Category: Development Bank of Wales

‘Corruption Bay’ Living Up To Its Name?

On By JacIn Climate, Colonialism, Development Bank of Wales, Labour Party36 Comments

This is a big post, in two ways. First, because there’s a lot of money involved. And second, because an incredible claim I stumbled upon throws up a very disturbing possibility.

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HITTING THE BIG TIME (REVISITED)

In July I wrote about companies in south east Wales being bought out and having lots of money pumped into them. You’ll find it here; ‘Saving The Planet – The Globalist Way!’.

These companies are involved in, “energy efficiency“; which means ‘retrofitting’ homes with solar panels, cavity wall insulation, heat pumps, loft insulation, that kind of thing.

They’re all linked under the holding company Dragon 2023 Topco Ltd. From the most recent accounts submitted to Companies House here’s a list of the companies owned.

And here’s my table of the interlinked companies and individuals involved, in pdf format with working links. (And helpful notes!)

The majority shareholding in Dragon 2023 Topco lies with Cairngorm Capital Partners LLP of Edinburgh. Part of the Cairngorm group of companies. Dragon 2023 Topco’s directors are: Robert Brodie; Chris McLain; Andrew Steel, managing partner of Cairngorm Capital Partners LLP; and Jonathan Neale.

Steel is also named as the controlling interest.

Another key player is, or was, Matt Anstead, managing director of Cairngorm Capital Partners LLP. Below is a clip from Anstead’s Linkedin page.

You’ll see Anstead joined Cairngorm around the time they took over the Welsh companies. Was he brought in for that job? And was the takeover funded with three loans in 2024 from Metro Bank?

Funding to the companies themselves comes from Alter Domus, a company registered in Luxembourg, that seeks ‘alternative investments’, and was recently taken over itself by another private equity firm Cinven.

What’s really behind it is, as ever, money. Local companies expand thanks to the UK government ECO4 scheme, making them attractive to bigger fish; while also offering opportunities for others to profit from investing in these companies and then claiming to be saving the planet in some way.

There are obviously pay-offs for those who’ve been previously involved in the companies, and of course jobs are created; but as ever – this being socialist Wales – the real money leaves the country.

I make that point because, as you should know by now, I support the capitalist model, and I have no objections to profits being made. But as a Welshman, and a nationalist, it pisses me off to see the profits leave Wales.

Wasn’t devolution supposed to improve things?

Before pushing on maybe I should remind you that July’s post was in two parts. One dealt with the companies taken over by Cairngorm Capital; the other with companies in the same area, and the same line of business, that were taken over by Buckthorn Partners LLP of Jersey.

Maybe I’ll return to this second lot another day.

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NICK PRITCHARD

Now we’re going to look at another man with a role in (he certainly benefitted from) the takeovers we just looked at. Though it’s not always easy to figure it out.

If the name rings a bell, it might be because Pritchard appeared in a Nation.Cymru article a few weeks back written by Martin ‘Shippo’ Shipton. It recounted Pritchard’s conviction in 2010 for growing cannabis, or providing premises where it might be grown.

So why bring it up now? Because Pritchard is associated with Reform UK, and may wish to stand for the UK parliament. This interest in his past is another sign of the desperate establishment that recently sent down Nathan Gill for something he said in 2018, and is now hunting for people Nigel Farage might have thrown milk over in kindergarten.

All done because the Globalist elite, and the political and media establishments they control, are getting worried by the rise of the ‘far right’ across the Western world. And so, as a mouthpiece for the Corruption Bay Uniparty, Nation.Cymru must get stuck in . . . or risk losing its ‘Welsh Government’ funding.

That said, Nick Pritchard is an interesting character; he seems to be a bit of a Jack the Lad, always looking for ways to make money. Nothing wrong with that as long as you stay on the sunny side.

But things never seem to be simple with Pritchard. Take this piece from Ideas Fest promoting his appearance at some event next year (my highlighting):

In 2013, Nick founded City Energy Network, an innovative energy efficiency consultancy based in Cardiff. The company specialises in the full retrofit journey from initial consultation to the implementation of the renewable measures recommended, his group of companies plan, and installs energy efficiency and low carbon measures for both homes and businesses and also specialises in Local Authority large scale projects.

But it makes no sense.

For a start, City Energy Network Ltd (CEN) was formed in 2011, but Pritchard’s name never appeared as a director or a shareholder. Perhaps because, Pritchard, sent down in 2010 for three-and-a-half years, would have been in prison when CEN was formed.

And what’s included in “the group of companies“?

Seeing as 2013 is mentioned by Ideas Fest, Pritchard may have been represented by one or both of Nicola Vaughan and Michelle Roberts, who became CEN directors 31.01.2014.

But even after he was released from prison I’m fairly sure Pritchard would have been disqualified from acting as a director for a few years. If he was operating through Roberts and / or Vaughan at CEN then “proxy management” is a criminal offence.

Coinciding with the arrival of Roberts and Vaughan all 100 CEN shares were transferred to Diversity Network Holdings Ltd (DNH), which Roberts and Vaughan had joined 28.01.2014. Pritchard didn’t become a director until April 2020.

A declaration dated 28.01.2015 shows the 100 DNH shares now distributed thus:

Though Pritchard did join Diversity Network Ltd 14.05.2012, which might have been not long after he was out of prison. And surely disqualified? Also directors were Michelle Roberts and Shelley Roberts.

There are other anomalies I could point out. Check names, DoB, dates.

When he was sent to prison Pritchard was reported to be in the “lettings business” in Bangor and other parts of north west Wales. He’s from Bangor, passionate about the local football club, he serves on the city council, so how and why did he get involved with companies in a totally different line of business at the opposite end of the country?

Hoping to make sense of it on a wet night with no football on the telly, I compiled a list of the companies Pritchard’s been involved with. Here it is, with the company name serving as a hyperlink.

You’ll see three company names in yellow blocks. These are also found in the previous table I linked to, showing the companies taken over by Cairngorm Capital. His past involvement with these companies perhaps accounts for Pritchard’s sizeable share allocation in holding company Dragon 2023 Topco Ltd.

You’ll see other individuals there with sizeable shareholdings. All have been involved with the companies we’re looking at. And Ahmud Saleem Eamon Furreed is a Labour party donor. (There may be other donors.)

Obviously, companies doing the kind of work we’re looking at need a stamp of approval, some accreditation. From a company like Quidos of Bath. And as you can see if you scroll down on that link, you have to pay for it.

But Pritchard now seems to own Quidos through year-old Quidos Holdings Ltd!

It could make life easier when you’ve got big stakes in companies ‘retrofitting’ and you also own a company that’ll give them a certificate to put up on the office wall saying they know what they’re doing.

Though many would disagree. Such as those involved with this website. Or those who gave these reviews to a company that’s among the clutch bought up by Cairngorm.

And we’ve all heard tales of cavity wall insulation resulting in damp and other horrors. I could tell you my own story.

You might have noticed that in some of his most recent business ventures Pritchard has been joined by celeb economist Dylan Jones-Evans.

What the hell is that about?

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WHERE IT GETS WEIRD

While researching this article I stumbled upon a remarkable letter addressed to Paul Davies AS/SM, in his capacity as chair of the Senedd Economy, Trade and Rural Affairs Committee.

It gets included in this piece because I’m convinced there’s a connection to what you’ve just read. Anyway, here’s the (redacted) letter. I urge you to read it carefully and consider what it alleges.

After reading it I last Monday I e-mailed Paul Davies asking what had happened to the complaint. Here’s his response. (The links don’t work as there’s an issue with linking to pdf docs created from e-mails.)

So here’s the link to the report on the DBW he references (Section 9).

I asked if I could use his response and he agreed.

I would have tried to contact the complainant, but one problem was that I believe he’s moved from his original address. The other reason will be given later.

What the letter alleges is that the complainant (hereinafter referred to as ‘A’) came up with a good idea, and was doing quite well . . .

The company grew quickly and gained significant market traction with companies such as Sainsburys Supermarkets and BT Openreach.

But presumably needing to expand, ‘A’ in 2017 applied to Finance Wales (now Development Bank of Wales) for a loan. That’s when things started going wrong.

Not only does ‘A’ claim he had to take on “a bank-appointed expert”, and pay that ‘expert’ £150,000 pa, but . . .

Less than 1 year later, I was accused of taking “unauthorised funds” from the company’s bank account and sacked.

This happened to be just 1 month after my refusal to sell the business to BT Group.

I lost my job, my shares (approx £3.8m at that time), my patent (£13m-£17m valuation) and was forced to go bankrupt in September 2018.

Is the complainant suggesting a link between him refusing to sell up to the BT Group and the criminal charges that soon followed?

Things got even worse. ‘A’ was arrested, tried at Swansea Crown Court – but was acquitted by the jury. (Which might explain why the Labour government in Westminster wants trials without juries.)

To add insult to injury . . .

To note, after my dismissal the business was moved from Lampeter . . . where we employed up to 17 local people to Cardiff. Where they employed only 3.

After the business moved to Cardiff, both [name redacted] and [name redacted] set up new battery storage business, using my invention, and even got further funding from DBoW for these copy cat companies.

That is one hell of a story. And yet, if you think about it, the danger of such an outcome is always there. Just imagine . . .

Dai Schmuck out in the sticks comes up with a good idea, but he needs money to expand. So he goes to the Development Bank of Wales. They appoint ‘advisors’, who may move in the same circles as the bank officials who give them the gig.

The DBW admits to appointing the same favourites as ‘advisors’ again and again.

In a follow up letter to the Committee’s session with the Bank, the Chief Executive noted that it did re-appoint the same people
multiple times if it thought that person was a good match and had capacity.

Though an unscrupulous ‘advisor’ might say to himself: “Hang on, this bloke’s got a good idea – let’s nick it and make a fortune“. It’s a sweet system, but only if you’re well connected in Corruption Bay.

I could tell you more, but I’d be sticking my scrawny neck out. What I will say is that as I know the name of the company ‘A’ is referring to I can probably identify those he claims ripped him off.

From what I can see, ‘A’s allegations seem to have been kicked into the long grass. Maybe nobody in Corruption Bay wants to know the truth. Or perhaps they don’t want us to know the truth.

But the real twist is that ‘A’ is now teamed up with Nick Pritchard. And this happened soon after he started making waves with his letter to Andrew Davies.

What the hell is that about?

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CONCLUSION

We need an independent investigation into the Development Bank of Wales.

In particular, we need to know how it chooses ‘advisors’ for small companies needing help. We also need to know the conditions imposed on those companies. And the behaviour expected of the ‘advisors’.

But then, it’s unlikely anyone will get straight answers. Because Wales is corrupt.

All devolution has done is give Labour more chances to be corrupt, more money to squander, while also providing more opportunities for cronyism. Third sector outfits, pressure groups (closed to non-socialists), are funded to fight problems that don’t exist.

Sinecures and non-jobs for insiders proliferate.

In recent decades Labour’s joined forces with Plaid Cymru. Together, they’ve built a fortress they see as a bastion from where they combat racists, homophobes, climate deniers, Islamophobes, a white supremacist countryside, misinformation, and colonialist Welsh cakes!

In truth, it’s ‘Corruption Bay’, and its enemies are honesty and openness.

Because what they get up to must be kept secret. This explains why Corruption Bay is unique in the Western world in refusing to have a register of lobbyists. “Why do you need to know?”

But I’m forgetting Cairngorm Capital, Nick Pritchard and the rest . . . here we have a man with a ‘colourful’ past, dubious associates, now teamed up with Professor Dylan Jones-Evans, who’s often critical of the DBW. Pritchard also teamed up with ‘A’ soon after ‘A’s complaint against DBW was heard.

What the hell is that about?

Answers on a postcard please. (I will not accept diagrams or flowcharts.)

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2025

Riding Along On The Crest Of A Wave

On By JacIn Climate, Colonialism, Development Bank of Wales, Environmentalism, EU Funding, Welsh Government50 Comments

The title above is shared with a song I remember from my Sea Scout days. I can still smell those jumpers we had to wear. But by God, I looked good! And you should have seen my woggle!

This week’s contribution to help you understand Wales takes us down to Pembrokeshire. And a tip I received from the ever-alert Nicola Lund (@MrsLund1). It’s about a small company that seems to be doing remarkably well. Or maybe it’s folded.

Unless I get distracted and go down too many rabbit holes this should be a quickie.

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G’DAY, MATE

Yes, it’s an Australian company. By the name of Bombora Wave Power Europe Ltd, which has facilities in Pembroke. Here’s the website.

Consulting the Companies House entry we see it’s a one-man band, and that one man is Sam Russell Leighton. Turning to ‘significant control’ tells us ownership rests with Bombora Wave Power Pty Ltd in Australia. The company address given is a PO Box in the northern suburbs of Perth.

If we scroll down to the Certificate of Incorporation we see the UK company was originally named Bombora Europe Ltd, but the address given for Russell was an enterprise centre just south of the Swan River in Perth. The single share issued for the European entity is of course held by the Australian company.

To find out more about the holding company in Oz I went to the Australian equivalent of Companies House. Where I learnt the parent company was registered 04.07.2011.

Here’s the company document I downloaded. You’ll see there are two directors; Sam Leighton and Allyn Murray Wasley, who is still based in Perth. Directors who left the company last year include two Japanese, a Dutchman living in India, and Andrew Clive Buglas of Worcestershire.

Here’s the announcement from 2020 of Buglas becoming a Bombora director.

Confusingly, Buglas’ Linkedin page says he left Bombera in November 2022 but the company document from Australia says he left February 2024. Could be a typo, I suppose. The point is, he’s gone.

Why did so many directors leave Bombora last year?

Turning to the shares, 304,591,633 have been issued. Which is impressive. Though Leighton himself seems to be a minority shareholder. The biggest shareholders would appear to be the family of Glen Lee Ryan, who may have invented the wave power machine Leighton has been working on in Pembroke.

Here’s Ryan telling us about his invention.

Anyway, you can go through the shareholders yourself. You’ll see there’s a Welshpool in Western Australia, and the only shareholder from Wales I could see is Stepan Labounek, a Czech living in Bridgend.

The only other UK address among the shareholders is that for Enzen Ltd in Solihull. Now owned by NXZEN, with just over 73 million Bombora shares. The accounts for Enzen are almost a year overdue with Companies House. As are the accounts for NXZEN Global Ltd.

To cut a long story short, I believe NXZEN is owned, via the Glas Trust Corporation, by global equity firm Levine Leichtman Capital Partners of Beverly Hills. I find this interesting because in July Glas cropped up when I wrote about small companies in Cardiff suddenly hitting the big time in retrofitting homes with expensive equipment to save the planet.

It’s all here in Saving The Planet – The Globalist Way!

And now we see Levine Leichtman cropping up again in connection with a ‘green’ project in Wales. What a remarkable coincidence!

Apropos of nothing, Capital Law is a big firm in Cardiff that works for the self-styled ‘Welsh Government’. And as the website makes clear, Capital Law also works with the ‘Welsh Government’-owned Development Bank of Wales (DBW).

Google AI even tells us:

So I was not entirely surprised to read that Capital Law has also had some involvement with the boys from Beverly Hills.

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MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

Let’s go back to the (UK) Companies House documents for Bombora, and in particular, the finances, or rather, the loans. And Google AI Overview:

Bombora secured a £10.3 million European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) grant, administered through the Welsh Government, to support its Pembrokeshire Demonstration Project for the mWave wave energy converter. This funding is part of a total project investment of £17 million. 

So if that’s £10.3m from the ERDF, can we assume that the remainder of the project cost of £17m came from the ‘Welsh Government’ through the DBW? Which would be explained by the five outstanding charges, from 2019, with the DBW?

There was a further arrangement in 2022 with HSBC.

Also the £3.54 million from Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd of Japan. Which would account for the Japanese directors of the Australian parent company. But they left last year, so what does that tell us?

I checked addresses for Bombora, and found the correspondence address given is a residential property in Milford Haven. But the business premises is a rather strange-looking building in Pembroke Dock, which might be owned by the county council.

Clearly, a great deal of money has gone into Bombora. At least £20 million. Was it worth it? Are the wave energy machines Bombora produces viable? Is the company creating employment for locals?

I don’t want to sound overly negative, but I have many questions. And sometimes my doubts can be triggered in the strangest way. Let’s go back to the website to give you an example.

On the homepage, top right, we see the tab ‘News’. I always find this irresistible. So let’s click on it. There’s nothing after August 2022. Before that there were regular entries, but nothing for over three years. Why?

The whole website has a kind of ‘neglected’, not updated, look to it.

Then, in May this year, Companies House was notified that the man behind Bombora, Sam Russell Leighton, had either moved back to Australia, or perhaps had never left.

The most recent accounts show a company in debt to the tune of over £5 million.

It would be a hell of a lot more were it not for ‘Intangible assets’ of over £18.5 million. But ‘intangible’ could be anything, or nothing. I could value my ready wit and beguiling demeanour at £50 million. (And they’d be undervalued!)

It makes me fear these wave energy machines may already be at the bottom of Shit Creek rather than heralding a brave new dawn on the Cleddau.

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CONCLUSION

An Australian company turns up in Wales and gets the red carpet treatment.

This sort of thing happens all the time. Just give out some spiel about the environment, green energy, diversity, fascist farmers, misinformation, and some clown in Corruption Bay will respond with, “How much do you need?“.

But there’s no benefit to us from any of it. We’re just expected to feel morally uplifted while we watch out for the bailiffs.

So let’s finish with a mix of questions and observations.

If my fears are unfounded, and Bombora’s wave machines are a huge success, where will the profits go? Answer: back to the shareholders of the parent company in Australia. And of course, Levine Leichtman Capital Partners of Beverly Hills.

If the wave energy machines are a failure, who’s out of pocket? Answer: those who’ve put up money, including the Development Bank of Wales. In other words, you and me.

Which then prompts the question: how much exactly has DBW-‘Welsh Government’ given to Bombora? Similar question for Pembrokeshire County Council.

I’m not the first to wonder this. A Freedom of Information request was sent to the ‘Welsh Government’ about a year ago. Here’s the response. A similar request went to the county council. Here’s the very slippery reply.

I thought that the job of the Development Bank of Wales was to encourage the growth of Welsh businesses. So why did it fund an Australian company?

How odd that I should mention, twice in six months, Glas and owner Levine Leichtman.

How well known to each other are Levine Leichtman, DBW, and Capital Law? Mayhap they co-operated on the Bombora project? Other projects?

How many more foreign companies will be fawned over and funded before politicians, Development Bank of Wales, civil servants and others, realise the only way to achieve a healthy Welsh economy is to encourage indigenous businesses?

Of course, I’m assuming they want Wales to be an economic success. But after 26 years of the disaster that is devolution, I’m no longer sure.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2025

Foundation Scam Supporting A Tower Of Bullshit

On By JacIn Climate, Colonialism, Corruption, Corruption Bay, Development Bank of Wales, Environmentalism, European Union, Farming, Football, Globalism, Media, Sport123 Comments

There’s been a two-week gap since my previous opus, A Case Study In ‘Rewilding’; so here’s a pre-Christmas treat for you to get your teeth into before those Brussel sprouts. Yum! yum!

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THE FOUNDATION SCAM

Here, I am of course referring to the ‘climate crisis’. It’s foundational because if you buy into this, or even if you just silently accept it, then you help erect the ‘Tower of Bullshit’ that’s built upon it.

In this ‘tower’ you’ll find net zero, behavioural control, loss of personal freedoms, open borders, wealth transfer, anti-white racism, personal carbon allowances, and a host of other evils that George Orwell might have warned us about if he’d lived long enough to write a sequel to 1984.

The evils we see around us, the ways in which everything becomes more expensive, and our lives more miserable, can only be imposed if enough of us accept we need to make sacrifices to combat (they love that word!) their ‘climate crisis’.

Because if we buy into the climate scam then we’ll dutifully vote for uniparty politicians and parties controlled by those who dreamed up and now profit from the scam.

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STORM DARRAGH BLOWS AWAY THE COBWEBS (TOGETHER WITH THE SOLAR PANELS UNDER WHICH THE SPIDERS WERE HIDING)

Among the most obvious measures being promoted to fight the ‘climate crisis’ is renewable energy. This usually means wind turbines and solar panels.

A truly disastrous combo.

On the plus side, Wales sees a lot of wind. What we don’t get a lot of is sunshine. Which is why solar panels are an insult to our collective intelligence.

To begin with, solar ‘arrays’ take up a hell of a lot of space, often good agricultural land. Which then gets poisoned. Even the so-called ‘Welsh Government’ admitted as much in this report from March 2023.

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The problems mentioned occur if the panels stay in place, but as we saw with Storm Darragh the other week, they don’t always stay in place. For the winds caused chaos at Porth Wen, near Cemaes, in the northern part of Ynys Môn.

It was soon reported in the Daily Mail, and the New Civil Engineer. But it was a full six days before the ‘National Newspaper of Wales’ got around to mentioning it.

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The problem is of course that Ynys Môn sees a lot of wind. That wind often comes straight off the Atlantic. To make matters worse, the island is relatively flat, with no sheltering hills.

So you might think it’s a good place for wind turbines. Well, no.

For as the New Civil Engineer also reported, just nearby, at Llanbadrig, a wind turbine had its blades ripped off.

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And yet, despite the obvious problems, there are plans for even bigger solar installations on Ynys Môn.

I heard of other incidents where solar installations broke up, and panel parts took wing. One incident involved Aberystwyth University’s £2.9m solar farm at Penglais.

An investment that’s inspired . . .

Four new degrees . . . International Relations and Climate Change, Biology and Climate Change, Business and Climate Change and English and Climate Change.

“English and Climate Change” must have a module, ‘Selling this crap to the plebs’.

For those unfamiliar with the area . . . Penglais is a hill above the town, perfect for catching the wind coming off Cardigan Bay. Though not so good for ground-mounted solar panels, which positively invite levitation.

Penglais solar farm circled. Click to open enlarged in separate tab

Even if they reach the grand old age of 20, wind turbines and solar panels will never ‘repay’ the environmental damage they caused in being created and installed.

In addition, massive subsidies are demanded. And when there isn’t enough of our money on offer, developers go off in a huff. As was the case recently in Denmark.

Governments are then advised to come up with “healthier pricing” . . . by the wind industry. If it was up to me, I’d tell them to . . .

The Danish Government must now quickly . . . adapt their auction design to market realities. The industry needs healthier pricing and fairer risk allocation

Once installed, turbines and panels offer unreliable, intermittent supply – that has to be backed up by something more reliable; usually nuclear, or fossil fuels.

And as we’ve seen with Storm Darragh – which was nothing out of the ordinary – ‘renewables’ can’t cope with serious wind.

In fact, turbines have to be switched off in anything other than a strong breeze. And of course they produce nothing in windless conditions. Solar panels obviously generate nothing at night, or when there’s no sun, or if they’re covered in snow.

Which means that on those cold, overcast, windless winter days we experience so often, ‘renewables’ contribute bugger all to the grid.

So the idea that a country can rely 100% on ‘renewables’ is utterly insane. Yet this is what ‘Mad Monk’ Miliband is demanding. Though he’s being paid handsomely to push this bullshit by those who’ll benefit.

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BOLLOCKS IN THE WIND

If we’re talking of wind turbines, then we can’t ignore Bute Energy; maybe the biggest player in Wales, with many wind farms planned, plus solar installations, Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), even its own power lines.

And of course, Bute is well connected with Labour in Wales, having created sinecures for party insiders. Then there’s the Danish connection, with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. Which matches funders with Bute projects.

A 25% stake in CIP is held by another Danish outfit, Vestas, and on the Vestas board is former Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt. Alternatively known as Mrs Kinnock, for she’s the wife of Stephen Kinnock, MP for Aberavon, son of former Labour leader Neil, and the late Glenys, for many years a MEP.

(Talking of Vestas, here’s a very recent mishap with a new Vestas wind turbine in Scotland. And there have been others.)

Mrs Kinnock has her own company, Thorningschmidt Global Ltd, and she also sits on the board of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.

The address given for her company is Acre House, 11/15 William Road, London NW1 3ER. Other companies at that address appeared in the Paradise Papers. This is the UK end of Rontec Group (Jersey) Ltd, the empire of Sir Gerald Ronson OBE. For those old enough to remember, Ronson was one of ‘The Guinness Four’.

Mrs Kinnock’s also worked with the World Health Organisation and the Trilateral Commission.

Does the backdrop remind you of anything? Click to open enlarged in separate tab

I’ve made the point before that the principals involved in Bute came from property company Parabola. The holding company for the Bute empire is Windward Global Ltd. This is controlled by Oliver James Millican, son of Peter John Millican, chair of Parabola.

Is Bute just a front for Parabola? I ask, because one might need to be very generous to believe that four young executives, including the boss’s son, cut their ties with Parabola at the same time to take a leap into the unknown.

I just wrote “four young executives“, which may confuse some of you familiar with the principal players. For in addition to Millican Jr the other ex Parabola people prominent with Bute are usually Lawson Steele and Stuart George.

But there was a fourth departure from Parabola, Barry Woods. If you look at the list of related companies, you’ll see that Steele, George and Woods each had a ‘Windward’ company formed for them 31.05.2018.

Woods’ company was dissolved in September 2019 when, I assume, he broke with Bute.

If you go down that list you’ll see Windward JR Ltd. Those initials stand for John Reilly. He’s the Project Manager for Bute Energy, and a bit of a joker. For here he is quoted by NorthWalesLive in May 2023.

John Reilly, project manage . . . said: “As a nation we’re in a Climate Emergency, and a cost-of-living crisis.

The cost-of-living crisis is partly caused by Net Zero, forced on us to fight a non-existent ‘Climate Emergency’, yet Reilly tries to turn facts on their head. It’s too late for this bullshit, pal. Too many people now see through it.

The latest accounts for Windward JR, which became available to view earlier this month, show a remarkable upturn in fortunes.

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A company that never had more than a few hundred quid in the kitty now has over a million. With the filed accounts offering no explanation for this windfall. So where might it have come from?

Answers on the usual postcard.

UPDATE 22.12.2024: The accounts for Windward LS have become available on the Companies House website. They show the arrival of roughly £5 million. We can expect a similar amount to appear in Windward SG Ltd. And probably a larger sum in some other company for Oliver James Millican.

UPDATE 23.12.2024: The accounts for Windward SG Ltd (to 31.03.2024) are also now available. They show an unexplained increase in Assets from the previous year’s £87,950 to £4,722,225.

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A WOMAN OF SOME IMPORTANCE

In June ’23 I put out Taking Control, Of Everything, where I tried to explain how, through funding, appointments, and other means, the ‘Welsh Government’ seems to take over bodies that should be non-political.

In particular, I drew attention to recent changes at the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) and the Football Association of Wales (FAW).

I mentioned Dr Carol Bell who, according to this bio from Chapter Zero (one of her many directorships), leads (the FAW’s) sustainability strategy“. Which, given how ‘sustainability’ operates in the wider world, will probably bankrupt Welsh soccer.

Since I wrote last year Dr Bell has taken up a number of new appointments.

In January she started Aileni Ltd, with crachach luminary Geraint Talfan Davies, and Geoffrey Hunt of Arup. In March, she became Treasurer of Glamorgan County Cricket Club. Then she got involved in three archaeological bodies. And on April 23 Dr Bell joined Bute’s Windward Energy Ltd.

She is a non-executive director of Norwegian Bonheur ASA. A non-executive director of Cyprus-based  platinum and chrome mining company Tharisa. Dr Bell’s Market Screener bio mentions Hafren Scientific Ltd, another mining and drilling company, which for some reason isn’t mentioned in her Linkedin profile. Strange, seeing as she’s the chair.

Hafren Scientific has three outstanding loans with the Development Bank of Wales (DBW), of which Dr Bell was a director until a year ago.

The first DBW loan was made in December 2014. And in that very same month Dr Bell joined both Hafren Scientific and BlackRock Energy and Resources Income Trust Plc. (Though it appears she left BlackRock in March.)

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I used to think that Dr Bell and others worked for the ‘Welsh Government’, pushing the Globalist agenda. Now I wonder if she works for a higher authority to ensure Welsh politicos follow orders.

And as we’ve seen, earlier this year, and within weeks of leaving(?) BlackRock, Dr Bell joined Anglo-Scottish investment company Bute Energy. Intriguing.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

John Reilly’s “Climate Emergency“, was concocted by very rich individuals and corporate entities wanting to exercise political and social control through uniparty political systems in Europe and North America.

Their strategy is to destabilise and weaken the West from within, thereby making the Globalist takeover easier. Using tactics like DEI, ESG, CRT, Net Zero, open borders, and a comprehensive rejection of Western traditions and values.

To promote this strategy Globalists have recruited environmentalists, Islamists, vegans, sexual deviants, and of course, the Quisling Left. For all the measures designed to weaken Western societies are promoted as ‘progressive’, with critics dismissed as ‘far right’, etc., etc.

Of course, politicians come and go, whereas other institutions and structures are more enduring, even self-perpetuating. Higher education and the civil service might come into this category.

Academe is obviously in the service of the Globalist agenda, and it’s long been rumoured that senior levels of the UK civil service have been ‘captured’. More than that, it’s said they – not the politicians – now make (or convey) major policies.

It can be seen in Wales. I’ve chronicled the assault on Welsh farming for a decade or more, and it’s usually led by civil servants sent down from London by Defra. Which is believed to have devised (or conveyed) the Starmer regime’s inheritance tax.

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CONCLUSION

Matters are coming to a head. The lunacies that have prevailed for too long are in retreat. We shall see major change in 2025. And it may not be bloodless.

The German government has effectively fallen, there will be elections in February. Already moves are afoot to stop the ‘populist’ AfD from winning. In France, De Gaulle’s Fifth Republic totters from one crisis to another, the country run by pygmies not fit to utter the great man’s name.

Across the West, Globalism and Cultural Marxism (Wokeism) are in retreat, and people realise the threat posed by Islam. Change is coming.

Here in the UK there’s talk of cancelling some of next year’s local council elections in England due to ‘reorganisation’. The truth is, Reform must be stopped.

As I write this, it’s rumoured Canadian PM Justin Trudeau will resign. Whether he does, or whether he clings on until next year’s elections, he’s finished.

Down in Argentina, President Milei has taken a chainsaw to bureaucracy and socialist corruption – and the country is thriving.

And finally, it’s just a month until Donald J Trump becomes the 47th president of the United States of America. And then things are really going to change.

I’m looking forward to 2025 so very, very much.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2024

    Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

The Development Bank Of Wales

On By JacIn Business and Commerce, Climate, Colonialism, Corruption Bay, Development Bank of Wales, Globalism, Public Funding, Tourism29 Comments

The Development Bank of Wales (DBW) has been in the news a lot recently, and it’s usually bad news. About loans for individuals or companies of questionable probity and / or dubious commercial viability.

The case that’s gained most publicity was the £400,000 loan made to the generous, landfill-owning mate of our mercifully short-lived first minister Vaughan Gething.

The (R) you’ll see next to some names will be explained at the end.

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BETWS-Y-COED

I should warn you that what might appear to be a simple tale of the DBW making a loan to some guy opening a hostel in Betws-y-Coed gets rather complicated. But interesting, so it’s worth paying attention.

For those unfamiliar with this large village in the Conwy valley, maybe it’ll help if I tell you the wife and I avoid it between Easter and October. It’s a tourist trap; nice for all that, but best enjoyed when it’s not choked with coachloads of wrinklies from Warrington and Wolverhampton.

The piece you’re about to read took off when a comment to last week’s posting drew my attention to this item in the Daily Post. Intrigued, I naturally got to wondering about the man named, Rowern Wong (R), so I made enquiries.

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It turns out that Mr Wong has a number of property companies, and many associates. Put together it paints an interesting picture. And opens up quite a few possibilities.

Before delving into who’s who and what’s what, I can tell you that whoever now owns Bryn Llewelyn, the change of ownership has not yet been notified to the Land Registry. So there’s little point in me showing you the title document I downloaded.

Though this Google image from May this year suggests the builders are at work.

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CONNECTIONS

Mr Wong’s company is named as Base Camp Snowdonia. Here’s the website. And here’s the Companies House entry.

You’ll see that the company in Wales was formed in December last year, and has since been joined, in July, by Base Camp Hathersage Ltd. Hathersage being a village in the Peak District. Both are controlled by Base Camp Hostels Ltd, formed in April last year.

So who’s behind the parent company?

If we turn to the ‘Persons in significant control’ tab it tells us that Wong was running things until the first of January, but now there’s no one listed as PSC. This probably links with the arrival of Mr Alexander Gibbs as a director on New Year’s Day.

And who is Alexander Gibbs?

Well, if it’s this guy (R), then he’s the Principal of Terra Firma Capital Partners. Here’s the Companies House entry. And if we click on the ‘significant control’ tab, we learn that the company is owned by Mr Guy Hands, who lives in sea-girt Guernsey.

UPDATE: Alexander Gibbs left Base Camp Hostels Ltd on September 19, the day after this blog piece appeared.

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Someone who became a Terra Firma director in May was Ajay Kumar Bahl, a chartered accountant. Looking at Bahl’s other directorships, among them is Pant y Maen Wind Ltd, which he joined in July.

This company is said to be owned by Brenig Wind Holdings Ltd. Which I can’t find. I can only find Brenig Wind Holdings II Ltd, based in Guernsey. So can we guess who’s behind this?

The only other director of Pant-y-Maen Wind is Oliver Gordon Hughes, who is a very busy boy indeed. With a number of Welsh names among the ‘renewables’ companies he’s been involved with.

The most recent among them is the International Sustainable Forestry Coalition, which Hughes joined in April. This looks like greenwashing. Finding land on which to plant trees and harvest whatever grants are going. Only formed last December.

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‘Social justice’! ‘Circular bioeconomy transitions’! Did youse ever read such simpering bollocks! The company is owned by Australian Ross Hampton. The other directors are Aussies, Americans, Japanese, a few Scandinavians, a Brazilian and an Englishman.

Under the ‘About’ tab, we learn . . .

The ISFC is a Company limited by guarantee (not for profit) registered in the United Kingdom. Each member company has the right to nominate one individual to become a Director of the ISFC.

So each director of this cuddly, not-for-profit front is there representing a major corporation looking to plant trees in order to save the planet make lots of easy money out of the ‘carbon is evil’ nonsense.

Before pushing on, let’s recap. This story started with someone opening a hostel for hikers in Betws-y-Coed, and landing a £500,000 DBW grant.

But the parent company, Base Camp Hostels Ltd, links with a big-shot financier in the Channel Islands, and various green scams, quite a few of which seem to be in Wales, including Pant-y-Maen wind farm south west of Denbigh.

I’ll end this section by mentioning two other companies run by Rowern Wong.

The first, Mount Fitzroy Partners Ltd, was launched in October 2016 and dissolved two years later without apparently doing anything.

July 2023 saw the birth of Walbrook Ventures Ltd (originally The Marylebone Trading Co Ltd). Now six weeks late with the first confirmation statement.

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SHARES

On the same day in April Base Camp Hostels moved its address from Wong’s pad to the second floor at 168 Shoreditch High Street an intriguing share distribution was registered with Companies House.

These are divided into Founder shares and Ordinary shares. Wong has 100,000 of the former, Gibbs 75,000.

The Ordinary shares introduce a number of interesting players. I’ll take them in the order they appear on the Companies House document. Leaving aside Wong and Gibbs, the first name we come to is:

BERNIE BOYLAN, and I think this is our boy.

BARTOSZ JASKULA (R), may be this guy. But Companies House says he’s no longer with Mergerlinks Ltd. He goes climbing with Wong.

CALLUM LAITHWAITE must be this guy.

TERANCE LI. Is it this guy?

ALEXANDER MAXWELL-SCOTT. I’m fairly sure this is him.

B72 VENTURES UG. As the name suggests, is German, based in Mannheim.

LIDEN HOLDINGS LTD, is registered in Gibraltar.

NANKILLY INVESTMENTS LTD. Is registered with Companies House.

You must admit, that is a very eclectic collection of investors in what is after all just a small company running one, possibly two, hostels. And they’re all money men.

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THE MANCHESTER CONNECTION

Let’s move over now to the land of the Mancs, for Mr Wong has been busy there buying up property. Done through his company Kaltain Ventures Ltd. The other director, with an equal number of shares, is Babaola Alabi Omiyale (R).

Omiyale is also a director of Bisley Solar Ltd. I found, by a tortuous route, that this company is owned by Impax Asset Management. Which ‘pioneers’ . . .

. . . investment in the transition to a more sustainable global economy and today is one of the largest investment managers dedicated to this area.

Kaltain Ventures Ltd has bought six properties in Manchester with loans or mortgages from the Paragon Bank PLC (5) and The Mortgage Works (UK) PLC (1). Other properties might have been bought without loans, or with loans that do not need to be declared to Companies House.

But clearly, Rowern Wong and his mate Omiyale, are into the buy to rent sector. Which would appear to be something of a departure for Omiyale.

Because from his Linkedin entry it seems he’s representing planet-saving Impax at Bisley Solar. Which makes sense. But how do we explain his involvement with Wong in Manchester? Is he freelancing, making some pocket-money?

UPDATE: Interestingly, Omiyale was witness to the signatures on both DBW loans. Isn’t a witness supposed to be impartial, unconnected with either party? Admittedly, Omiyale seems not to be involved in the hostel companies, but he is certainly a business partner of Wong.

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FURTHER QUESTIONS

The Development Bank of Wales loan was delivered January 15, a month after Base Camp Snowdonia Ltd was launched. Which was remarkably quick, especially as Christmas and New Year intervened.

It’s reasonable therefore to assume the DBW was dealing originally with Base Camp Hostels Ltd (launched April 2023), and perhaps advised that English company to set up a Welsh entity to avoid exciting the likes of me.

Though if we look closely at the DBW deal we see that it’s actually two transactions. There’s a mortgage for Bryn Llewelyn, and then . . .

All other freehold and leasehold property now or in the future belonging to the company together with all buildings, trade and other fixtures

July saw the launch of Base Camp Hathersage Ltd. Presumably after buying a property in the village of that name. Was it bought with DBW money? Because no charge is shown against the company.

If that is the case, then not only did DBW give an English company money to buy property in Wales, it might even have funded the purchase of property in England.

Then, and as I mentioned earlier, there’s the fact that although Bryn Llewelyn must have been bought earlier this year, the change of ownership has not yet been registered with the Land Registry.

And until the new title document is available we won’t know a) who actually owns the property, or b) if there’s another charge, for money received from some other source.

We’ve already considered the share issue at the parent company, Base Camp Hostels Ltd, in April. But what brought them all together? What’s the common denominator?

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CONCLUSION

It’s a long time since I’ve written a piece with so many unanswered questions, so many loose ends. But that’s how it’s worked out. Because, I suspect, there may be a lot more going on here than just a hostel in Eryri.

Now it’s time to explain the (R) you’ve seen after a few names. And I’ll do it by showing you Rowern Wong’s Linkedin profile.

For without checking all whose names have cropped up here I was still struck by how many of those mentioned had, like Wong, worked for Rothschild & Co. Of course, it could all be pure coincidence. But maybe not.

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Returning to his Linkedin bio, we see that Wong’s day job seems to be Chief Operating Officer of an outfit called General Projects. I eventually found it on the Companies House website.

Their Linkedin profile says:

A creative-led real estate developer that builds innovative and inspiring buildings wholly designed for the new economy

What’s the “new economy“?

I also found the website. But there’s no mention of Wong. Has he left? Is he now a full-time hostelier? (Is there such a word?) Does he need to update his Linkedin bio?

On the General Projects website, under ‘Purpose’, I found this chilling statement, leaving us in no doubt about the kind of people we’re dealing with:

A commitment to be operationally Net-Zero Carbon across our whole portfolio by 2030 in addition to the supply of energy from 100% renewable sources

Which ties in with something else that struck me, almost a thread running through every involvement and angle I looked into, was corporations seeking profitable investments that could be dressed up as saving the planet.

Is there a link between Rothschild and the planet savers? If so, where might Rowern Wong fit in?

Look at it this way. If you were a company, even an individual, in the greenwashing business, and you were looking for ‘pliable’ politicians who’d already bought into the climate scam and would therefore guarantee you easy money, then Wales would be very attractive.

Maybe Rowern Wong is testing the water with his hostel in Betws-y-Coed; getting to know people in Corruption Bay, seeing how things are done. Just a theory.

But whether I’m right or wrong, given all the money men involved with Base Camp Hostels the Development Bank of Wales should not have dished out £500,000 of our money. Especially if some of it was used to buy a place in the Peak District.

Though it may be significant that the money men appeared after Rowern Wong’s ventures had been primed with DBW money.

That said, the apparent change in control of the parent company, Base Camp Hostels Ltd, may have taken place before the DBW loan.

Does the Development Bank of Wales know who it’s really dealing with?

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UPDATE: As you’ll have read, I was struck by the number of times Rothschild & Co cropped up while researching this piece. And so I’m indebted to a regular reader for drawing my attention to Kerdiff boy Kevin Gardiner. Whose day job is Global Investment Strategist at Rothschild & Co Wealth Management.

Which fits well with those we’ve looked at in this post: asset / wealth investment types looking for a profitable home for their money. And few bets are safer or more profitable today than saving the planet. With few administrations on Earth more completely suckered by the climate scam than the ‘Welsh Government’.

Kevin Gardiner has been an advisor to those clowns, and is now a member of the Cardiff Capital Region’s advisory board. From these and other links we can safely assume that Gardiner is very well connected in Corruption Bay.

The Betws-y-Coed hostel may be a red herring, or a sprat to catch a mackerel. The question now might be: Is Kevin Gardiner of Rothschild & Co Wealth Management using his Corruption Bay connections to introduce his clients to Wales, and the profits they can make?

Here’s a nice group photo from 2014; also in the frame is Lord Davies of Abbasock, owner of The Tramshed. If you’ve got the right connections in Corruption Bay then Wales is your oyster!

Fill yer boots!

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2024