Sir Thomas Stanley Thomas is a British businessman and property developer whos late father 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]
In 2015 the Wales Audit Office reported that taxpayers may have lost out on millions of pounds in the sale of government-owned land to companies owned by Thomas, through sales not advertised on the open market.[2]
Andrew RT 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-ever financial loss to the taxpayer in a single transaction.[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 Thomas. But the district valuer estimated that the individual pieces of land were in fact together worth £36 million.[4]
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.[5]
The Wales Audit Office report concluded that there were significant flaws throughout the sale process. Thomas refused to be interviewed for the report.[6]