Grant Robertson

PHOTO: HAGEN HOPKINS/GETTY IMAGESFinance Minister Grant Robertson says there are a team of investigators keeping an eye on wage subsidy claims.

The managing director of a construction firm says he has made $150,000 profit from the Government’s wage subsidy, and he has no intention of paying it back.

Tony Black, of Black Steel, received $239,000 as part of the Government’s $10 billion emergency payout to ensure businesses could pay staff during lockdown.

Black says the shutdown has so far cost him about $80,000, and he’s planning to have his 40 employees back at work on Tuesday, when tens of thousands of workers in the construction, restaurant and manufacturing industries are expected to return to work under alert level 3 conditions.

Black says his business is in good shape and will likely emerge out of lockdown with plenty of work, but may still incur losses over the three month period that the wage subsidy covers.

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