What do we know about him? Other than that he was an mercenary originally from Ala Mhigo. Does he have any prior connections to the royalists or the monitarists?

Since it was pretty heavily implied he has some off-the-books interests I am trying to speculate on his motives. I can see a few possibilities for his back handed behavior.
1) He is using his position in the Crystal Braves to work towards rearming the refugees from Ala Mhigo for a possible attempt to (unlikely) take back their homeland, or (more likely) take what they feel they are owed from Ul’dah.
2) He has a prior loyalty to one faction or the other in Ul’dah and is trying to put swords in the right place to see his friends come out ahead in the coming conflict.
3) Similar to 2, he has a vendetta against a member (or members) of the council and is trying to put swords in the right place to make sure they do not come out ahead in the coming conflict.
4) He is just plain greedy and is abusing his power to line his own pockets so he can come out ahead, regardless of the events of the coming conflicts.
5) He can see the trouble brewing and is trying to make sure that when the dust settles, the Ala Mhigans are in a position to claim Ul’dah as their own.

I may be reading him completely wrong, but really get the impression that he has a big interest in who sits on the throne of Ul’dah and is actively working to manipulate it