Man bought private jet after Essex council gave him £655m | UK News

A Tory council has been left effectively bankrupt after investing around half a billion pounds in a solar farm tycoon who used taxpayer money to buy luxury goods.

Thurrock Council in Essex, borrowed £655 million to invest in Liam Kavanagh’s business, Rockfire Farm.

Leaked documents reveal how Mr Kavanagh bought goods including a £12 million private jet, £16 million yacht, and a £2 million Bugatti Chiron supercar.

A staggering £40 million went to a bank account called ‘other’.

A million-dollar diamond-encrusted Hublot watch which cost twice as much as the average home in Grays – the Essex town where Thurrock Council is based, was also bought by him.

His lawyers claim all payments were approved by his company’s finance team and auditor.

The investments were issued through a complex series of bonds and in return, Thurrock Council hoped it would get interest payments worth millions of pounds.

Interest payments stopped after Mr Kavanagh wound up his companies with the council facing a £200 million shortfall because of the risky investment.

The BBC’s Panorama and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism found the value of Rockfire’s farms was inflated to entice further investment.

Gavin Cunningham, a former investigator with the Serious Fraud Office, told Panorama it is potentially fraudulent to supply inaccurate energy prices.

He said: ‘The effect of that will be that you end up with a far greater valuation of the overall portfolio of solar farms than is actually the case. And anyone relying on that information is going to be misled by it.’ 

When Rockfire had one of its solar farm portfolios revalued in 2018, it declared the power price was £61.45 MWh, despite the average price at the time being much lower at £46.92Mwh.

Mr Kavanagh was told by staff the average power price was expected to be £41.70MWh, but he insisted valuers should be given the inflated price of £62/MWh in 2020.

The inflated prices encouraged the council to invest another £130 million which never actually reached the solar farm.

It appears Mr Kavanagh always planned to spend the money on himself through a leaked email sent in 2020.

‘These funds… will be used to create a new family investment office and to create wealth for years to come. This has always been my plan,’ it read. 

Mr Kavanagh no longer lives in the UK but said his company had produced significant income for the council for several years.

He said: ‘I have never misled Thurrock Council during the course of those investments. It was always my understanding that Thurrock Council conducted its own independent due diligence into investments.’

Essex County Council issued a report last month which blasted Thurrock Council for its risky investments and inadequate checks.

It also criticised the council’s then chief financial officer – Sean Clark – who also invested council cash in other companies which went bust.

The current Thurrock Council leader, Andrew Jeffries, apologised for ‘the shocking and unacceptable failures’.

He has pledged to protect the financial position of the council and taxpayers.

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