A cafe owner who has money laundering charges against him says he was “humiliated” and publicly vilified on social media during an Employment Relations Authority battle.

Fuyu “Bobby” Zhou, owner of Ōrewa bakery Sunflour and ice cream parlour Movenpick, was awarded $15,000 for being unjustifiably dismissed, but former accountant Khieng Chiv claimed a conflict of interest from the Employment Relations Authority meant he’d be appealing the case.

Zhou owned and operated Oliver’s Cafe and Coast and Bites and Brews in 2023 which were situated next to each other in the Auckland seaside town of Ōrewa. He also owned Hello Manly and Little Millie’s cafes.

He told the Employment Relations Authority that in 2022 he was the director and shareholder of hospitality group BNS. He sold the business in 2023 to property development company RPW but agreed to remain general manager of BNS for a period of five years. RPW stepped down as director in 2024 and experienced businesswoman Ahn Thi Vo took over.

While in the GM role Zhou operated Sunflour, Movenpick and Hello Manly while working in Oliver’s, making coffee and acting as the front-of-house manager, managing its operation on behalf of BNS.

He operated all his businesses as one entity meaning staff from one business would work on occasion in one of the other venues to cover busy times and/or staff shortages, and the BNS businesses used Sunflour and Movenpick’s freezer and storage areas.

Despite BNS having Khieng “Kevin” Chiv as their accountant, Zhuo filed his own business tax returns and processed the payroll for BNS and only required Chiv to verify the BNS annual tax return. Chiv was also the beneficial owner of shares of BNS which were held on trust for him by one of the BNS directors.

It was revealed to the authority Zhuo did not keep a detailed accountancy record which meant there was no separation in the accounts of staff, resources, or financial expenses between BNS and Zhuo’s own businesses.

Vo told the authority she had to report all aspects of the BNS operation to Chiv. She said Chiv sent instructions to her in accordance with which she would withdraw monies from BNS and pay them to Chiv’s personal assistant as he instructed.

However, this left BNS without sufficient funds to meet its financial commitments, she said. Zhou alleged Chiv was taking out a large amount of money from the business with more than $400,000 being transferred from BNS to RPW.

Chiv told the authority amounts which were withdrawn from BNS was the trading which was legitimately drawn down by RPW to fund other businesses he had established.

Zhuo alleged that by May 2024 BNS had not been filing GST since October 2023 and BNS’s PAYE and KiwiSaver contributions were not up to date and there was not enough money to pay essential costs, he had to deal with many late payment calls and emails from suppliers, IRD and other debt collectors, rent payments were missing.

He said he felt “under great pressure” because of the demands from staff and suppliers. He was the guarantor for the BNS rent payments, and he was also the general manager who was expected by suppliers and staff to make the payments.

In May 2024 Zhuo said he discovered that the High Court had issued restraining orders under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 against several people including a member of the Comancheros gang, and another, RPW.

Concerned about a gang connection and worried that money was being laundered through BNS, he was worried he might be seen to be involved and was still concerned about the cashflow situation, especially as he was the guarantor for the rent payments.

Because of this he resigned, giving two months’ notice for “damage control reasons” because he wanted the BNS businesses he had been responsible for building up to continue.

Vo messaged Zhou days later saying: “Business no money. I can’t make many payments now. I don’t know what to do now. It’s really hard for me. Can’t you stay to help please? …”

Chiv said he discovered in June 2024 Zhuo had been responsible for Movenpick and Sunflour’s power accounts being attributed to a BNS account because of which Movenpick and Sunflour had not been paying a power bill between November 2023 and April 2025.

He also said Zhuo had been using BNS funds to pay his own staff, which Zhuo said had been an error, and as soon as he had been made aware of it, he paid the amount due to Chiv.

The authority noted there are criminal charges related to money laundering against property developers RPW, Chiv and Zhuo provided as evidence to the Authority, but were not matters within the authority’s jurisdiction.

Zhuo said on June 24, 2024 he received a letter from lawyers acting for BNS advising him that he was dismissed with immediate effect for using money from BNS to pay wages to his own employees and had misappropriated BNS money for his own use.

He was trespassed from all BNS venues including Oliver’s.

The authority found that Chiv understood sufficiently that how Zhuo operated the BNS businesses made them very profitable.

Zhuo accepted that he failed to employ good accountancy practices and there was a cross-over of resources, staff, and sometime finances of his own and the BNS businesses which were not recorded and properly attributed.

Member of the authority Eleanor Robinson said BNS was concerned that there was no corresponding increase in turnover, and this was attributable to Zhuo using BNS resources and staff to benefit his own interests.

But evidence established that large amounts of money were being taken out of the BNS businesses by Chiv, whose evidence was that these withdrawals were legitimate director’s drawings for RPW totalling about $465,000.

“It is evident from the evidence of Ms Vo and Mr Zhuo that these withdrawals were creating cashflow issues in the BNS businesses. There were insufficient monies to pay suppliers, rent, or staff wages.”

The authority found with no investigation into the allegations of Zhou stealing money BNS did not carry out a fair and reasonable procedure before dismissing him.

Zhuo said the dismissal was “extremely humiliating” and he was publicly vilified by BNS. There had also been three physical attacks on his businesses, including arson, which exacerbated stress.

An interim non-publication order issued in mid-2025 was repeatedly breached through social media posts which described the case as well as hard copies of the posts made available to passing members of the public near the cafes.

BNS Co Ltd and BNS Group Ltd are jointly ordered to pay Zhou unpaid wages and holiday pay following his dismissal as well as $15,000 in compensation and $3000 to the Crown.

Zhou was unable to be contacted for comment. Chiv told the NZ Herald he would be appealing the case, stating the member of the authority was a customer of Zhou’s cafes, which was a conflict of interest.

An Employment Relations Authority spokesperson said the member had no personal association with any of the parties and advised parties of her familiarity with the businesses. No objection was raised, and the proceedings continued.

Brianna McIlraith is a Queenstown-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the lower South Island. She has been a journalist since 2018 and has had a strong interest in business and financial journalism.