Te Kaha subcontractor owes $2.1m to 120 creditors

Friday, 4 July 2025

Eight pages in a liquidators report were needed to list the all the creditors of Te Kaha subcontractor Triangle Steel Construction.

A former Te Kaha subcontractor that collapsed weeks after appointing a prolific fraudster as a director owes big money to 120 creditors, but has not released its financial books.

Triangle Steel Construction was subcontracted by international building giant Jinggong Steel, primarily to erect 40 curved radial trusses around the Christchurch stadium’s perimeter.

However, the company was placed in liquidation in September last year. A first liquidators report said it blamed the insolvency on not being paid the full amount for its subcontract related to Seascape Tower in Auckland. It entered liquidation due to unpaid tax.

Around the time of the liquidation, seven employees of Triangle Steel moved out of a fixed-term two-storey rental in Middleton without warning, their landlord said.

Triangle Steel workers living in Christchurch on a fixed term tenancy moved out of their Middleton home without warning and stopped paying rent.

The Tenancy Tribunal last month awarded the landlord $12,600. It was mostly rent arrears that piled up while seeking new tenants, the landlord said, and hoped to become yet another Triangle Steel creditor.

About 120 creditors were identified in a six-monthly liquidators report from April. Among the eight-page table was Heartland Bank, Inland Revenue, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, construction companies and about 30 individuals.

The total amount owing to all creditors was about $2.1m. After considering some $220,000 of assets so far, a shortfall to creditors of $1.89m was predicted.

Jonel Hydraulics business development manager Shane Quigley said the liquidation was a shame as Triangle Steel had been a good customer prior to its troubles.

The company had to write-off the last few months of equipment hiring from Triangle Steel - about $10,000.

“Compared to other creditors it’s quite a small amount, unfortunately. Because it’s hire equipment it’s not something we had to buy in and lose money on,” Quigley said.

A creditor who would only comment anonymously said Triangle Steel began paying their invoices late in 2023, with as much as $500,000 outstanding at one point. This was whittled down before the liquidation - but a “substantial amount” was still owed.

“What really frustrated us was during this time the owner was posting on his socials that he’s just bought a new car,” the creditor said.

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

The former company director Jiao Guan purchased a Mercedes-Benz A200 2019 in March 2024. Guan exited the directorship on August 16, three days before career fraudster Leslie Orchard was appointed, and only weeks before the company was put into liquidation on September 5.

Right around the time of the liquidation, Guan bought a Lexus RX500 Sport Turbo 2024 car, records show. It was registered on August 30. The car is worth about $150,000 new.

Orchard has a reputation as one of the country’s most prolific conmen, with 1160 convictions and more than 1000 jail sentences. He previously told The Press he had known Guan for 15 years, and Guan had invited him to help sort out the company’s problems. “The next minute, it’s been liquidated.”

In the six monthly report, PwC liquidator Craig Sanson said Orchard had provided limited information, while Guan - “initially unresponsive” - had provided “some information”.

“Mr Guan is still to complete the director's questionnaire and provide the books and records of the company,” he said. “Additionally, efforts to contact the other director in China, Baohong Zhang, have been unsuccessful.”

But the liquidators had gained access to the company’s Xero accounts. Outstanding amounts from debtors had been identified and would be pursued, Sanson said.

The liquidators had sold a company vehicle for $15,600 and received $181,100 from auctioning engineering tools, equipment, scrap metal and more from a Triangle Steel factory in Auckland.

“We continue to investigate the actions of the directors and former director and the affairs of the company to identify if there are any insolvent transactions, avenues for recovery or breaches of law which we may refer to the authorities,” Sanson said in the report.

An end date to the liquidation could not be estimated.

The Press understands Triangle Steel’s financial books and records were still outstanding as of Thursday.