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Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s chief of staff, Jazz Singh, quit his role today for not declaring that a property company he owns was liquidated owing $560,000 to Inland Revenue.
But while he leaves the mayoral office, Singh will remain at the council, working on projects for its chief executive PhilWilson.
In a statement, Brown said Singh had been an extremely effective chief of staff, offering good counsel and strong leadership in the mayoral office.
The weekend before last, Brown asked Wilson to look into Singh’s business interests.
Today, Wilson said everything was above board from a business point of view, appropriate declarations were made to the council about a development Singh was undertaking, and there was no evidence of impropriety or conflicts with his work responsibilities.
Jazz Singh (left), chief of staff to Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown (right), called in the liquidators on June 4 for his property company. Photo / NZBBC
And while Singh was not required to make a formal declaration of interest about the liquidation of his property company Traxx Investments and the tax liability, the information should have been disclosed to the mayor and himself, Wilson said.
“That was not mentioned to me or the mayor,” said Wilson. He recommended to Brown and Singh the appropriate course was for Singh to step aside, which he did.
Singh called in the liquidators on June 4 for his property company, which undertook a single development for eight townhouses on Allen Rd, Mt Wellington, which were completed in 2022. He had declared an interest in the site when it was under development.
The first report by liquidators Steven Khov and Kieran Jones on June 11 shows the company had no assets on the date of liquidation and the sole creditor was Inland Revenue, owed $559,739.
Wilson said there were several things Singh was involved in, such as transport reform, and it was useful that he continued for a period to do some work.
Wilson would not say how long Singh would stay on at the council.
“I have a formal agreement with Jazz, which is confidential to the parties. He has stepped out of his role in the mayor’s office and will continue to do some work for us, yes, on the payroll,” Wilson said.
Singh, who has worked at the council for 14 years, was appointed as Brown’s chief of staff on June 24 last year, having been the mayor’s head of budget and finance.
Before working in the mayoral office, Singh was the council’s general manager of procurement, head of risk, and acting general counsel.
At the time of his appointment as chief of staff, Brown said in a media release that Singh would bring a sharp focus on delivery and holding council spending and procurement practices to account.
Singh grew up in Mt Roskill, attended Mt Roskill Grammar School, and holds a law degree and a Bachelor of Property.
