The man who took out unauthorised loans for the Manx Electricity Authority and landed the government with a £120m debt wants to make an amazing comeback.
Mike Proffitt was the chief executive of the MEA, which generated and supplied electricity for the island and became part of the Manx Utilities Authority in 2014, when he took out the unauthorised loan. He always denied doing anything unlawful.
Mr Proffitt is now executive chairman of Manx Natural Resources Limited and has returned with a £200m turbine and hydro pumping scheme.
He told Manx Radio: ‘We would like to be part of the government’s policy to decarbonise the network by providing carbon-free electricity through the construction and operation of a wind farm, primarily to deliver base load electricity.’
Mr Proffitt says the plan would allow the island to stop using fossil fuels completely and the government isn’t required to invest.
‘Backed up by two pump storage facilities, using water and gravity, we would completely replace the base load of the island meaning that we could stop burning fossil fuels and even importing electricity, except in maybe dire emergencies,’ he added.
‘The wind farm would be sited on top of Foxdale in what we call Snuff the Wind.
‘As developer, we would put the capital up, we would take the developer’s risk and whether we would use the debt markets or the capital markets is a matter for our financial analysts to advise.
‘We would take all the risk and we would allow the government to take it over once it’s been proven in action.’
When asked about establishing a good relationship with the government following his actions two decades ago, he said: ‘Some people have said the Isle of Man is a better place now because of what I did 20 years ago.
‘They understood what I was doing, the record shows that and the investigation they did fully exonerated me, although that investigation paper has never been made public.
‘I have proven myself as somebody who can get something done.’
Businessman Sir Miles Walker, who was the island’s first chief minister, is an advisor in this company.
The allegations first surfaced at the end of 2004.
Concerns quickly mounted over the state of the MEA’s accounts amid allegations that the government-owned authority had borrowed cash without first obtaining Treasury permission.
Expenditure on the Pulrose power station project had risen significantly over the original estimates of £185m, which had been funded by a government bond in 2001.
Mr Proffitt told the Examiner later: ‘We have worked within the provisions of the Electricity Act. We have done nothing of an ultra vires nature.
‘All our borrowings, all our receipts and all our expenditures have the utmost of integrity.’
A select committee inquiry identified a serious lapse by Treasury, inappropriate operating procedures and overly-optimistic profit predictions.
Its damning report concluded that Mr Proffitt should never have been authorised as the signatory for loans from a bank for which he had been appointed as chairman.