Vaughan Gething was confirmed as First Minister following a vote in the Welsh Parliament last month. Photo: Matthew Horwood/Welsh Government/PA
Vaughan Gething's bid to become First Minister of Wales was supported by a firm that received a £400,000 loan from the bank for which he was responsible.
He faces calls for an independent investigation into his decision. accept a £200,000 gift from Dauson Environmental Group.
Mr Gething, described as “Starmer's man for Wales”, was chosen to replace Mark Drakeford as leader of the Welsh Labor Party last month.< /p>
He was confirmed as First Minister after a vote in the Welsh Parliament. last month.
Electoral commission records show his campaign received two donations of £100,000 each from Dauson Environmental in December and January.
The gifts came less than a year after a company within the Dauson group received a loan £400,000 from the Welsh Government's development bank.
Mr Gething has been described as “Starmer's man in Wales”. Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images Europe
At the time, Mr Gething was the Economy Secretary and was in charge of the department responsible for overseeing the bank's operations.
The Development Bank of Wales (DBW) lent the money to Neal Soil Supplies Ltd and said it was used to financing the purchase of a new solar farm.
Both the bank and the Welsh Government insisted Mr Gething was not involved in the decision. Dawson said no money went toward donations to his campaign.
But critics said the episode raised serious conflict of interest issues and called for an independent investigation into the circumstances.
David T.S. Davies, the Welsh minister, questioned why Dauson Environmental needed a taxpayer-funded loan when the company had £200,000 in political donations.
He said Mr Gething should answer questions publicly. including when he first learned about the loan and whether he knew about it before accepting the donation.
“Does the First Minister still think it is acceptable to take hundreds of thousands of dollars? pounds as a donation from a company that received hundreds of thousands more from Welsh taxpayers?” he told The Telegraph.
“I believe that in the interests of transparency we urgently need answers to these questions.”
Calls for an “independent inquiry”
Andrew R.T. Davies, the Welsh Conservative leader, said an “independent investigation” was needed into the possible breach of the ministerial code.
In a letter to Mr Gething, he said his decision to accept the money “results in a serious conflict of interest” which needs to be fully investigated.
He added that “the scandal is having a corrosive effect on the functioning of the Government.”
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The First Minister is also under pressure from within the Labor Party after Jeremy Miles, his successor as Welsh economy secretary, said he “would not accept” the donations.
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Welsh ministers do not make decisions on individual investments provided by DBW.”
The loan will be repaid “within five years.”
Mr Gething's campaign has previously said donations from Dauson Environmental were declared in accordance with the rules.
The Development Bank of Wales said the £400,000 loan “can be repaid over five years” and that “lending and investment decisions made by the Development Bank are completely independent from the Welsh Government.”
A spokesperson for Dauson Environmental told the BBC: “As a growing Welsh company, Dauson Environmental Group is committed to investing in the operation and development of all our sites and across the Welsh supply chain.
“This includes working with the Development Bank of Wales to support this economic growth.”
“We can assure you that none of the loans received from the Development Bank of Wales have been used for donations made by Dauson Environmental Group.”
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