The Green Party has released the executive summary of an independent investigation into the actions of its besieged former MP Darleen Tana.
A lawyer commissioned by the party to investigate Tana and her husband's actions suggested the pair gave her contradictory statements, labelling their responses to the review as "significantly compromised".
In addition, investigator Rachel Burt said she heavily doubted the credibility of both Tana and husband Christian Hoff-Neilsen, saying the evidence provided was "lengthy and often unclear".
Burt opined that it was "more likely than not" that Tana was aware of several allegations of migrant worker exploitation made against Hoff-Neilsen's business and that she was "operationally involved" in the e-bike business over a long period.
The MP's former party released a 12-page executive summary this morning, nearly two weeks after its caucus demanded Tana resign from Parliament, and months after the saga spilled over into public view.
Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick used the report to again renew calls for Tana to leave her job of her own volition.
"Now the public can see why caucus was unanimous in requesting Darleen's resignation from Parliament."
It comes as Tana's lawyers tell the party to release the independent report into allegations of migrant worker exploitation. (Source: 1News)
The Greens can use waka-jumping legislation to effectively force the renegade MP out of Parliament. However, the party has long held a principled opposition to using it.
Swarbrick has not ruled out that the mechanism could be used in Tana's case.
Before today, the Green Party said it was waiting for all named parties to give consent for its release, due to what it said were privacy concerns.
In March, reporting by Stuff revealed an e-bike business owned by Tana's husband, Hoff-Neilsen, was subject to allegations of migrant worker exploitation.
Burt's investigation was not asked to review the substance of the allegations but to establish when Tana became aware of the claims, what actions she took, how involved she was with the business, and whether she informed the Green Party of the disputes.
Tana has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has distanced herself from the day-to-day operations of her partner's business since the allegations emerged, including in an interview with 1News this week.
The MP was interviewed by 1News Political Editor Maiki Sherman, denying migrant exploitation at their husband’s business. (Source: 1News)
However, the executive summary of the report pointed out the couple were effectively co-founders of the business, after buying the existing small-scale business.
"Darleen described herself as a founder of the business in her CV provided to the Green Party 2022 and talked about the e-bike business as being her business in her candidate profile," Burt said in the report.
"While, in her interviews with me, Darleen said from the outset, the business was Christian’s business, I find she was integrally involved from the early days as it developed into a much larger business stretched across multiple stores.
"I find she became a 50% shareholder and director in recognition of her contribution to the business, and that over these years of 2014 to 2019 the business was a family business with Christian and Darleen heavily involved in all aspects of the business."
Burt's investigation also concluded Tana worked both front of house with customers, assisting with basic repairs and sales, and undertook the more back office functions such as payroll, contracts, liaison with suppliers, and accounts.
'Captain chaos'
The report said Tana called her partner "Captain Chaos" for his inability to structure the operation and that "she brought her planning and implementation skills to bear and created effective systems for the business".
It concludes that Tana would have been aware of the employees' circumstances and complaints, "as she still had some operational involvement in the business".
In releasing the summary of the report on Wednesday, Swarbrick said the party was committed to openness and transparency.
“This executive summary makes it very clear that Darleen has failed to meet the standards we expect — not only of MPs within our caucus, but across Parliament entirely.
“Darleen was given multiple opportunities to be upfront about the serious allegations she was facing but chose to obfuscate instead of answering straightforward questions, prompting the need for an independent investigation," the party co-leader said.
She added: “We are deeply disappointed that Darleen Tana has not been forthcoming about nor taken accountability for very serious breaches of our kaupapa, nor even acknowledged the impact of her behaviour on others.
“Her staying on as an MP risks undermining the credibility of Parliament as well as the faith the public has in it as an institution.
The former Green MP has spoken out after the party asked them to leave Parliament altogether following allegations of migrant worker exploitation at their husband's business. (Source: TVNZ)
“It is in the best interests of everyone that she resigns."
Tana disagreed with report's findings
In an interview with 1News this week, Tana suggested she was completely upfront with the Green Party about her level of involvement with her husband's business.
Of the report’s comments that her story seemed to change over time, she said she did not have a "photographic memory".
In addition, Tana said she disagreed with the findings in the report.
"Natural justice wasn't served in that report, it was not comprehensive. It did not include the voices of key witnesses who were directly involved in the situations," the MP said.
"Two of the people related to the initial complaints were not interviewed, even though one of those came forward two months later and said he wanted to be heard — the Green Party said no to the investigator."
The MP said there were other people the investigator chose to interview who "did not have a direct relationship to the events and could only offer hearsay".
"All of these things together, for me, influenced the reliability of the findings of that report."
While Burt's executive summary wasn't available to the public at the time of Tana's interview, several parts had already been leaked in the media.
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