Vaughan Gething: backer ‘had nothing to do with donation’

A Welsh government owned agency that has lent Dauson Environmental Group money defended its integrity and independence from ministers in the Welsh Parliament on Wednesday.

In a session of the Economy Committee politicians asked the Development Bank of Wales (DBW) a series of co-ordinated questions about a loan of £400,000 given to a subsidiary of the company.

Chief Executive Giles Thorley said he was unable to tell the committee how much information was provided in that case.

“But, as a customer, they have borrowed money from the development bank and the predecessor Finance Wales in the past. Those funds have been repaid in full.”

Sam Kurtz, Welsh Conservative for Preseli Pembrokeshire, asked whether the DBW chief executive was confident that the due diligence was up to scratch.

“It’s a perfectly valid point that we do reasonably extensive due diligence.

“There are some limitations on what we’re allowed to find. We don’t do [criminal record] checks on the individual in most cases.”

Mr Thorley said they had a “long consideration” within DBW on to what extent it could check whether businesses had made political donations in the past, and to what extent “we could restrict the use of the money”.

“But in the case of this specific instance the use of the money was very specific.”

Mr Thorley added: “I’ve been at the organisation, for eight years, I’ve never been contacted [by ministers] or had any pressure put on in relation to a loan or any form of investment we’ve made.”

The Conservative UK government’s Welsh Secretary, David TC Davies, said he disagreed with Mr Gething’s decision to reject calls for an independent inquiry.

“A lot of people have raised serious concerns about this and they have the right to see an inquiry take place.

“I also think there’s a very important question that hasn’t been answered yet, and that is when did the first minister become aware of the fact that the company had put in an application for funding from DBW?

“And, if and when he became aware of that, what discussion was there between the current first minister – then the minister responsible for DBW – and the management of DBW about a potential conflict of interest?”