Shipowner Idan Ofer has been drawn into a controversy surrounding the UK housing minister Robert Jenrick, who is under pressure to resign following scrutiny of his links to wealthy Conservative party donors.
Jenrick came under fire this week after he reportedly “insisted” that a £1bn property development be rushed through, which enabled a company belonging to Tory donor Richard Desmond to save £45m.
A report by The Guardian on Friday highlighted a £10,000 ($12,410) donation made by Ofer to the Conservative party, which followed a decision by the UK government not to provide state support to one of Ofer's rivals.
Ofer met in March 2018 with Jenrick, who was then exchequer secretary to the Treasury, according to the newspaper, citing departmental registers.
At that time, Jenrick was assessing whether to offer state support for a new potash mine being built by Sirius Minerals, a rival company that was set to provide direct competition to Ofer’s UK mining company Cleveland Potash, The Guardian reports.
The UK government ultimately refused to offer state support to Sirius, which brought the firm to the brink of collapse in late 2019, before it was bought out in January in a cut-price deal by mining giant Anglo American.
The Guardian said the discounted buy-out wiped out the shareholdings of "hundreds" of small investors, some of whom lost their life savings.
Jenrick distances himself
A spokesman for Jenrick told The Guardian that the minister recused himself from any decisions on the Sirius project.
But the newspaper said it understands that Jenrick retained oversight of Sirius Minerals’ application for financial support from the Treasury for at least six months after his meeting with Ofer.
Ofer’s London-based firm, Quantum Pacific UK Corporation, subsequently donated to the Conservatives for the first and only time, reportedly giving the party £10,000 in March 2019.
The Guernsey-domiciled Quantum Pacific Group, of which Ofer is principal, acts as a holding company for his other ventures such as Eastern Pacific Shipping and Pacific Drilling.
A spokesman for Ofer told The Guardian: “Mr Ofer met Mr Jenrick and his team at the Treasury and discussed the business environment in the UK, particularly post-Brexit. Mr Ofer attended the meeting on his own.
“Mr Ofer can’t recall if it [the mining project] was discussed, but if it did it would have been touched on only briefly because the main subject of conversation was the wider business and economic environment in the UK.”
He added that the £10,000 donation via Ofer’s Quantum Pacific business was made at the behest of Conservative Friends of Israel, of which Jenrick is a member.
Ofer reportedly said the donation had not been discussed with Jenrick.
TradeWinds has contacted Ofer for comment.
