Disgraced former National party candidate Jake Bezzant has resigned his directorship at Invisible Urban Charging.
Now-sole director Nigel Broomhall told BusinessDesk he had informed all the company’s shareholders and it was Bezzant’s decision to leave.
An entity owned by Bezzant along with others, Dunning Governance, still holds a 41.8% stake in the firm.
Last week, Invisible Urban Charging investor and Ninja Kiwi founder Chris Harris said he would be "deeply concerned” if allegations about Bezzant's behaviour were true.
Broomhall, who has a 41.8% stake in the company, wouldn’t comment further.
Bezzant, who has been a company director at Invisible Urban since 2019, was not immediately available for comment.
Last week, his former partner Tarryn Flintoft said in a podcast he had been impersonating her online without her consent and soliciting images from other social media users.
He has denied the allegations and said there were two sides to every story.
However, he has resigned from the party and leader Judith Collins called reports about his behaviour disgraceful.
Company background
Invisible Urban Charging raised $1.3 million in capital from PledgeMe investors in March, having targeted $2m.
The company claims an $8m valuation providing turn-key electric vehicle charging solutions for parking operators.
“Our first capital raise was going to be through US-based VCs - that just made sense for our strategy. The combination of covid and a large number of friends and family wanting to invest has changed our approach. Our first round is now going to be completed in NZ and future rounds will likely be raised in the US,” the company said.
Invisible Urban Charging claimed to have completed three trips to the US and to have signed an exclusive EV charging master parking agreement for 52,000 carparks for 10 years.
BusinessDesk revealed Bezzant’s business background in September ahead of last year’s election.
Bezzant had a job at Parking Sense, which is now part of Park Help but left after disagreements over "fantasy" multi-million dollar contracts and his claims he founded the company. That claim was disputed by Paul Collins, who Companies Office records show as a founding shareholder.
A Parking Sense statement from Feb 5 2020 said he would no longer work in the parking industry.
Bezzant lost the safe National seat of Upper Harbour to Labour’s Vanushi Walters who received 17,573 votes ahead of Bezzant’s 15,181. The seat was previously held by former National party deputy leader Paula Bennett.
