Some $14 million worth of shares issued by Victoria’s failed $50 million joint venture, Eloque, have been written down to zero as the Andrews government tries to mop up the costs of the collapsed technology experiment.

State rail agency VicTrack, which formed a joint venture with the US’ Xerox, confirmed that chief executive Campbell Rose – who ran Eloque from its inception in early 2021 – has been “on leave” for the past six months but declined to explain why.