Cam Slater: She Ain’t Going Anywhere Anytime Soon

Just as the Greens release a summary of their inquiry’s findings on Darleen Tana, her husband’s bike shop in Newmarket goes into receivership.

Ex-Green MP Darleen Tana’s husband’s bike business has been temporarily closed and may be in insolvency, following allegations of worker exploitation.

People inside the premises told the Herald Tana’s husband, business owner Christian Hoff-Nielsen, has left the country and is in Europe.

A notice was placed in the Newmarket Bikes and Beyond window this afternoon, saying the business was temporarily closed and with contact details for Khov Jones, an insolvency and forensic accountancy firm.

Two accountants from Khov Jones were combing through the shop when the Herald visited.

While they would not discuss their activities inside the store, they told the Herald to check the companies register within the next few hours.

The Herald saw one accountant place the notice in the window. It read: “This store is temporarily closed. For enquiries, please contact us at admin@khovjones.co.nz.”

NZ Herald

There has been a full court press against Tana in recent days from the Greens, but from co-leader Chloe Swarbrick in particular.

Today, Swarbrick responded to Tana’s comments in the interview, saying while she was not surprised by them, she rejected them.

She said the party still wanted Tana to resign from Parliament.

“Thousands of Green Party volunteers across the country mobilised for months in order to earn the faith and the trust of over 300,000 New Zealanders in order for the Greens to gain 15 seats at this most recent election.

“Those 15 seats belong to the Green Party kaupapa, policies and values.”

Asked if Tana’s feelings about the way the party treated her were valid, Swarbrick said: “Sure, feelings are one thing, but again, the facts are another.”

1News

The mean girls are swinging handbags.

But how hilarious is it that Chloe Swarbrick believes in facts over feelings. Tell me again: What is a woman, Chloe?

David Farrar summarises the findings of their inquiry:

• The owner of the business did not provide a coherent or consistent verbal account and his evidence both oral and documentary tended to obfuscate rather than elucidate; (DPF: He lied)
• The respondent’s evidence shifted over the investigation with different explanations as to why that was so, requiring significant cross referencing to earlier accounts and documentation to come to findings (DPF: She lied)
• I found Chuck to be a credible witness who was upfront in response and provided relevant corroborating evidence to support his claims and was consistent between interviews. In contrast I did not find Christian or Darleen to be as credible. 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, because she initially told me she had nothing to do with Green Wheels Blenheim Limited and it was purely Christian’s business and quite separate from E Cycles. When I asked her if she had been a director she responded, no. However, eventually when I noted the Companies Office data, she conceded she had been a director
• I found Nick to be focused and credible in his answers. He supported his account with key documents and when he didn’t know something was clear about that.
• Christian presented evidence to me about Nick, that was shown to be incorrect, and appeared to be done to try and damage Nick’s credibility. When talking about Darleen’s involvement in the business he was inconsistent about the extent of her involvement over different periods, and accused the investigator of tampering with his transcript, which was incorrect.
• I find Darleen initially downplayed her ongoing involvement with E Cycles and Employee A’s employment over the latter half of 2020, until presented with the WhatsApp messages.
• I find it more likely than not Darleen was aware that there were potential breaches of employment standards with Employee A’s visa not fitting his circumstances when working at E Cycles in the first months of his return.
• Darleen approached Employee A at his new place of work and told him 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. Employee A claimed Darleen was threatening and said she would take defamation proceedings. - Kiwiblog

That’s rather damning, but Tana is digging and, now with her husband’s business going down the gurgler, I suspect she will dig in and stay for the forseeable future.

That will force the Greens to contemplate grabbing the nearest dead vegan rat to swallow and invoke the waka-jumping legislation.

There is much fun to be had in coming weeks and months.

Cam Slater is a New Zealand-based blogger, best known for his role in Dirty Politics and publishing the Whale Oil Beef Hooked blog, which operated from 2005 until it closed in 2019. Cam blogs regularly on the BFD - where this article was sourced.