Another NZ Green MP Under Investigation for Illegal Activity

New Zealand flags fly in front of The Beehive during the Commission Opening of Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, on Oct. 20, 2014. Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

While the NZ Green Party has been trying to recover its standing after young MP Golriz Ghahraman was forced to resign after admitting to four shoplifting charges, another MP is under investigation for possible links to illegal migrant worker exploitation.

While the case is before the Employment Relations Authority (ERA), the Party decided it needed to conduct its own investigation, which has cost the taxpayer $43,000 so far, with more costs likely in the future.

The case has been brought against the husband of MP Darleen Tana, Christian Hoff-Nielsen, who runs an e-bike business that allegedly failed to pay wages to migrant worker Santiago Latour Palma.

Mr. Hoff-Nielsen denies this. He denied that the worker was ever paid in cash or was owed any money, and that Ms. Tana supervised him while he worked for cash during a trial period.

However, it has emerged that Mr. Hoff-Nielsen has a history of ERA actions with the companies he runs.

In one, he was found to have never paid an employee, and to have fired another “on the spot,” resulting in his companies paying tens of thousands in compensation and unpaid wages to the two men.

One of the successful complainants told the ERA, Mr. Hoff-Nielsen was “difficult to work with” and maintained a “dysfunctional employment relationship.”

The questions around the MP—who used to co-own the business with her husband but sold her interest in 2019—are focused on how long she waited before telling then-co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw about the complaint, and how they responded.

(L-R) Green Party MP's Marama Davidson, Chlöe Swarbrick, Jan Logie and now-resigned Golriz Ghahraman arrive at Ihumātao to meet with those opposed to the proposed Fletcher Building housing development in Auckland, New Zealand on July 26, 2019. Phil Walter/Getty Images

She made the disclosure on Feb. 1, when Ms. Davidson and Mr. Shaw stood her down from her small business portfolio, but kept this a secret from the caucus, Parliament, and the public.

On Feb. 9, a third party notified the Greens that second complaint had been laid with the ERA.

This non-disclosure by Ms. Tana led to the decision to permanently strip her of her portfolio, but this wasn’t announced and was buried in a cabinet reshuffle, which followed Ms. Ghahraman’s resignation.

A few days later, she made extensive reference to small business in her maiden speech to a Parliament that knew nothing of her demotion or the charges faced by her husband.

It was not until March, when someone informed a media outlet—and Green co-leaders were questioned directly—that Ms. Tana was suspended and an investigation launched.

The party commissioned an independent review of the allegations and Ms. Tana’s management of them from lawyer Rachel Burt.

Still Receiving a Full Salary

The internal investigation is being paid for from the Green Party leaders’ office budget, which is funded through the Parliamentary Service and paid for by the taxpayer.

In addition to that $43,000 cost, Ms. Tana has been off work and away from Parliament for half its sitting days this year despite continuing to collect her full salary of $163,961 a year.

If either the ERA or the Burt inquiry find serious wrongdoing by Ms. Tana, she will likely be asked to resign.

If she refuses, she could stay on as an independent MP, and draw a publicly funded salary for over two years. In either event, the credibility of the Greens could be impacted, as the party has long campaigned against migrant exploitation, and called for tougher labour regulation and higher taxes.

Ms. Tana is the third Green MP in less than a year to cause a scandal for the party, following Elizabeth Kerekere, who quit the Greens last year amid bullying allegations, and Ms. Ghahraman.