Lane linked to tycoon ‘tainted’
Liquor tycoon Harjit Singh last year successfully applied to name a Christchurch lane after his late father. That decision is under review after an investigation found his company paid bottle store staff less than the minimum wage. Blair Ensor reports.
When a Christchurch community board met last September there were 18 items on the agenda.
Among them was a proposal from Harjit Singh, a prominent businessman and a leader in the local Indian community, to name a right of way after his father, Bhagwan Dass Gulati, who’d recently died.
Gulati Lane would run through a new subdivision at 518 Hills Rd, a 1.3-hectare Mairehau property with a rateable value of $1.3 million, which was owned by Gulati Investments Ltd, a company controlled by Singh and his wife, Shereen. The couple had recently filed plans for their own palatial mansion next door.
Documents supporting the application to name the right of way detailed how Gulati, after he and his family fled turmoil and persecution in Pakistan with nothing, became a successful businessman in India.
‘‘The name Gulati Lane is to honour the spirit of a family which in the face of political and social adversity prospered in a new country,’’ a letter to the Waipapa/ Papanui-Innes Community Board from a planner acting for Singh said.
They submitted to the board and city council that Gulati Investments and associated companies ‘‘contribute to the economic and social wellbeing of Christchurch’’ and the name Gulati Lane ‘‘promotes a multicultural society’’.
It was noted Singh was chairman of both the New Zealand Sikh Society South Island and Global Indians (Canterbury).
The community board approved the proposal.
The six elected board members sitting around the boardroom table, and perhaps Singh, were unaware that a company he and his wife controlled, Nekita Enterprises Ltd, was under Labour Inspectorate scrutiny.
At the time, Nekita Enterprises owned more than a dozen liquor stores in Christchurch, Ashburton and Methven.
The Labour Inspectorate’s investigation, which concluded in November, found the company paid several staff less than the minimum wage.
Poor record-keeping made it difficult for inspectors to establish the extent of any wrongdoing.
The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) will determine what, if any, penalties should be imposed, at a hearing next month.
Last week, a member of the public contacted Stuff concerned about the approval of the name Gulati Lane, which is also being used to promote the ‘‘exclusive’’ and ‘‘boutique’’ new 12-section subdivision. In their opinion, Singh didn’t ‘‘deserve any respect’’ and the Christchurch City Council should review the decision.
A council spokeswoman said the council had received no complaints about the name since it was approved.
However, in light of the Labour Inspectorate’s findings, ‘‘the community board is now reviewing the decision’’.
Board members Cr Pauline Cotter and then-deputy chairwoman Emma Norrish carried the motion to approve the name.
Cotter told Stuff if she had known then what she knew now ‘‘I’m quite confident I would have voted against it’’.
‘‘I think the name has been tainted,’’ she said.
‘‘Our community doesn’t want to have streets names with connections like that, I’m sure. It’s despicable. Even people on a minimum wage aren’t paid enough. It’s not on.’’
Norrish, who is now the board chair, said the name should go ‘‘considering what has come to light since’’.
Singh, whose white Range Rover features the number plate Gulati, was philosophical about the prospect the community board might rescind its name approval.
‘‘It will be disappointing, but it’s not life and death. I can live with it,’’ he said.
While his lawyer had told him not to talk about the Labour Inspectorate’s finding until after next month’s ERA hearing, Singh, who moved to New Zealand about 30 years ago as a refugee, said he’d ‘‘done a lot of good in my life’’ and treated ‘‘all staff equally’’.
In the wake of the Labour Inspectorate’s investigation, Super Liquor Holdings terminated its franchise agreements with Nekita Enterprises.
As a result, all the company’s bottles stores have rebranded under the red and black Canterbury Liquor banner.
They are now ‘‘satellite stores’’ of Thirsty Liquor Group Ltd.
Singh also faces a battle to keep his Lyttelton bottle store on Norwich Quay open, with an application to renew its off-licence expected to receive significant scrutiny from the District Licensing Committee.
The committee’s decision could set a precedent for the renewal of all Nekita Enterprises’ off-licences.
Labour Inspectorate regional manager Callum McMillan previously said liquor licensing decisions should factor in the applicant’s treatment of staff.
‘‘When district licensing committees grant liquor licences to non-compliant employers, then they have a hand in enabling and normalising the exploitation of workers,’’ McMillan said.
Stuff previously reported Singh, who has a multimillion-dollar property portfolio, planned a palatial mansion at 480 Hills Rd while the Labour Inspectorate was investigating Nekita Enterprises.
This week he said the development was on hold, but he hoped it would happen ‘‘one day’’.