Newshub can reveal a subcontractor has been kicked off the job and multiple investigations are underway after copper cable was stolen from a construction site linked to Auckland’s underground train network.
Newshub understands the theft at the Mount Eden City Rail Link implicates several workers, including a senior site worker.
It's the late shift at the CRL's Mount Eden site and the attention of some workers has turned to sections of what looks like black pipe that is loaded on the back of a forklift.
The pipe is actually copper cable, covered in black plastic. The cable's a key component for railway construction.
Video footage, obtained exclusively by Newshub, features a worker talking about the cash he'd get for the few lengths of cable he'd taken.
"How much would you get for that load on the...?" One worker asks.
"Four to five," his colleague responds.
"Four to five hundred?" the worker asks.
"That's if you strip the rubber," his colleague replies.
In another video, a second worker complains about the quality of the copper cable he got compared to that of his colleague.
"Is that some of your copper there?" One worker asks.
"Nah, f**k. Look how thick that is compared to my s**t," another colleague responds.
"How much you got there, bro?" the worker said.
"Look at this s**t he gives me," the colleague replied.
"Yeah, you got the skinny stuff aye," the worker said.
Newshub understands multiple staff at the site are aware of what's happened.
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One worker, who spoke to Newshub anonymously, said he and others are appalled.
"People shouldn't be out there taking advantage of others," he said.
When asked what he thought drove this behaviour, the worker replied "greed".
"Absolutely, nothing but greed," he said.
He said his biggest concern is that the theft ultimately costs everyone.
"Because the taxpayer's paying for it and I don't agree with that. At the end of the day, I'm paying for it myself," he said.
The Link Alliance, a consortium of seven companies responsible for the project, told Newshub:
"As the alleged offender is not directly employed by Link Alliance, the person has been removed from the site and sent back to their home company employer."
Police said the incident occurred around October 14 and was reported to the police on October 19.
Copper cables were reported stolen and charges have "not yet been laid at this stage", the police told Newshub.
Newshub understands that as well as the worker who's been removed from the site, two other staff are implicated, including a senior site worker. Newshub put this to Link Alliance - but it did not respond to these questions.
Auckland Chamber of Commerce CEO Simon Bridges said the construction of the city's $4.4 billion underground rail network has already been beset with delays and cost overruns.
"Now this, I mean the reality of this is that it will mean more cost overruns you'd think, more delays and more disruption," Bridges said.
Link Alliance denies the theft will cause delays, but Bridges says the incident will raise concern among Auckland businesses.
"And I think that goes from sheer frustration actually to going to outright anger," he said.
Anger that this site has been hit by insiders wanting to pilfer from New Zealand's biggest-ever infrastructure project.
The Link Alliance was unable to tell Newshub how much copper cable was stolen, nor could they say how long the theft had been occurring.
A source at the Mount Eden site has told Newshub there had been investigations into another separate incident in September, where two entire reels of copper cable valued at $80,000 each had gone missing from the site.
However, a spokesperson for CRL and Link Alliance said Link Alliance is only investigating the one incident Newshub highlighted.
