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In Shadow World – Chasing Mr Sunshine, Catrin Nye and Meirion Jones trace the extraordinary story of Liam Kavanagh, a man who took eye-watering amounts of money from local councils while selling them the dream of a solar powered future.

He used the money to buy a £20M country house, a villa in Malaga, a yacht, a private jet and a £250,000 revolving bed. It also fuelled his lavish lifestyle, and a penchant for collecting exotic vehicles such as a £2.5M Bugatti.

At the centre of the story is a system where local councils were entitled to invest large amounts of public cash in business ventures and investments for financial gain. At the time, many councils were under extreme pressure from central government to tighten their belts and find imaginative ways of raising money.

Over two years, starting in 2015, Sean Clarke, Director of Finance for Thurrock Council in Essex, didn’t just invest his own local tax-payer’s money but he also borrowed a billion pounds from other local authorities across Britain to invest in Liam Kavanagh’s company.

The scheme was red-flagged by the council’s own investment advisors who told them it went "far beyond the envelope of risk", but their warnings were ignored, and when the promised returns didn't materialise, Thurrock couldn't pay back the other councils and the UK Treasury had to step in with £800M to stop dozens of local authorities from going bankrupt.

Many are now calling it the largest financial scandal in local government history, and asking why none of the people at the heart of it have faced any form of justice.

Presenters: Catrin Nye and Meirion Jones.
Producer: Leo Hornak
Executive Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for Â鶹Éç Radio 4