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The ongoing investigation into suspended Green MP Darleen Tana has cost the taxpayer $43,000 and is likely to increase.��

A Green Party spokesman confirmed the independent investigation, launched on March 14 and led by barrister Rachel Burt, had used up $43,000 of Parliamentary Service funding available to the Greens’ leaders’ office.��

Tana was suspended following allegations of migrant exploitation involving her husband Christian Hoff-Nielsen’s bicycle company. Hoff-Nielsen denied all the exploitation allegations at the time and told the Herald: “This is not a news story, there is no news.”��

The investigation has lasted nine weeks and it was unclear when it would conclude.��

Speaking to ��һ�ǿ�����talk ZB this morning, Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick indicated she would have preferred the investigation finished by now. However, she said it was close to being resolved.��

She wouldn’t give a specific date on when Burt would report back but said the matter had “progressed quite substantially”.��

Swarbrick confirmed the money for the investigation had come from the party’s leaders’ office budget. She was not aware of the exact cost while speaking with ��һ�ǿ�����talk ZB and did not comment on the figure.��

Asked why the investigation hadn’t yet concluded, Swarbrick noted how its terms of reference had been expanded following fresh allegations becoming public through media reporting.��

Swarbrick acknowledged conversations were being had within the party regarding its response to the possible outcomes of the investigation but she wouldn’t elaborate, saying natural justice was the priority.��

She stressed Tana was innocent until proven guilty but she recognised the severity of the allegations. Migrant exploitation was a central issue for the Green Party and one its MPs strongly condemned.��

“This goes to the core of who we are as Greens so we want to deal with it properly,” Swarbrick told ��һ�ǿ�����talk ZB.��

Last week, Tana passed an unpleasant milestone of being absent for as many parliamentary sitting days as she has been present for this year.��

Parliament sat for 15 days before her suspension. The end of the most recent sitting block last Thursday marked 15 sitting days since her suspension.��

Tana was on full pay while she was suspended and would benefit from a backdated pay increase recommended by the Remuneration Authority, like all other MPs.��

Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for ��һ�ǿ����� since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.��