As we wait for news from the police and CPS over the Wellness scandal, we'll take a look at how some of the key players, some of whom were sacked or suspended for gross misconduct from Swansea Uni, are faring. And former CEO Mark James while we're at it.
As we know Mark James new consultancy company turned quite a modest profit this year, quite remarkable given its infancy and total lack of online presence. Currently embroiled in the forged signature scandal at Century Wharf, it looks like Warwick Estates, who manage the complex on behalf of the Right To Manage (RTM) company, have been given the push.
Who will replace Warwick estates? Well the Chair of the RTM, Mr James, already has a vehicle in place, Building Estate Solutions Today Ltd (BEST Ltd) of which he is a co-director with Steve Corner. It is understood that BEST Ltd is already touting for business across various sites down the Bay.
Marc Clement, sacked along with Swansea Uni vice-chancellor Richard Davies, is never more than a stone's throw from Mr James and it is rumoured that a director of a firm of surveyors, rumoured to have moved on site also happens to be a director of another company, Ellamel Holdings Ltd, along with none other than Marc Clement.
We also know that Mark James' friends in Llangennech, ERS Ltd, happen to be contracted by the RTM to provide telephone services to Century Wharf. An associated company of ERS Ltd is Hydro Industries Ltd. Robert Lovering, David Pickering (of rugby fame) and Wayne Preece are, or were (like the rest of them, they change directorships more often than their socks), the directors at Hydro and were 'introduced' to the 'bounties' of the City Deal by Marc Clement and Mark James before the wellness s**t hit the fan.
Another former employee of Swansea Uni, and council project manager for the Wellness Village, Bjorn Rodde, who resigned after suspension, managed very quickly to get gainful employment with the very same Hydro Ltd and is now Chief Operating Officer at St Joseph's private hospital in Newport. It is understood that both Marc Clement and Franz Dickmann (remember him?) have been involved with the hospital, which, incidentally only avoided collapse earlier this year through an anonymous donation and being 'repackaged' by the Administrators.
Steven Poole, meanwhile, also sacked for gross misconduct, is now a Director of newly formed Sirius Genesis Ltd, and various sister companies, alongside assorted academics and, at Sirius Genesis Beta Ltd, our old friend Marc Clement. Mr Poole is also involved in companies with Ruth Clement, including Llwyn Country House Ltd, currently in liquidation.
Marc Clement, along with Llanelli businessman Kevin Smith (not associated with Swansea Uni), formed Alpha Life Science Advisory Ltd earlier this year, with a base in Guernsey. Clement resigned from the appointment a couple of weeks later. The company has now changed its name to Alpha Advisory Board Ltd, and Mr Smith, and Guernsey based company JTC are the remaining directors.
Kevin Smith, who was a former director of Sterling Health, Dickmann's company, runs another company, Cambrian Ventures Ltd. The only other company of this name appears to be trading in Singapore, whether its the same one I don't know. However, Cambrian Ventures Ltd is also a shareholder in another newly formed company called Skin Logistics Ltd.
One of the directors of Skin Logistics is...Marc Clement.
Kevin Smith was, along with Marc Clement, a director of Respiratory Innovation Wales. The intention was to set up shop at the Wellness Village until Swansea Uni raised serious concerns and a Welsh Government grant was pulled. It is understood that Mr Smith had more than a passing acquaintance with Ifan Evans, the Welsh Government City Deal official. Both Smith and Clement resigned from the company. RIW has now re-established itself and with its base at the Beacon Centre (the City Deal HQ) Llanelli, appears to be involved in the Wellness Village, or Pentre Awel as its now known.
Marc Clement was a director of Kent Neurosciences Ltd, Dickmann's company (which later dissolved and re-emerged as Sterling) which Mark James brought in, exclusively, to develop the Wellness Village. When KNS dissolved he insisted on appointing Sterling, £137k in debt, to develop the £200m Wellness Village once again. I wonder why... (for background to the deals with KNS and Sterling, please search this blog). The whole Dickmann family was lined up to profit from the Village, even the planned creche.
Signing of the Wellness Deal 2018, L to R: Mrs Dickmann, Mark James,
VC Richard Davies, Emlyn Dole, Franz Dickmann, Marc Clement
Marc Clement meanwhile had formed another company, Vardiola Ltd with it's sights firmly set on running the Wellness Hotel.
Somewhere along the timeline, planned private medical schools in Swansea and Kuwait emerged, tied to both Swansea Uni and, through the city deal, to Carmarthenshire Council. Neither body were aware of the details which involved Marc Clement, the sacked vice chancellor Richard Davies and Mark James, as a trustee, and, of course, Franz Dickmann and Sterling Health. The allegations were again related to promises of personal gain. James made no mention of this role to the Council. Nor any other role for that matter.
As the whole mess went into meltdown, these companies, and along with the plans, all dissolved, nearly torpedoing the whole City Deal.
Marc Clement is no stranger to controversy, and neither is Mark James. The latter, as logged throughout this blog, was not averse to pocketing public funds, helping out his 'friends', tax avoidance, destroying his critics with his own slush fund, and outright dishonesty; driven by personal gain. With supreme arrogance, he brought his own personal solicitors, Acuity Law, into the council in an attempt to clear his tracks over the Wellness tender.
However, we know that not only was his home raided by the police in July 2019, and that of former leader Meryl Gravell, but so was County Hall. The police were retrieving deleted data from the server room.
A trip down the endless rabbit hole of Companies House shows there are many more connections, but the point is that this is a very small group of people in a very tangled web, with some currently under police investigation for bribery and fraud offences, the allegations of corruption have been tracked through this blog.
There is, of course, nothing illegal about setting up a company, and, alongside those suspected of fraud etc are perfectly legitimate businesses, business people and academics.
The police, we were told, are investigating the tender for the Wellness Village and that it is a very complex investigation. There are many ways to hide evidence, and many ways to game it, and it is also likely to take a long time.
Given the snapshot above, you can see why.
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