Thurrock Council

JohnD

JohnD

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"Thurrock Council has accused Dubai-based businessman Liam Kavanagh of misusing about £150mn of funds it invested into solar farm-backed bonds and spending some of the money to buy luxury property, a jet and a yacht.

The local authority in south-east England, which was made bankrupt in 2022 largely as a result of its dealings with Kavanagh, made the claims in High Court papers made public for the first time this week.

Thurrock has issued a claim against Kavanagh and his company Rockfire Capital in relation to nearly £400mn it invested in bonds backed by British solar farms in deals with the businessman between 2017 and 2020.

The council initially invested almost £270mn and claimed it put in further money on the basis of “fraudulent misrepresentations” by Kavanagh and Rockfire."

FT.com
 
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Oh dear. Why do or did councils think they had the ability to invest in such ways?

Surely the meltdown in 2007 should have taught them something
 
Councils/attract a certain type, not usually the sort who can make it in the commercial world.

I suspect like many investors, they doubled down on their losses to try to mitigate and made it worse.

The problem most authorities face are massive costs in adult care. As a society we probably need to rethink the whole system. We simply cannot afford the costs and need to consider better ways to take care of people.

The next generation of pensioners will not have the assets to pay 1.6k per week for a nursing home and the tax payer won’t be able to afford it.
 
motorbiking said:
We simply cannot afford the costs and need to consider better ways to take care of people.
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As in the altruistic and kindly "take care of people" meaning of the phrase, or the "Take care of people" metaphor used by gangsters, drug barons, and the like? :ROFLMAO:
 
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:LOL: no the idea that when we get old the tax payer will fund a nice private care home for us.

It needs a different approach.
 
Pretty sure I read about the Salvation Army being stung with a similar type of investment.
 
motorbiking said:
Councils/attract a certain type, not usually the sort who can make it in the commercial world.
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you mean the wonderful commercial world which led to :

75% of energy suppliers going bust
various train operators going bust
water companies becoming bankrupt
Carillon construction going bust

What sort of type does the commercial world attract? :ROFLMAO:
 
motorbiking said:
:LOL: no the idea that when we get old the tax payer will fund a nice private care home for us.

It needs a different approach.
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We are tax payers.

If we want the tax payer to provide better public services we as taxpayers must expect to pay more for them.

I have repeatedly expressed my willingness to do so. But not to enrich billionaires, and especially not offshore and foreign tax dodgers.

Biking the reverse.

If I am a taxpaying millionaire who wants high quality public services, I expect to pay more tax than a poor person. I don't whinge about it.

Biking the reverse.
 
Complete nonsense.

Biking pays taxes, JohnD is rather shy on the subject.

But my point (conveniently ignored) is that the next generation of pensioners (my generation) cannot expect to have care homes and nursing homes funded the way the current generation are.

1.5k per week is unsustainable. There will need to either be a lot less people needing them, due to better health, care at home or people simply doing thier bit in their younger years to stay fit and healthy or there will need to be a massive reduction in the cost through more effective use of funds.

Of course it’s easy to say people will need to pay higher taxes when you aren’t the one who will pay but are the one who will benefit.

Or simply make nursing care tax deductible so that those with generous pensions don’t deliberately make themselves poor to get state funding.
 
motorbiking said:
Councils/attract a certain type, not usually the sort who can make it in the commercial world.
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Politics does, whether its a vanity project at local level, or Truss style economic prank at national level, they all want to leave their mark in some way after they have gone. Very few do. Borris chose to lie his way to fame.
 
JohnD said:
Thurrock has issued a claim against Kavanagh and his company Rockfire Capital in relation to nearly £400mn it invested in bonds backed by British solar farms in deals with the businessman between 2017 and 2020.
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Waste of money, just makes the lawyers richer. It will have all been done through companies which no longer have any assets. Just needs a change in law to make owners of companies more personally responsible than they are now. Dumb councils looking for a fast buck have only themselves to blame.
 
JohnD said:
I wonder what sort of idiots thought up that scheme.
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Foreign owners of companies that attracted greedy investors with promises of 75% profits perhaps? I wonder what sort of people invested with them? Oh…….

JohnD said:
My European investment, however, is up by 75% plus dividends.
Well done, Europe.
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