Natwest hit with £250m lawsuit tied to Thurrock Council scandal
Natwest could be on the hook for more than a quarter of a billion pounds for allegedly aiding a businessman in secretly transferring funds from his investment firm.
The FTSE 100 giant’s subsidiary – the Royal Bank of Scotland – has been engulfed in the collapse of Rockfire Group, which was triggered by a fraud and investment scandal tied to Thurrock Council.
Rockfire is being investigated by UK fraud authorities for selling risky solar farm bonds to the local authority that went bankrupt in 2022.
The liquidators of Rockfire Capital and Rockfire Investment Finance are each looking to recover £70m and £179m plus interest from RBS.
Rockfire landed over £398m of public money from the council into its bonds that were intended to finance a network of solar farms.
But instead of using the funds on energy infrastructure, the High Court case, which was first reported by the Financial Times, alleges RBS processed unauthorised payments that benefited businessman Liam Kavanagh personally, who controlled the investment firm.
Businessman allegedly used firm’s cash for outlandish purchases
Kavanagh – who is alleged to not have authority to approve the payments – is said to have used the cash from the payments to buy luxury cars, a yacht and an aircraft as opposed to aiding the company.
A liquidators report from April for Rockfire Investment Finance claims around £400m went into bank accounts. But it added “material amounts” were also paid to third parties in the UK and overseas between 2017 and 2020.
Rockfire Investment Finance claims that RBS authorised the payments whilst the company was “bordering on insolvency or insolvent” and states it was the bank’s responsibility to block payments that were potentially fraudulent.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating Thurrock Council following its bankruptcy that came with a £1.5bn mountain of debt. Rockfire is compelled by SFO to provide evidence.
Natwest has said it intends to defend itself in both cases. Kavanagh “strenuously denies” the allegations made by Thurrock Council and aims to contest them in court.
A sttaement from Kavanagh said: “Mr Kavanagh is not a party to the proceedings brought by Rockfire Investment Finance or other companies against RBS/Natwest, he has not been served with any of the relevant Court documents and is therefore not in a position to comment on the litigation and what has been alleged.”