Introduction
Introduction
Dafydd Morgan is a non-academic macroeconomist.
In 1991, he discovered that his accountant Maynard Samuel had been falsifying his business accounts.
This was to start a long and bitter dispute as Maynard Samuel became increasingly desperate to silence him, distance himself from the criminality that he had been involved in and destroy Dafydd Morgan's good name and reputation.
Corrupt business people typically have great influence among local society and will be involved with others who have localised power including solicitors, other accountants, bank managers and police.
The more trouble that these individuals would go on to cause, the greater Dafydd Morgan would understand the lucrative enterprises, motivation and scams at play.
Soon, it was discovered that many local gangs were stealing property from unsuspecting victims on a vast scale and money laundering.
Aberystwyth is the area's most prominent town on the Welsh west coast. It is situated in Cardigan Bay and is well known for its victorian architecture, the home of the University of Wales and the National Library of Wales and a tourist holiday hotspot which attracts, predominantly visitors from the Midlands and Manchester.
It is recognised as a market town due to the emphasis on agriculture which is predominantly made up of small family holdings that have been in the same family for many generations.
Higher up the coast, visitors typically come from Manchester and Liverpool and lower down, South Wales, especially what were once, coal mining communities.However, in many ways, Aberystwyth is a town which is, in economic terms, very different to the majority of others within the United Kingdom as a very significant number of its people work in the public sector:
- Aberystwyth University,
- Ceredigion County Council,
- National Library of Wales,
- Bronglais Hospital,
- Welsh Government,
- Police,
- Fire Service etc
- As well as several supermarkets and national retailers
Generations of its children have grown up with one another to such a point where, again, it can be argued that the business community are so intertwined to be acting like brother and sister. Days of courting by foot and horseback have led to families often interrelated.
Local businesses should be viewed, loosely as one gang. Solicitor firms may look independent yet share clients amounting to considerable file, and client conflicts, surrounding confidentiality. Events that affect one client, may cause another client with the very same solicitor, considerable detriment.
Business people keep a close eye on each other and should a new idea come along, say a different way of doing things, where there is potential money to be made, existing businesses will not be that far behind in stealing ideas.
New businesses, outside this clique, especially with ideas that are scalable, will always be in danger of existing traders coming together, pooling intelligence, and information from bank managers, solicitors and accountants, to drive them out of business, stealing their intellectual property, business premises, homes (which were often used to finance new businesses by extending home mortgages), and potential development locations through local authority ‘future planning’ often up to forty years before planning is drafted. Criminal gang members will always be at the right place at the right time.
Similar to the old pirate generation, depicted in children's books, for some fifty years, there has been a strong, organised ‘mafia-style’ organisation in place, where associates look after other colleagues’ collective interests, yet are sworn to secrecy.
This ‘firm’ features local and regional characters, family, friends, associates and lookouts on the ‘payroll’ or favour list.
Commoners would, once upon a time, come down to the harbour and help pirates unload their bounty before disappearing quickly into the night. Nothing has changed.
There is a culture which, I believe has stemmed from hardship within agriculture where people wish to buy things at auction at a bargain price. Everybody is after a bargain. They will become involved in bidding frenzies over a box of rusty tools or they will choose to collaborate so that one farmer will buy at the cheapest bid and then divvy up the tools later.
Several business people have, for decades, traded in false front criminal enterprises.
These enterprises will appear to be doing well with the owner and his family often working very hard, long hours yet, the deals that go on, behind closed doors, in the background will be far more valuable than the false front.
