ProLink, a company which Asian migrants came to New Zealand to work for. Various businesses hired labour from that company. Photo / ProLink's Facebook page.
ProLink, a company which Asian migrants came to New Zealand to work for. Various businesses hired labour from that company. Photo / ProLink's Facebook page.
Mt Eden-based labour recruitment agency ProLink NZ is in liquidation, with an expected loss of 190 jobs the week before Christmas.
Companies Office records show liquidator Pritesh Patel of Patel & Co is appointed to the company which has been the subject of publicity after Asian migrants with accreditedemployer work visas complained about not getting work.
Around 190 job losses are anticipated, Patel said.
ProLink is a labour recruitment hire business with Mt Eden offices on Dominion Rd. It hired out staff to work in warehouses, packing and other activities. Photo / ProLink's Facebook page.
The liquidator said he had concerns about food and accommodation for the sacked workers.
ProLink NZ, based at 349 Dominion Rd, was established in 2018 and specialised in hiring Asian immigrants, saying it worked with Immigration New Zealand.
Patel was appointed by shareholder Haiyan (Shirley) Luo of Three Kings.
He was particularly concerned about the workers, given the timing and he said he’s sending them letters giving them advice about where to turn to for help.
“I’ve arranged a Chinese-speaking lawyer to assist them with their visas and immigration. I’ve also contacted Rotary at Botany Downs to organise food parcels. This is so sad, just before Christmas,” Patel said.
He attached a Rotary letter confirming all ProLink NZ employees would get “at no cost, some basic food items given the prediction you are currently facing with your employer going into liquidation”.
Pritesh Patel, an insolvency practitioner of Patel & Co in Auckland.
ProLink NZ says of itself: “Established in 2018 we provide labour for hire of temporary/casual workers, to a number of local businesses.”
In 2017, the Herald reported ProLink director Haiyan (Shirley) Luo was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges brought under the Immigration Act and Tax Administration Act.
She used fake birth documents to bring a child here from China and three companies evaded $423,000 taxes.
A spokeswoman for Immigration New Zealand said the agency had received complaints about Prolink NZ last May, last August and in September this year.
“We started investigating Prolink in August 2023. Prolink NZ was previously an accredited employer, however their accreditation was subsequently suspended on September 25, 2023 because of the ongoing investigation and remained suspended until their accreditation lapsed in August 2024. Another complaint was received about the company on September 17. We are currently investigating this complaint,” she said.
ProLink - a labour recruitment business where staff were hired to work at other companies. Photo / ProLink's Facebook page.
Prolink’s website gives its history but stopped in the last two years:
2018: Small team worked in a South Island water plant processing about 50 containers a day.
2019: Won contract with My Food Bay to pack goods. Employee numbers grew;
2020: Around 1000 staff employed “as we played a big part in supporting essential businesses”;
2021: More than 2000 people employed;
2022: “Immigration New Zealand approved Prolink as an accredited employer. This widens our horizons on a global level.”
In December 2023, the company’s relationship with My Food Bag was suspended, coinciding with the start of the Immigration New Zealand investigation.
The company’s headquarters were on the corner of Dominion Rd and Burnley Terrace.
Secured creditors registered on the Personal Property Securities Register are UDC Finance, Lease2Go, Toyota Finance New Zealand and Canon New Zealand.
Collateral includes a 2021 white Tesla and a 2019 white Porsche Cayenne.
The demise of ProLink follows a similar scenario involving another labour hire group, ELE.
Last December, the BNZ put ELE into receivership with more than 1000 jobs terminated, hitting the Filipino community hard.
Deloitte’s Rob Campbell wrote to customers of ELE Holdings saying how “we are mindful of the many employees whose employment was required to be terminated”.
ELE had 11 offices, national coverage and “over 1000 contract workers employed over a range of market sectors”.
Those include the building, civil, engineering, transport, horticulture and healthcare sectors.
Sacked ELE workers outside Deloitte in January this year. Photo / Carson Bluck
Sacked Filipino carpenter Red Aguhar was in January sleeping in his Toyota Aqua on an Auckland street because he had no money to pay rent.
Aguhar had been earning about $800 per week on a Jennian Homes housing site in Greymouth until the pre-Christmas layoffs so he drove to Auckland to get support.
He subsequently found other work in the construction sector.
ELE workers protested outside Deloitte this year, pleading for pay but by April, the Herald reported Deloitte paid 844 workers $1.25m+ and planned to pay more as funds became available.
Deloitte’s Daniel Web said then: “The receivers are pleased to have been able to make an interim distribution at this level, in what has been a challenging situation. We would like to thank the customers of ELE who have paid their accounts promptly and the large number of affected employees for their patience.”
In November, liquidators Baker Tilly Staples Rodway said the BNZ had been repaid $1.59m.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
