Stanley Thomas

Sir Stanley Thomas is a British businessman and property developer who founded the catering company Peter's Food Services. In 2013 the Sunday Times estimated his net worth jointly with his brother Peter at £230 million.^[1]

Controversy over land sales

In 2015 the Wales Audit Office reported that the taxpayer may have lost out on millions of pounds in the sale of government-owned land to companies owned by Sir Stanley Thomas, through sales not advertised on the open market.^[2]

Andrew_R._T._Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives, commented, “It’s an absolute disgrace... millions of pounds [have] been lost to the public purse as a result of this land sale."^[3] He commented that it may have been the biggest financial loss to the taxpayer in a single transaction ever.^[4]

The Wales Audit Office reported that the government-owned Regeneration Investment Fund for Wales sold 15 pieces of land in 2012 for £21.7 million to South Wales Land Developments (SWLD), a firm financed by a Guernsey-based company owned by Sir Stanley Thomas. But the district valuer estimated that the individual pieces of land were in fact together worth £36 million.^[5]

In addition, around 120 acres of farmland in Cardiff were sold privately to SWLD for £2 million, while the land's value on the open market should have been around £20 million. Just four months after the sale, Cardiff Council published a planning blueprint that increased the market value of the same land to £120 million - 60 times the original sale price of the land.^[6]

The Wales Audit Office report concluded that there were significant flaws throughout the sale process. Sir Stanley Thomas refused to be interviewed for the report.^[7]

References