Evicted businessman Bernard Whimp plays down court orders, blasts media
Thursday, 11 June 2026
Troubled Canterbury businessman Bernard Whimp is playing down his court-mandated eviction and says news media are spreading lies about him.
The company director and former bankrupt has previously described himself as New Zealand’s Donald Trump. He is battling Financial Markets Authority (FMA) attempts to liquidate his company Chance Voight Investment Corporation Ltd (CVI) and 30 of its subsidiary companies, and has now been ordered to vacate his Rangiora offices by the High Court.
The eviction order followed an application from his landlord, Capitola Investments Ltd, after its notice to vacate the Cone St property over unpaid rent was ignored.
The Chance Voight group of companies reported a net deficit of $11.8 million and a consolidated loss of $5.5m for the six months to September 2025. They are in the hands of an interim liquidator until an upcoming High Court hearing on the FMA’s application.
An audit report from liquidators PWC to the High Court, released from suppression last month, said Whimp is potentially operating a scheme funding investor returns with new capital, not actual profits. The 'substantial shortfall' will likely leave the group’s mostly elderly investors and shareholders out of pocket, it said.
Whimp and his staff are now operating from another building nearby on the same street in Rangiora. They previously occupied a larger building a few doors away on High St.
They also removed luxury vehicles including Whimp’s 2023 and 2024 Porsche 911 GT3 sports cars, which together would have cost close to $950,000 when new, from the vacated Cone St property on the back of a truck.
Whimp told The Press that shifting premises was “an everyday occurrence that somebody does”, and nothing to do with his business operations.
He called The Press reporter who contacted him seeking comment “mad” and a “duplicitous tart”. He said media were spreading lies and described The Press as “f***ing rag that publishes unbelievable piles of bulls**t.”
Late last year Whimp emailed staff saying he was in a “most glorious punch up” with the FMA.
“I am enjoying my elevation to NZ’s ‘Donald Trump’. It is considerable fun,” the email said.
The PWC report said Whimp’s business was formed to invest in real estate, providing mortgages for the properties, and in the Australian Stock Exchange.
It concluded the business is not viable and should be liquidated.
The report says a “substantial level of activity and use of investor funds, including via advances to related entities outside of the Group, appears to be related to the personal interests of the director and his family members”.
“Decision-making within the Group is highly centralised to one person (Mr Whimp) with no independent oversight, inadequate governance records, and significant related-party transactions.'
The report also said Whimp had spent $2.1m including investors’ funds on alterations for Arthurs Pass holiday homes owned by himself and a family member. Whimp told The Press he was lent the money as part of his remuneration package as Chance Voight chief executive, and as compensation for taking on personal liability for lease agreements and vehicle financing.
He also said in his statement that none of Chance Voight’s operating systems contravened any laws, and there were “zero financial irregularities”.
Whimp has convictions for burglary, removing documents of a company in liquidation and failing to comply with a liquidator’s notice, according to a 2009 Supreme Court judgment written after he unsuccessfully sought leave to appeal.
He was banned from company directorship from September 2007 to September 2012. He was bankrupted in 1998 then discharged in 2001 after reaching an agreement to pay creditors.