THE total cost to Thurrock Council of legal and advisory fees as it attempts to recover hundreds of millions of pounds lost in its failed investment strategy is now expected to be approaching £50 million by the time the process is exhausted.

It is not clear if this amount includes charges relatiog to legal fees that the council announced in recent days as it seeks to recover money from Dubai-based businessman and entrepreneur Liam Kavanagh.

The council recently announced it has recovered £510 million from the sale of assets of one of the compnaies it invested in, though hundreds of millions more remains outstand.

An extraordinary meeting of the council's cabinet on Monday (18 March) will receive a report of how much has been spent so far and how much is still likely to be spent in purusit of lost funds up to March 2026.

The current estimate is £47.4 million.

Full details of the costs included by the council and who has been retained to act on its behalf are detailed in a report put to the meeting by Cllr Graham Snell, portfolio holder for finance, human resources and payroll.