Prolink NZ is a labour hire company based on Auckland's Dominion Road. Photo: RNZ / Lucy Xia
A liquidator's initial report into an insolvent Auckland-based labour hire company - Prolink NZ - has estimated that the company owes about $4.01 million to creditors.
The company remains the centre of a major investigation by Immigration New Zealand (INZ) that commenced as early as September 2023, alongside former licensed immigration advisor Cook Huang, after complaints from migrant workers who say they have been cheated thousands of dollars, but have had little to non full-time work.
The directors of the company are Haiyan Luo and Shaojun Han, and 100 percent of the shares are owned by Haiyan Luo.
Prolink NZ entered into voluntary liquidation about a month ago, appointing licensed insolvency practitioner Pratesh Patel.
Dozens of the company's 188 migrant employees whose accredited employer work visas (AEWVs) are at risk, have written to INZ asking to be granted open work visas, and for the directors of the companies to be held to account.
The liquidator's first report published this week showed the creditors including pages of the names of the 188 employees and the Inland Revenue Department, ACC, Canon New Zealand, water cooler company Big Blue, Toyota Finance NZ, UDC Finance, long term car rental company Lease 2 Go, messaging provider Message 4U, One NZ, Rothbury Insurance, Smarty Payroll, Spark NZ, Adobe, and Aon Insurance.
A Tesla has been returned to UDC Finance and has been taken to Turners Auctions.
A Porsche, also financed by UDC, was sold prior to liquidation, and the liquidator is currently reviewing this transaction.
Patel's report showed the company owed about $4.01 million to creditors.
The company has total assets of $134,786, including $73,632 held in its bank account, and $61,154 held by one of the directors.
Earlier, Patel told RNZ that one of the directors withdrew about $80,000 out of the company's bank account without justification, about two weeks prior to the company's going into liquidation, and that he would be looking into it.
The biggest creditor to date is IRD, to which the company owed $2.43 million.
The company also owed $83,281 in employees wages and holiday pay.
As of the date of liquidation, there are about 51 employees who are contracted out across 11 companies, including packaging company Trugene Laboratories (3), FT Logistics Centre (3), fisheries company Moana New Zealand (20), All Office Furniture (1), BBMY Farms (6), E- Pacs Super Mart (1), Forty Thieves/Nut Butter (2), gourmet meat online butchery Neat Meats (3), Paramount (1), Westpac Mussels (10), and a Cafe (1).
The liquidator said he has taken a pragmatic approach to the situation and has instructed these companies that they have the liquidator's consent to pay former Prolink NZ employees directly.
Patel's report said Prolink NZ started to lose contracts to about four months prior to liquidation, and that all contracts were cancelled after the company's accredited employer status was lost.
The company was first suspended in September 2023, following the investigation by INZ.
Earlier INZ confirmed that the company's accreditation status lapsed in August 2024, and that it did not reapply for accreditation.
One of Prolink NZ's directors Haiyan (Shirley) Luo was jailed in 2017 for using fake birth documents to bring a child over from China, and also for evading $423,909 in taxes with regards to three companies.
In late November, Luo was added as a director of the company alongside Shaojun Han, and she also took over 100 percent of the company's shares, which was previously held by Han.
At a meeting with workers in January, Luo - who at the time introduced herself as the operations manager - told employees that she was the person who makes the call on decisions for the company.
Since April 2022, the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment has received over 18,292 complaints against accredited employers.
Over 600 employers have had their accreditation revoked, and nearly 180 have had their accreditation suspended.
There are still 144 active investigations of accredited employers.
Since early 2023, have been widespread reports of fraudulent employers and agents selling jobs under the AEWV scheme.
An assurance review of the scheme by the public service commissioner found that Immigration New Zealand failed to assess the risk and impact of changes introduced to speed up visa processing times during New Zealand's post-Covid labour shortage.
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