Investor admits taking millions from council

A businessman has admitted that he took a "substantial part" of hundreds of millions of pounds in public money "for his own benefit".

Thurrock Council in Essex invested £655m through Liam Kavanagh, mostly towards solar farm projects, in the hope of funding local services with the profit it made.

But the investments failed and the authority was effectively declared bankrupt in 2022.

The council is taking High Court action against Kavanagh, and in documents filed by his legal team, he states he "honestly believed the funds he received were his to do with as he wished".

In the legal papers seen by the BBC, and first reported by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Thurrock Council claims it lost £130m from additional top-ups to the initial investments it made in solar farms.

Kavanagh admitted he took a substantial part of this amount.

In 2019, £15m was transferred to Kavanagh by company Rockfire Investment Finance, where he was chief executive.

Kavanagh said he believed these were fees for the transactions made on behalf of the council.

He admits spending £13.7m on a yacht, £9.1m on a private jet, purchasing a £3m villa in Mallorca and spending £800,000 on a sports car.

The businessman claims the terms of the deal allowed him to use the money as he saw fit.

Kavanagh said he was not able to admit, based on the information available to him, how the acquisition of these assets was financed.

The council has been overseen by government-appointed commissioners and has received financial support for three years.

It has managed to recoup some of its investments and it has reduced its total debt from about £1.5bn to £677m as of December.

Thurrock Council launched its civil legal action two years ago to try retrieving some of the millions transferred to Kavanagh and Rockfire Capital.

A spokesperson for the local authority said: "Thurrock Council has received Liam Kavanagh's defence to the council's claims.

"The council, together with its legal advisors, will consider its contents and respond through the court process."

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