appointing one of New Zealand’s most prolific fraudsters as a director.

Triangle Steel Construction Ltd was subcontracted by Hong Kong-based steel supplier Jinggong Steel to work on the arena project. Its main job was to erect 40 curved radial trusses around the perimeter of the stadium.

The company was placed in liquidation on September 5. Inland Revenue had applied to liquidate Triangle Steel last December, but could not confirm this week if it was behind the motion. It is not clear how much is owed to creditors.

From bare bones to a soaring landmark - this is what a million hours of work on Christchurch's Te Kaha stadium looks like.

Adrian Jones, project director for BESIX Watpac which is leading the consortium building the stadium, said liquidators from PriceWaterhouseCoopers arrived on site at Te Kaha on September 6. “We certainly had no heads up … We just put them in contact with Jinggong.”

Triangle had passed a “key milestone” in its work, Jones said, but was not finished. BESIX Watpac was assisting Jinggong in engaging other contractors to complete its job, he said. The liquidation would not affect the completion time.

Triangle Steel, described as a steel fabricator, was formed in 2013. Auckland businessman Jiao Guan was appointed director and shareholder in 2017 and resigned from both roles in August, weeks before the liquidation.

Guan was also a director of Jinggong Steel’s New Zealand arm between October 2021 and June 2022.

Guan was replaced as director by Les Orchard, a man who has amassed 1160 convictions, more than 1000 jail sentences and a reputation as one of the country’s most prolific conmen.

His last big prison stretch ‒ eight years for a leading role in a complex mortgage fraud scheme dubbed Operation Allsorts by police ‒ ended in 2011.

Les Orchard is a career fraudster with more than 1100 convictions and, for the last three weeks of its trading life, he was a director of Triangle Steel Construction Ltd.

One judge noted Orchard’s “staggering lack of insight into his criminal offending and an almost complete and callous lack of any remorse”. He was jailed again for parole breaches in 2012-13.

Orchard told The Press he had known Guan for 15 years and the latter invited him to be a director and consultant to help sort out Triangle’s problems. “The next minute, it’s been liquidated.”

“There’s nothing I can do. This is a complete waste of time.”

Orchard said he would meet liquidators on Thursday, but wasn’t sure what he could tell them. He believed Inland Revenue was the only creditor. The other new director of Triangle, Baohong Zhang, has an address in Henan province, China.

Guan resigned from Triangle Steel for “personal reasons”, Orchard said and was currently in Dubai ‒ “setting up more work”.

“I don’t think he’s running away from anyone.”

Orchard said he had long seen out the disqualification period for company directorships that came with his convictions.

Companies records list him as the sole director and shareholder of Zoran Consultants Ltd, describing it as a residential property investment company. Orchard said Zoran’s clients all had criminal records. The company handled debt collecting, money lending and other specialist go-between work.

“It’s very hard for a guy with tattoos all over his face to walk in and buy a brand-new Chrysler.”