Pacific / Cook Islands

Charges laid against company that owes money to Cook Islanders

16:00 pm on 5 August 2019

A building company that's said to owe Cook Islanders a "substantial amount" of money is facing multiple charges in a New Zealand court.

Photo: ikiryo/123RF

The company, Global Fibre8, supplies building materials and is run by members of the Tuake family.

It sold a Chinese-manufactured wall panel called K3T across the Cook Islands, advertising it as strong and cheap.

But it was found to be substandard, did not meet several building codes and, in some cases, leached toxins that caused extensive structural damage.

The charges laid by New Zealand's Commerce Commission allege several breaches of the Fair Trading Act.