Swarbrick spoke to media after a meeting of Green Party delegates on October 17, 2024. Video / Thomas Coughlan
Embattled businessman Christian Hoff-Nielsen says his new business will have no employees, following claims of migrant exploitation at his previous business.
An employment dispute with Argentine migrant Santiago Latour Palma was central to the allegations, which led to the downfall of the political career of Nielsen’s wife, former Green MP Darleen Tana.
“I’ve started a much smaller business, and I’m only on my own,” Hoff-Nielsen told the Herald on Friday.
Hoff-Nielsen’s previous business E Cycles NZ Ltd, trading as Bikes and Beyond, owed Inland Revenue and former employees more than $400,000 when it went into voluntary liquidation on July 16.
Hoff-Nielsen is now listed as the director and only shareholder of a new business, Woohoo Trading Ltd, which New Zealand Companies Office records show was registered on October 17.
“I could have gone to WINZ and requested for my children and I to be somehow on benefits, but I’ve never done that in my life, and I don’t see myself doing that... I’m not that type,” Hoff-Nielsen told the Herald.
“I had a few companies that wanted to hire me, and each time the shareholders or the assembly of directors decided that I wasn’t welcome, so my name is tarnished because of these allegations.”
In August, Hoff-Nielsen said he was approaching bankruptcy after he could not pay $4385 of parking fines. The magistrate said if he could not pay he must do 80 hours of community service.
His previous business had 50 bikes when it was put into liquidation, but he was unable to sell the business due to the allegations of migrant exploitation.
“I tried to sell it but with the loss of credibility, even though we had three buyers, as the reporting got more savage... the accountant for the other company didn’t believe a word I was saying.
“It just became impossible to sell the company.”
Hoff-Nielsen maintains there is “limited proof” that he exploited migrant employees and claimed there was a conspiracy against him and Tana.
“I didn’t mutate into an animal or Gremlin overnight,” Hoff-Nielsen said.
Hoff-Nielsen said it made sense to continue renting bikes.
“Five bikes is not a lot to buy off the liquidator... the liquidator was trying to sell this in the middle of winter.
“I think I bought half of the bikes for like, $300 each... and $300 is literally free rentals.
“It just made so much sense to not search for something that I needed to learn or venture into, and just... do 10% of what I did before.”
Renting five bikes every day on Waiheke Island would profit around $2000 a week, which would allow his “family to pay rent and have bread on our table,” he said.
This week Tana was ousted from Parliament after an investigation found she continued to be involved with the company despite claiming not to be – and at times that involvement was “extensive”.
“In summary, it seems her day-to-day operational involvement in E Cycles reduced around mid-2019, but she continued over the following three years to support and assist the business,” the executive summary says.
Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.
