MERGERS AND GROWTH
One of the ways I combat ennui (and hangovers) is by visiting websites such as Companies House and seeing what I can turn up, because it’s possible to search for an individual’s name as well as a company name. For example, is Carwyn Jones a director of the Come And Get It, Big Boy! massage parlour in Nantyffyllon? (Of course not, how could you think such a thing! Ach y fi!)
This is what I was doing when one thing led to another and I turned up something rather interesting, or disturbing, possibly both. Let me explain.
As you may know, Coleg y Drindod/Trinity College in Carmarthen merged a few years ago with Swansea Metropolitan University and St David’s College Lampeter to give us (deep breath), University of Wales Trinity St David. Among its developments is a £300m new campus in SA1, on the city side of Swansea University’s new Bay Campus. This is an area where Jac and his mates, long, long ago, used to dodge the docks police to go fishing. I got to wondering who was running the show.
The UWTSD itself has a Royal Charter, which means there are no details available on the Companies House website. However, there is information available for Trinity University College, and there, among the directors, we find Mark Vincent James, ‘Local Government Chief Executive’. I experienced a ‘Eureka!’ moment, for I had searched the CH website for the Carmarthenshire CEO before, but had drawn a blank because there are so many Mark Jameses out there. But now, armed with the ‘Vincent’, where might it take me?
If you type ‘Mark Vincent James’ into the Companies House website search, you come up with two appointments; one, as we’ve seen, is Trinity University College, but the other is Building and Estate Solutions Today Ltd. The other directors of this company being Mark Philip Carter and Steven James Corner. The address given for the company and the three directors is, 4 Regents Canal House, 626 Commercial Road, London, England, E14 7HS, a nondescript commercial building in Limehouse.
I could find no other Welsh link for Carter, whose business activities seem to focus on Brighton, but Corner threw up some very interesting revelations.
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CORNERING A MARKET
Among the companies of which Steven James Corner is a director are: Century Wharf (One) RTM Company Ltd, Century Wharf (Two) RTM Company Ltd, and Century Wharf (Three) RTM Company Ltd. RTM means Right to Manage, a system that allows leaseholders to organise themselves and run, for example, their block of flats. Explained here. The companies’ numbers probably refer to different blocks, but all at Century Wharf in Cardiff Bay.
If we rummage through the other directors of these RTM companies we see a ‘Mark James’, sans Vincent, with the ‘Occupation’ box left blank, and an address in Essex. But, believe me, this is Mark Vincent James, Chief Executive of Carmarthenshire County Council. For one thing, the date of birth is the same as on the entry for Trinity University College, June 1959. And of course, we have already established the connection with Steven James Corner through Building and Estate Solutions Today Ltd.
Having established a double connection between Corner and James I began to think a little more about Corner and wonder what else he might be up to. So I went through the list of companies with which he’s linked. One is Regents Canal House Ltd, which explains why Building and Estate Solutions Today Ltd is registered there.
Another company with which Corner has been linked since it was set up in September 2003 is Property Matters (Britain) Ltd, which is also registered at Regents Canal House. Among the more recent additions to the board of this company we find a Michal Swiatek, who is Polish, and 37 years of age. Here’s his Linkedin profile.
Mr Swiatek can also be found at the Squarefoot estate agents, which has an office in the Bay, and also one on 198 Cowbridge Road East. Although called Squarefoot, it’s registered with Companies House as Square Foot Estate Agents Ltd, using the Cowbridge Road East address. Among the directors we find a ‘Steve Corner’, who is of course, Steven James Corner, though the address given for him is in Brighton.
Another Polish connection with Squarefoot/Square Foot is the website. For if you scroll down to the bottom of the home page and click on ‘Site by: Orth Multimedia‘ you are wafted through the ether to 4-200 Rybnik ul. Wodzisławska 112 tel. 660 091 847.
Let us return to Property Matters (Britain) Ltd, for now things begin to get a little disturbing.
♦
YIDDISHE MAMA
This Confirmation Statement, from the Companies House website, dated 15 February 2017, and shown below, tells us that Property Matters (Britain) Ltd has two shareholders, each with 100 shares. They are, Michal Swiatek and Imaginative Property Group Ltd. The next and obvious question – what is the Imaginative Property Group Ltd?
The answer is that the Imaginative Property Group Ltd was Incorporated 10 June 2013, with the Registered Office Address given as 98 Davaar House Ferry Court, Prospect Place, Cardiff, Wales, CF11 0LB. Again, in Cardiff Bay. The real surprise comes when we look at the directors for while, predictably, we find Steven James Corner, we also find Barbara Kahan. So who is she?
Barbara Kahan is listed as an appointee against no fewer than 22,576 companies according to Companies House, and 25,802 according to the Times. ‘How can that be?’ you ask. I asked myself the same question as I Googled ‘Barbara Kahan’. What I came up with is very worrying. For this 85-year-old woman is said to allow her name and status as a UK citizen be used by Israeli crooks.
Here’s a link to the Times report (paywall, unfortunately), and here are the details on the FinanceFeeds website, both from December.
There isn’t even the defence that Imaginative Property Group was an off-the-shelf company, lying dormant for a while until Corner came along. For the Companies House website makes it clear that Corner and Kahan were both appointed on the day of the company’s Incorporation, 10 June 2013. Kahan immediately stood down leaving Corner as the sole director and shareholder.
It should also be pointed out that the original name of the company was Scorn Properties Group Ltd, based at Regents Canal House, before the name was officially changed, 11.10.2013, and the address changed to the current Cardiff location, 06.06.2016.
Which means that the Chief Executive of Carmarthenshire County Council is in business with a man, Steven James Corner, who can be linked to a woman, Barbara Kahan, who is accused of acting as a front for Israeli crooks!
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MAN ABOUT THE BAY
Once I knew what I’ve just told you, I began to wonder exactly what James and Corner might be up to, so I asked around, made enquiries with contacts in Cardiff. Here’s what I’ve been told.
It was obvious that they’re involved in property in Cardiff Bay. Given the names of three of the companies it was also reasonable to assume that Century Wharf is involved somehow, and so it is, for I’m told that Mark James owns a property there.
My feedback also suggests that James owns property in Prospect Place, which is where the Imaginative Property Group Ltd is based, in a seventh-floor flat with a 125-year lease in the name of the company.
A name we find listed with Prospect Place Management (Cardiff) Ltd is Warwick Estate Property Management Ltd, which seems to be concerned with management and maintenance of buildings of multiple occupation, for we also find it with the three Century Wharf RTMs.
Perhaps the most perplexing thing I discovered about Corner was his foray into soft furnishings. For he served as a director of Curtain Gallery (Wales) Ltd, a company formed by a Kathleen Bowen, who seems to live in Gorseinon, but had her shop across the mighty Llwchwr in Llanelli. I use the past tense because the company was struck off in December 2016.
Corner was appointed as a director on 20 May 2015 – but why? Is he an expert on curtains and cushions? But of course, by May 2015 he was in business with Mark Vincent James, and the shop was in Carmarthenshire, so maybe James asked him to get involved. If so, why?
Answers on a postcard, please, to . . . .
But enough of dusty documents, let us focus for a while on human beings.
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FULL OF EASTERN PROMISE?
Among the snippets of information that winged their way to Château Jac was one telling of a connection that made no immediate sense. For someone believes that a young Polish woman is working as a manager of properties with which James and Corner are involved, and she may be living in one of these properties herself.
The name I was given is Patrycja Nowak who, my informant added, is connected with the Wales International Academy of Voice (WIAV), which is a constituent part of the University of Wales Trinity St David. And indeed, we find her on the ‘Staff’ page. (Since removed, but fortunately I screen captured it, and you can read it below.) As you might expect, I began to wonder about Ms Nowak, so I started Googling.
As far as I can see there is just one Patrycja Nowak living in Cardiff. Another source linked Ms Nowak with an incident in which a woman had fallen from the seventh floor of a block of flats in Hansen Court. By pure coincidence, Mark Vincent James owns a property at Hansen Court, which is on Century Wharf, though he appears to have bought it last year.
Further enquiries suggested that Ms Nowak might also be known as Patrycja D Nowak.
I say that because White Pages gives us two recent addresses in the Bay for a Patrycja D Nowak. One is in Davaar House, which you’ll remember is where the Imaginative Property Group Ltd is based, that company set up with the busy old lady, Barbara Kahan. While Hansen Court is of course where we have established Mark James owns a property, and where a 23-year-old woman fell(?) from a balcony four years ago.
I think it’s reasonable to assume that this Patrycja D Nowak is the same woman as the Patrycja Nowak who worked at the Wales International Academy of Voice. And if they are one and the same, then the 192 site suggests that she may now have moved to Brighton.
Which is entirely plausible, given that Brighton addresses have cropped up time and again in this enquiry, Steven James Corner himself has given Brighton addresses, and ere it slipped down the back of the sofa forever even the Llanelli soft furnishings business had a Brighton address.
UPDATE 01.06.2017: Thanks to a source I now have Land Registry documents for two more properties leased by Mark Vincent James in Cardiff Bay. They are 6 Davaar House and 9 Davaar House, the latter address being where Ms Nowak lives, or lived. And the same building in which we find the Imaginative Property Group Ltd, formed by Steven James Corner and Barbara Kahan. This gives us three properties in Cardiff Bay leased by Mark Vincent James. Are there more?
Also note the involvement, on both title documents, of Prospect Place Management (Cardiff) Ltd of, Unit 9, Astra Centre, Edinburgh Way, Harlow, Essex, England, CM20 2BN. The Astra Centre again, where the three Century Wharf RTMs are registered. Though I’m surprised not to see Steven James Corner listed among the directors. Though another familiar name is there, Warwick Estates Property Management Ltd.
♦
SO WHAT HAVE WE LEARNT?
To begin with, we now know that the Chief Executive of Carmarthenshire County Council is branching out into the property business in Cardiff Bay, and he’s doing so in partnership with a man who has done business with a very questionable individual who may be laundering money for gangsters and terrorists.
Then there’s the Polish connections, are they entirely coincidental?
If Mark James owns or leases properties in the Bay then some might suppose that he expects Corner et al to help him maximise the income from his properties. If so, then in return maybe Corner would expect James to use his undoubted influence for the benefit of his new friends and business partners.
One suggestion is that Corner and others have ambitions to take over the lucrative contracts for cleaning, maintaining and repairing buildings in the Bay . . . whether the residents want them to or not. A clue may be found in another company, formed in February, Housekeeping and Cleaning (UK) Ltd. Corner’s partner in this new Cardiff-based venture is Richard James Godfrey, who seems to specialise in modern Mrs Moppery.
Whatever lies behind the connection between Mark Vincent James and Steven James Corner and his associates, a council chief executive teaming up with property dealers concerns me, and should be of concern to others.
Something else I find truly odd – given what we hear about networks and grapevines in Cardiff Bay – is that Mark James has been able to launch himself as a property tycoon, keeping pretty racy company to boot, and yet no one seems to have known about it!
Even odder (perhaps the stone in my shoe), was Corner’s detour to Llanelli and the soft furnishings business – what the hell was that about?
Something we’ve learnt – or had confirmed – is that the redevelopment of Cardiff docks has sucked in public funding to benefit, originally, Lord Crickhowell and his friends in Associated British Ports, and then, smaller property speculators, most of whom have descended on Cardiff from outside of Wales. What benefits have we seen in Cwmbran and Corwen?
Now Cardiff looks forward to the Champions League Final on Saturday between Juventus and Real Madrid. Of course, the city is too small to host an event of this magnitude, which explains the exorbitant rates being charged for accommodation. We can confidently assume that owners of flats down the Bay will be making a killing, among them perhaps . . .
I wonder if Patrycja has a ticket for the game?
♦ end ♦
[…] CBE, who when he is not doing his day job running the county council, is busy building up his own property empire, setting the lawyers, the courts and police on Jacqui Thompson and now also at the epicentre of […]
From my experience of dealing with the Public Services Ombudsman, mal administration by local authorities, by itself, is not justification for an investigation. There also has to be injustice to an individual as a result of that mal administration. In my view that needs to change. Mal administration or miss management by officers or elected councillors should be sufficient justification for initiating an Ombudsman investigation. Changing the criteria would result in many more investigations being undertaken.
Changing the Ombudsman would also help, for the current holder of the post is failing to do his job, being part of the system himself.
I very much doubt that changing the Ombudsman would help Jac, Wales seems to have a long and glorious tradition of appointing corrupt bastards as Public Service Ombudsman. I tangled with the appalling Adam Peat, who was Ombudsman between 2003 and 2008. After I was refused treatment for a serious illness at Ysbyty Gwynedd and was effectively left to die – as well as being assaulted by a charge nurse and three nursing assistants – I went to Adam Peat after getting nowhere at all with the CEO of the North West Wales NHS Trust, Keith Thomson. The consultant that nearly killed me had such a high death rate among his patients that it showed up as a statistical outlier on a UK wide basis. But no, according to Thomson I – and even my lawyer – were malicious liars smearing the good name of Ysbyty Gwynedd. So I went to Adam Peat who maintained that he was not going to uphold my complaint. Prior to that I had a telephone conversation with his sidekick – I think he was a Gareth or a Gethin or a Geraint – who was remarkably aggressive and ended up threatening me. My lawyers eventually took Keith Thomson to the High Court to force him to hand over medical notes that he was withholding. There were stacks of documents demonstrating criminal activity on the part of NHS staff and managers. Peat now has an OBE along with numerous other crooks of this parish and is Chairman of Magna Housing – they have an all singing and dancing website but its very unclear what they actually do and where their dosh comes from. A job for you there Jac? Peat was a senior civil servant with the National Assembly of Wales between 1998-2003 and before that Chief Exec of Tai Cymru, ‘responsible for funding and regulating the housing association movement in Wales’. I notice Magna Housing are ‘positive about disabled people’, as indeed was the North West Wales NHS Trust. Whilst Thomson was Chief Exec of the Trust, a young woman with severe epilepsy was admitted on a bank holiday – there was no senior doctor on call because Thomson had refused to pay for that level of cover and the junior doctors and nurses on duty didn’t know how to manage her epilepsy. A serious drugs error was made and the young woman was left in a vegetative state. Thomson was obviously so positive about disabled people that he created them.
The mess that Thomson made led to the havoc that reigns in the Betsi today. I had yet another serious complaint about the Betsi a few months ago. It has not been addressed or dealt with or even fully investigated. No I don’t have the time or the energy to now go to another Ombudsman who will not do anything, I am instead using the incriminating documents that my lawyer acquired to blog about the whole sorry NHS and name those responsible. I really do think that it is the only thing that the citizen can do. If I cannot get these bastards to investigate when their staff have broken the law – I have a PhD and have published on health policy – how on earth is an elderly lady or gent supposed to take them on when the NHS has killed their spouse (which has happened on a number of occasions in the NHS in north Wales…)
I’ve never heard of Magna Housing, but now that you’ve mentioned it I shall make enquiries.
It’s a strange coincidence that Peat was CEO of Tai Cymru before becoming Ombudsman, and that today’s Ombudsman, Nick Bennett, was CEO of the successor body to Tai Cymru, Community Housing Cymru.
Interesting observation Jac – my research into wrongdoing in the NHS and social services has taught me never to dismiss such things as coincidence. There are very powerful networks in place and they tend to explain how certain people have ended up in certain jobs, particularly if those jobs involve ignoring or concealing wrongdoing. At the highest level they explain the arrival of certain talentless people who have made bugger all positive impact on the world into the House of Lords.
X
It is quite obvious by some of the comments on your blog that it is LONG overdue for a Major Public Enquiry to be conducted into the behaviour of some of the people associated with CCC. The Welsh Government have NO wish to get involved (for whatever reason) The excuse “We do not have the finance etc. to police County Councils” Is a total dereliction of care and duty. Surely they are not under the undue influence of the CEO? The Ombudsman is appointed by the Government and if he does NOT perform his role in an open and independent manner then for them to criticise him would open them total to criticism of lack of proper judgement and we couldn’t have that could we? If it was not for Bloggers AND Whistleblowers many cases of mismanagement and abuse of position would go undetected thereby causing misery and worse to thousands of innocent and helpless people who have no one and nowhere to go to for support.
Explain why Daffy2012 Mari getting in would not effect Corbyn becoming PM. Nia has served Llanelli pretty well and MPs have to act in best interest of the UK too (though she’s wrong about Trident a decent Review might help them see sense). The more Labour MPs who get in the more chance of Labour getting a majority or at least a chance to set up a Government under Labour with Jeremy at the helm. I found the loyalties of the party system a block when I tried to get a Plaid Am after failing to persuade the old Labour AM to ask questions and find answers as to how Carmarthenshire County Council could with impunity fail to follow statutory Guidance “Listening & Learning” and the statutory Social Services Complaints Policy,, seems they did not want to rock the CCC’s boat. There are more important issues at stake in this election than Wales getting full independence. When WAG fails to sort out toxic Local Councils the people of Wales are being let down just as much as when Local Authorities were controlled from the Welsh Office. Voting for a Party instead of the person is not always best but in this case it is. Sian Caiach would not have been silenced by loyalty to any party as Plaid and Labour AMs are when asked to speak out against the CCC lack of concern in regards to their failures in protecting vulnerable adults. My Plaid Cllr was told by Officers not to get involved and she was on the scrutiny committee for Social Care; our representatives are silenced too easily. Jeremy Corbyn is a loose cannon as was Sian Caiach; only people who rock the boat will make a difference and he is in a position where he might get the chance. I don’t want to tie myself to any party so have not even signed up to People First but believe in their Priciples.
Jennifer – you are quite correct in stating that our ‘representatives’ are silenced too easily. During my research into wrongdoing and abuse in medicine I discovered that NO party will take it on. It is unrelated to their political ideologies or whether they favour a state funded NHS or privatised service – politicians will not take on doctors who are abusing their positions. They know damn well that its going on because they are approached by their constituents who have been damaged at the hands of medicine but they will walk away from those constituents every time – they also fail to support the few very brave doctors like Sian who speak out about their colleagues wrongdoing. So the Sians of the world find that their careers comes to a stop. There will be many more Mid-Staffs and Ian Patersons because UK medicine is actually in a very bad way due to serious wrongdoing remaining unchallenged for decades. There is also a substantial problem with corrupt medical experts giving evidence in court that is leading to miscarriages of justice. But at every single election ALL parties cave in to whatever the BMA are demanding. It does not say very much about the integrity of our elected representatives.
Oh dear……”I’m voting for Nia Griffith to get Jeremy Corbyn” . Another one who doesn’t really understand how parliament works. If you voted for Mari Arthur and she got in, it wouldn’t in any way be a blow to Corbyn’s chances of being PM. And you’d also get an MP which doesn’t support Trident. I’ve tried to explain this to quite a few members of the donkey vote over the last few days, but it’s an up hill struggle. They’ve swallowed the Vote Labour to keep them baby eating Tories out even when there’s no hope of a Tory being elected in their constituency and the stand Labour MP is like Griffith, f*****ng useless….to put it mildly. These people are so thick and programmed that I have now come to the conclusion that our only hope is for your scenario Jac ie Scots Indy; Brexit, Tory rule etc.
Exactly! A kick in the plums can have a very sobering effect. Not least in your feelings towards the person/party/country that has delivered the ‘kick’.
Plaid explains they and Jeremy Corbyn are singing from the same hymn book but that he’ll be knifed in the back by his own MPs. Should he become Prime Minister hopefully his core Labour membership’ll protect him long enough for his ideas to actually rub off on most of his MPs. Trident will not stop terrorism and the sabre rattling about pushing the button first is all hot air and stupidity. We have global warming surely humanity causing a nuclear winter too will put pay to our planet. Plaid sees that but will not have enough voice in Parliament to prevent the warmongering of the Tories. Much of Labour seems to think talking tough and threatening others is the answer to UK’s problems just as the Tories do but with Jeremy Corbyn as their Leader they may be forced to start looking at problems from a different perspective. They’ve tried to remove him but the Labour membership supported him so hopefully these (set in their ways) MPs might actually start looking at the bigger picture. In the World of today countries need to work together and communicate with each other not segregate themselves from others. The strength against war and terrorism is countries talking and trading with each other. Where countries have weak or no human rights we see despots rise as the people are so cowed that when someone offers them a “carrot” they’ll support him/her without question. Trump did it by focusing on the people who were feeling the hardship of loss of industry and proper support from government. They felt they had no hope he became their Pied Piper but now he is leading them and their country into isolation. I’m voting for Nia Griffith to get Jeremy Corbyn in and because she has helped me many times in the past with problems. I’m not happy she thinks Trident is good thing to have but hopefully she’ll rethink her decision and start accepting that the majority of the Labour membership believes in Jeremy Corbyn. I’m not a Labour member but have mostly voted for them. I voted for Sian Caiach to be our AM as felt she would stand up in the Assembly and speak up on our behalf to have our Carmarthenshire County Council and it’s CEO looked into. I’d felt and found the other parties’ AMs would not do so .
Has every household in Wales had a handwritten letter today from “Vera Davies” from Blaenrhondda, because many houses in NPT have? Vera voted Labour in every election for sixty years because “they’ve always done their best to look after people” like her. Her husband, Teifi, worked underground at Fernhill until “a nasty accident took him above ground”. Vera never forgot the anger her hubbie felt when the mines were closed by the Tories and the struggle to get compo for their illnesses. She saw communities crumble, families fracture blah, blah, blah. So when Vera casts her vote she’ll do it “with the same pride, passion and purpose” as she did back in 1950. Yes, Vera “will vote Welsh Labour to make sure the Tories do not get back in”. But also “for Teifi, my old friends, and my grandchildren and great-grandchildren”. And she urges you to do the same.
FFS, who sanctioned this guff from Welsh Labour? It almost had me reaching for the tissue box. The envelope came from a Cardiff based printers who are doing Christina Rees’ leaflets here in Neath. Welsh Labour has surely reached lows never thought possible, even for them, in this campaign. Me, I wish Welsh Labour had included old Vera’s address. I’d have sent her a bag of carrots in the hope she’d choke on them before the 8 June arrives, to put her out of her obvious misery. Crazy old donkey.
I haven’t had one, but we’re a bit out of the way here, maybe it’ll arrive tomorrow.
You say ‘maybe more of us will wake up’. You seem to be wanting to see some kind of final showdown. I do think that if we carry on as we are then we will just slowly but surely perish. So I suppose I am with you. Do you have faith in your fellow Welsh-men/women?
Self-absorbed people able to afford a car, holidays, Sky packages, tattoos, drink/drugs, who live their lives on social media, don’t give much thought to anything. Which is why I pray for 5 or 6 years of Tory misrule, hard Brexit, economic decline – because I believe that most Welsh people will re-evaluate our relationship with England only when it becomes nigh on impossible to defend the Union on economic grounds. Scottish independence, Beti Battenburg popping her clogs and being replaced by Big Ears, are other factors to throw into the mix.
The next few years could see the changes needed for enough Welsh people to say, ‘Hang on, we deserve better than this!’ It just needs enough of us to point them in the right direction, and that includes Plaid Cymru, but I ain’t holding my breath.
OK I’ve got to ask it……and sorry to be off topic, but who’s best for the Welsh national cause to win the election? I’m thinking that a Tory win is best for Wales in the long term in the same way years of Tory rule brought us to the point where people voted yes for the Assembly. I don’t see much in the devolution offering in the Liebour manifesto. Of course, I shall be voting Plaid like I’ve done in every election to date. That’s not to say I’m entirely happy with their politics. I do feel rather disillusioned seeing the polls in Wales swing first to the Tories and then to Labour. Plaid now polling around 8%!
Let’s hope for a Tory victory, a hard Brexit, dire consequences, Scottish independence, and then maybe more of us will wake up and stop voting Labour for no better reason than that they’re not the Tories. Because people in Wales have not voted Labour for positive reasons for a long time.
I wonder if MVJ of Carmarthenshire Council will suffer the same fate as his former counterpart in Pembrokeshire, when BPJ had to be dragged kicking and screaming from office, albeit with a lump sum golden goodbye in the region of £300 k and, I assume, annual pension in the region of £100 k. What does this tell us about quality of leadership in local government !
Dr Sally B if you would like to find out more regarding Sian Caiach she has a blog http://www.peoplefirstwales.org.uk/ . Sian and a couple of other disillusioned Cllrs set it up and anyone who believes in the 7 Principles of Public Office is welcome to campaign under the People First banner. I admire her greatly. I would imagine she would be very happy to hear from you. Cover up & corruption abounds in our public bodies/services and will carry on unabated into the distant future unless the PIDA starts growing some teeth and leaders/employers start being held to account and start getting hit in the pocket. If they oversee wrongdoing or turn a blind eye and ordinary citizens suffer financially or in any other way then they should have to pay compensation personally and lose their generous pensions. The public interest should come first and these highly paid individuals such as our CEO need to start being held to account; after all the buck stops with them. Have you heard of Compassion in Care run by ex carer and whistleblower Eileen Chubb she too has seen managers promoted and heralded who turned a blind eye to awful abuse perpetrated on very vulnerable people? Trouble is even naming and shaming the leaders and management who cover up and allow wrongdoing to take place fail as they are so well protected and thick skinned they seem to just advance up the ladder and sometimes even become government advisors and receive gongs to denote their good works. I can tell you have seen it all in action too. The world needs whistleblowers and people willing to stand up and be counted and helping those sort of people to get elected to represent us, the public, is only way to start changing things; no easy matter. We also need Bloggers who try and keep us informed as the majority of the media seems to not want to know.
Many thanks for the info Jennifer, I’d be delighted to get in touch with Sian. Yes I have heard of Compassion in Care, but I never got in touch with them. When I discovered that people sitting in the House of Lords and some of the nation’s leading Human Rights lawyers as well as members of the judiciary had a few years previously been directly involved in covering up malpractice involving sexual abuse and the deaths of vulnerable people, I decided that my only option was to publish – it was going to be a book, but a blog reaches a wider audience. Unlike most people I have documentation backing up my allegations. It is very difficult for anyone to blow the whistle if they work in the NHS/University sector/social services etc, they will find their career over. The only option is to prepare for that and publish – there is serious institutional abuse in the UK health and welfare sector and it reaches the highest levels. That is why scandals on the scale of Bristol, Alder Hey, Mid-Staffs etc keep coming and no politician will tackle it. They all know that if they admitted publicly some of what has happened the BMA would finish them off.
Ooh, that’ll be interesting to see if they take it on.
I wonder what Vinny is making of all this? It can’t be good for his blood pressure, surely?
It doesn’t help those of us in Wales fighting ingrained corruption, when the media across the bridge show no interest in the shenanigans here. Their disinterest allows corruption to flourish in Wales, which is why the Nick Bennetts, and the Mark James’ of this world have no fear of being investigated no matter how serious their misdeeds. The Welsh Assembly also sealed our fate in having anything looked into. All mix in the same circles and on the same gravy train.
Private Eye has shown an interest, Mark Vincent James won the ‘Shit of the Year’ award for 2016. I have drawn Lord Gnome’s attention to this piece. Seeing as one issue appeared this week, PE now has time to check this out and include it in the next issue.
Anonymous – the situation is rather worse than the UK media ignoring the shenanigans in Wales. The area that I know most about is health, welfare and associated sectors and believe me, the British Establishment next door were right behind the most serious of problems, but it was all constructed as the fault of the sheepshaggers. For years I raised concerns about the appalling corruption in the NHS in north Wales – which was closely linked to the north Wales Child abuse scandal – as I mentioned in my comment above, I was ignored and then defamed by the GMC. However years later I obtained documents that showed that the BMA and MDU were assisting in the most serious malpractice. At one point I left Wales to work for a short time in London medical schools, one of those being St Georges. Whilst I worked at St Georges, I was told that the problems were just in Wales, that I should forget all about them and that the worst doctors worked in Wales. Whilst I was there, they employed a very problematic gynaecologist who was the most appalling sexual harasser – guess where he now works? Cardiff! They actually sent him to Wales because they didn’t want him embarrassing them on the London circuit. It gets worse. I now have stacks of documentation showing that some of the biggest names in UK psychiatry – Professor Robert Bluglass, Dr Paul Bowden, Professor Nigel Eastman – knew about the most serious criminal activity on the part of doctors and social workers in north Wales and concealed the lot. Another person who knew what was going on was a barrister working for the MDU, Robert Francis, now known as Sir Robert Francis QC, the ‘patients champion’. I also have a long list of lawyers, judges and politicians who it can be demonstrated ignored evidence that the most terrible things were going on – a lot of them are now in the Lords. And everyone wonders why Waterhouse never got to the bottom of the North Wales Child Abuse Scandal. I fume when I read the outpourings of those pompous, corrupt, sanctimonious hypocrites in the Guardian, the Times etc whether they are banging on about the evils of child abuse and how difficult it is to tackle, or how the problems of the NHS is simply a lack of money and how everything in Wales is crap because of the Welsh. The most offensive ones are those who style themselves as lawyers specialising in ‘human rights’ – the names Michael Beloff (friend of the Blairs) and Theo Huckle (same chambers as George Clooney’s wife no less) spring to mind. I have even found a connection to St Helena Kennedy aka Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws – she relied upon one of the corrupt expert witnesses from St Georges for many of her cases. These people are presented as heroes in the London based media, yet their hands are covered in blood.
Just a short additive to your last reply. I wrote to the Welsh Government on the topic requesting they investigate the whole business. I received a letter from them advising it was not within their remit. They advised me to write to the ombudsman. No prizes for guessing it was not in his realm either. The CEO seems to have the matter securely stitched up.
The Ombudsman, Nick Bennett, is an insider, former CEO of Community Housing Cymru, the parent body for housing associations, many of which are just adjuncts to the Labour Party. In addition, Bennett was in business with Labour AM Alun Davies. I’ve written about it somewhere. Due to the Labour Party’s fear of losing control, we have quangos, the Third Sector and other areas stuffed with Labour appointees, making Wales the most corrupt country in western Europe.
Any comeback from our esteemed CEO yet or from the CCC’s guard dog Monitoring Officer Linda Rees Jones? I’d like to see the reasons why the Dyfed Powys Police and the CPS have decided it’s in the Public Interest to go after Carmarthenshire blogger Jacqui Thompson for harassment against CEO Marl Vincent James. CCC executive members unlawfully bank rolled him in connection to a civil libel action involving this very well respected blogger (respected by the public and others who know the full story) and now he has persuaded the police her blogs are some sort of harassment against him personally. He is a well paid public servant in a position when he can expect adverse criticism of his actions in his capacity as the person where the buck stops regarding accountability for the CCC’s toxic mismanagement/misconduct of his lesser officers. Sure the members and Executive have a responsibility to keep him and his officers in check but in this officer run County Council they prefer to just roll over to get their tummies tickled and receive the odd titbit in their feed bowls. We lost one of the few members this last election who has not given in to pressure from who knows who about not shaking the boat or opening the can of worms that is Carmarthenshire County Council. Ex Cllr Sian Caiach had been a NHS whistleblower so was not a person willing to stay silent out of self interest or preserving her position. Mark Vincent James twice reported her to the Ombudsman as she was not someone he or his team of guard dogs could intimidate into keeping in line/on script. So there we have it, this CEO seems to shout foul when he and his Council’s criticised and somehow can obtain help from others in hope of stopping our freedom of speech and expression. These public bodies who come to his aid should be impartial in their actions and have a regard for our human rights, but they too seem to have positioned themselves as his guard dogs and act against the public interest. I think your blog has put into the public domain the sort of thing he’d thought Jacqui Thompson might have come across so made a preemptive strike against her to put her and her blog out of the picture. I cannot say how pleased I was to see you’ve not been scared off by what Mark Vincent James and his supporters are putting Jacqui through and published your findings. All I hope is his supporters start to realise this CEO may not be the horse they should back before first looking into his past and present which seems to have been kept well below the radar. Keep safe and may the force be with you!
All you say is true, but the biggest question for me remains, ‘Why hasn’t the ‘Welsh’ Government stepped in to remove him and/or restore democracy to Carmarthenshire county council?’
When I was writing this I was wondering what links James might have with the ‘Welsh’ Government. Is he, for example, advising them on anything with which he might have a personal involvement?
Jennifer – I’m certainly interested to see someone mention the name of Sian Caiach, I have wondered what happened to her. I always remembered her as the surgeon who was completely shafted after blowing the whistle on wrongdoing in the NHS, I haven’t heard anyone mention her name for years. At the time when Sian was being screwed over I had gathered a mountain of evidence of serious malpractice in the NHS, it really is not just a matter of the odd rogue doctor, the problem is substantial and has been for a very long time – I now write a blog concerned with malpractice and research fraud in the NHS because I got so fed up with patient harm taking place and NO-ONE speaking up. I always wondered whether Sian was made an example of by the GMC to warn the others. At the time that the GMC prevented Sian from practising, I had been raising concerns with them, for years, regarding serious malpractice – including criminal activity – in the NHS in north Wales. I was ignored. Three years later I presented them with even more evidence regarding two doctors in Ysbyty Gwynedd. Once more, no action taken. A few months ago my lawyers released thousands of documents to me regarding my case – among the many interesting finds there was actually a document that had been presented by the GMC as my letter of complaint about one of the doctors in Ysbyty Gwynedd – the document had been forged. Among other documents there were written accounts, signed by various doctors and nurses, of their own lawbreaking. And for years I just thought that the GMC didn’t believe me because my allegations were so serious. They had known all about it all along. The GMC I am sorry to say are corrupt – that is why people like Ian Paterson the surgeon who has just been imprisoned for 15 years get away with harming and sometimes killing patients. One of the doctors at Ysbyty Gwynedd whom the GMC were so keen to protect that someone went to the extreme of forging a document had such a high death rate among his patients that it showed up as a statistical outlier. He continued to work at Ysbyty Gwynedd for another 13 years. He has now ‘retired’. The other doctor was finally removed by the GMC but long after I raised concerns about him – because he had attacked his wife so violently that she ended up being sectioned due to her own distress and his children were so severely neglected that they were taken into care. Both of these doctors were dangerous unhinged men who should not have been near patients. Ysbyty Gwynedd lied to protect them, so did the GMC and I was branded a ‘vexatious complainant’ who could not be believed. Meanwhile people died. If a consultant orthopaedic surgeon can have her career ruined because she blew the whistle on her colleagues committing fraud what hope is there.
Wow! What a great film this will make in due course!
Who’s going to play Vinny?
Well I hope it’s not Ron Jeremy or Ben Dover!
What sort of films are you thinking about, Stan? (No, we don’t want to know!)
Michael Howard.
whose going to play Vinny? who do you think? Thers’ only one bloke for taht job: Joe Pesci
I can see where you’re coming from, but for all his failings I can’t picture Vinny blinding someone with a ballpoint pen (Casino) or being able to sustain the ‘You think I’m funny?’ exchange in Goodfellas.
A remarkable research into the murky world of finance in which CEO of CCC is implicated. I have become aware only recently of your investigations and would like to see the fraud squad appearing on the horizon. In the meantime I look forward to following you in your researches.
Ccc need to be investigated by an outside fraud squad because most of them are dirty.
Agreed. No point getting involved with Carmarthen County Council themselves, or get roped in to a silly exercise like an ‘internal inquiry’, you don’t ask a rat to check out your cheese larder.
Go straight to the Ombudsman (https://www.ombudsman-wales.org.uk/) or else go to the Fraud Squad – you have a right to do that. Make sure you have a proper verifiable statement, concrete evidence and any proof that you have to back up your statement.
It worked a treat when we reported Dai Lloyd Evans the leader of Ceredigion County Council. It produced an 18 month Fraud Squad investigation that culminated in them forwarding a file to the Crown Prosecution Service. He never did land up in court, BUT he slipped quietly off the radar – probably due to the Ombudsman handing him a proverbial ‘gun’ to do the honourable thing.
Fascinating story, Jac, with a bunch of characters that would do justice to a le Carre novel. The life that Swiatek in particular lives is far from ordinary. How many young men would be selling three high end wristwatches at one time via Facebook of all places, at a cost of some £5K? Multiple trips to various parts of Ukraine, punctuated by visits to Ystradfellte Falls and the Gower. Dabbles in photographing young women models. Multilingual, seemingly knows Welsh as well, really nice motor, dresses to the nines and a smart looking chap to boot. You could turn his life into a film script. Most of the ingredients are evident from social media. And who knows what there might be lurking below the surface?
I do hope you get some answers to the Gorseinon “Curtain” mystery because that seems to stand out as a square peg in a round hole in this story.
But what a tale. What I would have given to have been able to see Mark James’ face when he read it. Well done indeed on finding all this and sharing with us.
The expression I used was ‘stone in my shoe’, because the venture into soft furnishings is truly bizarre, BUT it happened in Carmarthenshire, and we all know who runs Carmarthenshire.
I understand your deletions. I so revile the man my excursions into blogging exceed the obligatory standards. I think we all feel as I do but do not get transported to extremes like myself; but I have to admit I still think them.
Jac – I don’t know anything about the companies or the County Council that you’ve named n shamed here, but the University of Trinity St David’s seems to have acted as a repository for dodginess for quite some time now. Some years ago there were a number of theologians at Bangor University who were truly and utterly loathed by all other theologians – theologians from across the UK detested them. They had a long track record of bullying other members of staff and launching vindictive attacks on students – students were constantly deciding to change course, at one point one student started legal action against one of them, personally naming her in the action. There were frightening allegations of students who had hoped for ordination being stuffed over because they had crossed the path of this bunch. The two leading lights of this charming lot were a Densil Morgan and a Catrin Haf. Some years ago the authorities at Bangor somehow managed to rid themselves of Densil and Catrin Haf by sending them to Lampeter – I was very friendly with a theologian at the time who told me that the theologians in Lampeter did not want them and that theologians across the UK were deeply sympathetic to Lampeter being lumbered with those two. Within months of them arriving at Lampeter the fur was flying – they were just as toxic down there as they had been in Bangor. Bangor of course breathed a sigh of relief as the dreadful Densil and Catrin went out of the door. There was a very entertaining story doing the rounds maintaining that some years before, Catrin Haf had decided that she’d had enough of Bangor and flounced off to Oxford where her talents would be appreciated. She returned just over a year later with tales of how foul people at Oxford were. However a mole at Oxford told me that Catrin Haf simply got back what she gave out – she tried kicking them in the teeth and got kicked back. Catrin Haf’s other claim to fame if I remember involved her father – I think that he was the man who conducted the nuptuals between William Hague and Ffion Jenkins.
Another notorious person also left Bangor University for the pastures of Trinity St David’s and that was Meri Huws. Meri was as much of a nightmare as Catrin Haf – but considerably more stupid – and constantly did highly embarrassing things that the University had to smooth over. Your readers will probably recognise Meri’s name as that of the Welsh Language Commissioner, she who’s language plan has failed dismally. At the time of that appointment I was friendly with a number of Welsh language activists and scholars and Meri had absolutely no credibility with any of them – there was outrage when she was appointed and allegations of Labour Party cronyism. Meri had recently had a relationship with a Minister in the Welsh Govt (who when he left Gov’t joined the gravy train at Swansea University, straight into a Chair) and it was rumoured that she had enjoyed, to use a phrase coined by Private Eye, Ugandan relationships with a number of others. I don’t want to leave your blog open to libel actions from the many people whom I now am told regret the time that they spent in Meri’s company, so I won’t say more about Meri here – but I did blog about her extraordinary activities and her constant appointment to positions that she very obviously should not have had on my own blog a few months ago.
Trinity St Davids do seem to be in chaos – last year they were advertising for staff for non-existent posts – I found out about this because I applied for one. There was the advert, on the academic websites and in the Guardian – but it transpired that no, the jobs did not actually exist. But It’s probably best that I didn’t hitch my fortunes up to them…
The sad thing is that I’ve got friends of my vintage who went to Lampeter University in the 80s as students and loved it. I also know of a number of very competent staff who worked there. But as with so many universities that are not at the heart of the British establishment such as Oxford and Cambridge, Lampeter seems to have been wrecked by years of badly thought out higher education policies, has been used a as dumping ground for those that no-one else wants both in terms of staff and students and is now part of a grossly mismanaged institution that doesn’t even know what jobs it has on offer. This will never happen to Oxbridge because David Cameron et al still need somewhere to send their own offspring. Its the universities that the plebs are expected to attend that have been wrecked.
I’m also sorry to see Lampeter fall away because my own daughter went there.
just read all this, is it ok to share it!!!
Of course, as long as you don’t try to blame it all on the Welsh language.
now now play nice lol, very interesting read and nothing whatsoever to do with the welsh languagex will share with people I think will be interested x
Fair enough.
We know from Jacqui Thompson’s joust with Mark James. He is a ruthless individual highly competent in
deviousness and so far immune from prosecution in the ********** ********** ******** he indulges in.
I’ve had to censor your comment for obvious reasons.
The strange thing about Building and Estate Solutions Today Limited, newly founded with a trivial capital sum, is that there are three directors…..
Mark Phillip Carter, who is an accountant (functionary).
Steven James Corner (the dark side property developer).
Mark Vincent James (Chief executive of Carmarthenshire County Council)
And of these three, it’s Mark James and his accountant who has the preferential shareholding. Corner holding the ordinary share.
I suspect this company was formed to take the charge on a freehold property in Llanwrda, currently the home of blogger Jacqui Thompson.
In this way Mark James will be able to transfer the asset into his company, avoid stamp duty upon eviction/acquisition, liquidate the charge into a physical holding, and if subsequently the house is sold at a value higher than the original charging order he would avoid personal capital gains tax which would otherwise be payable. Until this happens, he could hold it as a preferential share with limited liability.
I believe this is the ‘gutter’ to which the judge in the Thompson case referred to.
It will also keep the hard working council taxpayers of Carmarthenshire from gaining any benefit from underwriting the legal action bought by Mark James, to which they so generously financed. If my suspicion is incorrect, I’m sure Mr James will take the opportunity to offer an alternative suggestion to my comment, or perhaps explain this revelation to the assembled members of Carmarthenshire County Council.
You may be right, Brychan, but I was told that this company has a different purpose viz to take over the serving of certain blocks in Cardiff Bay. But then, that might be the purpose of Housekeeping and Cleaning (UK) Ltd, a company of which the source may have been unaware. That said, if your suggestion is right, why would James need to involve Corner at all?
The shareholding is made up of 130 shares. 100 for Corner, 20 for James, and 10 for Carter.
I estimate that 100v30 is roughly the current proportions of value of the Llanwrda property, 30 being of magnitude of the charge value awarded to James, 100 being the proportion resembling the rest of the residual value, at point of crystallisation.
I would expect a ‘settlement proposal’ where this company offers to purchase full title over the Thompson home and with it agreement extinguishing all liability in the charging order. James walks away with the cash; Carter does the paperwork without parties incurring any further legal costs or accountancy fees, and a property management expert like Corner does what he must be doing on a regular basis in the murky world of Cardiff Bay freehold dealings.
My theory is the shareholding structure is engineered so that Corner (property deal expert being only an ordinary shareholder but over 75% of capital in a three horse race) only has the option to buy out his fellow directors when the company value reaches a worthy sum, to the proportion of full title. In the meantime, James, being a smaller but importantly a preferential holder, gets to be first creditor, if things don’t work out, or further litigation takes place.
I base this theory on two salient facts. (a) The property concerned is currently under joint title, namely Mr and Mrs Thompson, who both have to agree to the sales of the property and (b) James does not want to live in the property and is of considerable wealth already, with most of his time doing his day job, or relaxing with drinks and canapés at Parc y Scarlets. I would expect ‘residence in perpetuity’ for the Thompson’s as part of the deal, which could easily be written into a new title deed.
An alternative theory (suggested by Jac) is that James is about to launch a new career as a Cardiff property snake. Equally sinister.
I think the dodgy dealings down Cardiff Bay are in leasehold rather than freehold deals, and sub-leasing, and renting, and short stay, and holiday apartments, and who knows what else these places might be used for? Photographic studios, mayhap? One thing’s for sure, very few of them are used as homes, which means that most of them didn’t need to be built.
A very interesting Blog to say the least. The vindictive behaviour of Carmarthen CEO beggars belief and is most surely behind the harassment claims that J.Thompson ,(fellow blogger is now facing) Obviously blogs and free speech are not to be tolerated by M.James. In a democracy criticism IS allowed and it should NOT be silenced through threats etc. by thin skinned unelected public servants.
An interesting theory. One small quibble – it was James’s counsel who said his client could stuff the damages in the gutter if he wished, not the judge.
Oh, Jac, dig far enough and you hit pay dirt. Our Marky an entrepreneur, you say, with friends in interesting places?
That’s how it appears. I’ve tried to stick to the available facts, no suppositions or smutty innuendo. He’s a busy boy. I’m surprised he can find time to rule Carmarthenshire with an iron fist.
Is this not a matter that should be drawn to the attention of the Council’s Monitoring Officer for further investigation as a potential conflict of interest. I assume Chief Executives are subject to the Council’s published Code of Conduct.
I hadn’t considered that angle, but I’m sure you’re right, Wynne.
I wouldn’t bother. Her legal department was branded “cavalier at best, incompetent at worst” by Sir David Lewis, former lay member of council’s audit committee, ex Lord Mayor of London and leading solicitor. How did she get the job? James appointed her, exploiting loopholes in appointments procedure.