MALAGA GAZETTE

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

30 year old grape farmer from Villanueva de Alcardate (Toledo) found dead last night, died of heat stroke.

Posted On Wednesday, July 30, 2008 0 comments

30 year old grape farmer from Villanueva de Alcardate (Toledo) found dead last night, died of heat stroke. According to local mayor, Jorge Luis Garrido, the dead man, Pedro Pablo MP, left for his vineyard at around 5pm yesterday afternoon to install a new irrigation system. After he failed to return by nightfall, his father and brother went out to look for him, but only managed to find his car.
After Local Police and Guardia Civil officers joined the hunt, Pedro was eventually found at around 11.30pm. Maximum temperatures in the Castilla La Mancha region soared above 40ºC yesterday, and the heatwave is expected to last for a few more days at least


Police in Mallorca investigating sunbathers death

Posted On Wednesday, July 30, 2008 0 comments

Police in Mallorca are investigating whether a 29 year old Bulgarian man who passed away in Son Llàtzer Hospital last Tuesday, died as a result of heat or sunstroke.
Vladimir suffered severe sunburns last Saturday on Cala Major beach in Palma.
The alarm was raised by a lifeguard who noticed that the man had not moved for several hours.
Police are not ruling out the possibility that the man might have worn himself out while bathing, and fallen asleep after reaching the beach.


Ryanair said that its winter cost cutting programme is going to hit Majorca.

Posted On Wednesday, July 30, 2008 0 comments

Spanish airline industry was rocked by the announcement by the Palma-based airline Spanair that it plans to shed a third of its workforce, Ireland low-cost carrier Ryanair said that its winter cost cutting programme is going to hit Majorca.
While Ryanair has a number of new routes planned out of its Palma hub for December, it will first be suspending all its Palma operations between November 4 and December 19.Ryanair sources explained yesterday that while it is having to battle rising operating costs at Stansted Airport (see Business) the combination of rising fuel prices and Palma being one of the most expensive airports to operate from in Spain makes flying in and out of Majorca during what is considered a relatively quiet period, financially unviable at a time when all airlines are trying to reduce costs.
A total of 372 flights and 56'000 passengers will be affected by the Palma suspension and, according to Ryanair, the airport will lose some seven million euros in revenue from airport unpaid taxes. “If Palma airport had lower operating costs, it would not be necessary for us to reduce our operations and Majorca would not have lost 56'000 potential visitors,” said Ryanair Chief Executive Michael Cawley in a statement released yesterday afternoon. “High fuel prices and Palma’s expensive operating costs make it very difficult for us to keep our airfares down,” he added.
Balearic President Francesc Antich yesterday said that he and his government are “very worried” about the futures of the 1'100 Spanair employees which face losing their jobs here in the Balearics and on the mainland.Antich announced that the government will do all it can to help those made redundant as a result of Spanair’s restructuring plan and also ensure that none of Spanair’s inter-island and Balearic domestic routes are affected. Spanair yesterday confirmed that a total 1'100 jobs are going to be lost.


Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Woman Waits Two Days For Treatment After Genitals Set On Fire

Posted On Tuesday, July 29, 2008 0 comments

The woman's partner covered her with alcohol saying he was giving her a massage, but then set her alight. A 39 year-old Alicante woman has suffered ‘deep second degree and third degree’ burns after her partner massaged alcohol into her genitals and then set her on fire. The couple is believed to be homeless and live in an abandoned house in the city and the woman suffered the pain for two days before seeking medical help. She is now waiting for an operation in hospital while her partner has been arrested by the National Police and has been sent to prison on remand.Police sources explained that the couple had been arguing when the man said he forgave the woman and offered to give her a massage. It was then he carried out the brutal abuse.


100kg of coc aimne were stolen from police headquarters and replaced with talcum powder

Posted On Tuesday, July 29, 2008 0 comments

Police in Seville have been left red-faced after more than 100kg of drugs were stolen from police headquarters and replaced with talcum powder, a spokesman said.
The missing drugs, amounting to 95% of the cocaine seized in police operations, would be worth about five million euros on the black market. All the signs are that the thief or thieves who took the drugs were regular visitors, and might even be police officers themselves as there was no sign of the door having been forced.
According to the newspaper El Pais, the keys were usually kept by the head of Seville’s organised crime unit, although he sometimes handed them over to other officers.Seville police when asked to comment, would only confirm that narcotics stored at the police station had “gone missing” and that the internal affairs department had begun an inquiry.The theft was discovered when police carried out a routine final analysis of the drugs before they were destroyed, only to find they were nothing but a harmless material.


British man threatened members of a gypsy clan known locally as ‘Los Pertolos’ which, according to the court, is well known for its acts of violence.

Posted On Tuesday, July 29, 2008 1 comments

Married couple have been sentenced to four years in prison by Almeria Provincial Court for extorting money and the ownership of a car from a British man living in Arboleas. The couple, aged 41 and 46, are members of a gypsy clan known locally as ‘Los Pertolos’ which, according to the court, is well known for its acts of violence. The couple threatened the British man, who ran an estate agent’s business in the Arboleas area, showing him a pistol which they told him had “already been used to kill a person” and telling him at the same time that they could “become enemies”. Later they went to the man’s home where other unidentified members of the clan surrounded him and forced him to sign a contract giving work to the accused.
The victim was also forced to give them a document which they then used to transfer ownership of his son’s car to the married couple. The car was later returned to the victim by the Guardia Civil.


Expat living in Calpe will be extradited if found guilty of a massive robbery

Posted On Tuesday, July 29, 2008 0 comments

Expat living in Calpe will be extradited if found guilty of a massive robbery in his home country. The 60-year-old German national is said to have an international arrest warrant hanging over him in connection with a raid on a supermarket in the town of Herne. Guardia Civil officers say criminal damage to the value of 2,200€ was caused and around 30,000€’s worth of goods stolen during the theft in May 2005. The accused has been transferred to the national court in Madrid for trial following his arrest at the weekend.


Miguel Merida Gallardo old time Bandido

Posted On Tuesday, July 29, 2008 0 comments

Miguel Merida Gallardo, a minor thief wanted for around 100 robberies in 1994, followed the example of the Maquis – the Spanish resistance to Franco - and lived in caves for 14 years, subsisting on food and supplies stolen from market gardens and farmsteads. He was last heard of in Baena (Cordoba) in February 1994 and reappeared on July 13 2008 in Alcaudete (Jaen) after a suspicious resident reported him to the PolicÌa Local. Miguel Merida, now aged 48, had two principal “residences” – a cave in Luque (Cordoba) and another in Alcaudete where he kept provisions that included tinned food and a battery-operated television. After being released on parole and spending the night of July 14 in a municipal hostel in Alcalzar La Real, Merida has again disappeared and as a result the Guardia Civil are looking for him once again. However, his whereabouts are apparently still unknown.


Málaga waiter stabbed

Posted On Tuesday, July 29, 2008 0 comments

waiter in a Málaga restaurant was stabbed after he asked a beggar to stop bothering his customers. The vagrant smashed plates on the floor before picking up a table knife and attacking the 26-year-old waiter who was not seriously injured. Catering workers have complained that city centre beggars constitute an on-going problem but that complaints to the town hall bring no solution.


Wave of arrests investigation into taxfraud involving a bank in Liechtenstein. Costa arrests were in Marbella, Fuengirola, Torremolinos

Posted On Tuesday, July 29, 2008 0 comments

70 Spanish nationals have been arrested in a major investigation into tax and fiscal fraud involving a bank in Liechtenstein. Four of the detentions were in Marbella, Fuengirola, Torremolinos and Benalmádena and officers have also visited a private bank located in Nueva Andalucía.
According to official sources some 200 million euros is thought to have been involved in the fraud. The 'Jade-Limusina' investigation started in April when the Tax Agency presented the anti-corruption prosecutor with a report indicating that 198 people could be involved in tax evasion. These were all resident in Spain and are thought to have had dealings with the Liechtenstein Global Trust (LGT).
This is an international case and started off in Germany where some 1,000 people are though to be involved. As it developed it saw the tax authorities in Spain working with colleagues in Australia, Canada, France, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, the UK and USA. All these countries had instances of their nationals using the same bank to allegedly avoid paying tax to the authorities.
The case in Spain was placed under the wing of the Audiencia Nacional judge Santiago Pedraz who ordered investigations by the tax authority's own team and the anti-corruption squad of the Guardia Civil. This led to raids on around 20 companies and business advisors in Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga and Zaragoza.
The situation of the Nueva Andalucía private bank is not clear. It is believed that the Guardia Civil were at the bank interviewing officials for an hour but no arrests appear to have been made. It is also understood that the same bank could be involved in the German arm of this investigation.
LGT is not only caught up in this fraud investigation. Last week in the USA a hearing of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) of the US Senate also cast doubt on the bank's operations. In a statement LGT Group asserted that: ''it has always conducted its business in accordance with the applicable legal and regulatory provisions. The data under investigation by the PSI - which is based on the data stolen from LGT Treuhand in 2002 and goes back to the 1970s - is from a time when different regulations applied and when there was no Qualified Intermediary (QI) agreement in place. The specific cases mentioned in the subcommittee's report are dated and do not in any way reflect LGT's current business practices.'' Obviously following the wave of arrests in Spain and the parallel investigations in the USA the bank will once again be under the spotlight.


Spanish authorities have seized 2.5 tonnes of cocaine on a boat in the Atlantic and detained the ship's five Venezuelan crew members

Posted On Tuesday, July 29, 2008 0 comments

Spanish authorities have seized 2.5 tonnes of cocaine on a boat in the Atlantic and detained the ship's five Venezuelan crew members, the interior ministry said Tuesday, cited by AFP.
Spanish police intercepted the Venezuelan-flagged "Rio Manzanares" just as it was about to deliver the cocaine to another ship operated by a suspected Spanish drug-trafficking gang, the minsitry said in a statement.
It gave no street value for the cocaine which was stored in 80 packages.
The ship is now being escorted to Spain's Canary Islands which are located just off the coast of Morocco.
Spain, with its extensive southern coastline, is Europe's main point of entry for Moroccan cannabis and for cocaine from South America, mostly from Colombia, the world's top producer of the drug.
The country has become the biggest consumer of cocaine in continental Europe, and is one of the world's top users of the drug, according to a report published in January by the United Nation's Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).


Sunday, July 27, 2008

Civil Guard is looking for the thieves who broke into the home belonging to their Civil Guard Chief Captain in San Vicente del Raspeig, in Alicante.

Posted On Sunday, July 27, 2008 0 comments

Civil Guard is looking for the thieves who broke into the home belonging to their Civil Guard Chief Captain in San Vicente del Raspeig, in Alicante.The chief was asleep with his family in his home in the old Guardia Civil barracks in Babel, where some 20 civil guard families now reside, while the thieves obtained access through a balcony window. The embarrassing theft took place a month ago, but news of it has only just been released. A bag and other items were taken.


Saturday, July 26, 2008

Amy Fitzpatrick who disappeared in Spain on New Year's Day.

Posted On Saturday, July 26, 2008 0 comments


The campaign is being led by the family of missing Dublin teenager Amy Fitzpatrick, who disappeared in Spain on New Year's Day.petition is due to be presented to the European Commission in Dublin today as part of a campaign for an EU-wide alert system for missing children.
The 15-year-old's parents will present today's petition of 20,000 signatures along with Sinn Fein MEP Mary Lou McDonald.Ms McDonald is calling on the Taoiseach to raise the idea of an alert system with the French President when he visits Ireland later this month. mother of Amy Fitzpatrick, the 15-year-old Irish girl who went missing from Calahonda, Mijas Costa, when she was coming home from a friend’s house on New Year’s Day says that she is optimistic and that she still hopes to find her daughter. The investigation has revealed no clues to her whereabouts and her family no longer believe that she may have simply run away because she was unhappy. Their hypothesis is that she is being held against her will by an older, English-speaking man, who may have promised to get her a passport and who is telling her what to do. Amy’s mother has said that the young girl would not be able to stay away from her loved-ones for so long without letting them know she was OK. She believes the girl is no longer in Spain, but doesn’t think she is in England or Ireland, either. In any case, the family have not given up hope and ask police to continue searching and doing all they can to find Amy. Amy is said to be thin and pale, 1.65 tall, with black hair and blue eyes and was wearing dark tracksuit bottoms, a t-shirt with the word ‘Diesel’ and a pair of black boots. She was carrying a red bag containing clothes when she was last seen.


Prices falling, buyers are disappearing and developers, starved of loans by Spanish banks nervous about international financial instability

Posted On Saturday, July 26, 2008 0 comments

prices are falling, buyers are disappearing and developers, starved of loans by Spanish banks nervous about international financial instability, are going bust. Along the Costas, developments lie half-finished, without water and electricity, and without any prospect of being sold.
For Spain's notoriously corrupt and capricious planning regime, which gave birth to the developments now disfiguring virtually all the country's Mediterranean coastline, the chickens are coming home to roost. Houses built on the nod of corrupt mayors are being refused retrospective planning permission by regional administrations under pressure from the green lobby. Many properties, new and not-so-new, are blighted by illegality and are the effectively worthless; others have simply been demolished. Scan the websites used by current or potential British expatriates and you will find people desperate for advice about how to reclaim deposits that they will, in many cases, never see again – and all at the wrong end of life, when lost savings cannot be recouped.
Even the biggest Spanish firms are going under. Last week, Martinsa-Fadesa, a major and respected player, filed for bankruptcy.
Gwilym Rhys-Jones is a financial investigator based on the Costa del Sol, and a longtime observer of the Spanish property scene. He says that even large, well-known builders were accepting deposits for off-plan developments that had no planning permission. "These things are no more than pipe dreams, but there was such a ready supply of British and north European buyers that all they had to do was show them a pretty drawing and they were falling over themselves to buy them."
Drive along the coast south of Alicante and the results of the Spanish property bubble are there to see: serried ranks of exquisitely tasteless, often empty, villas advancing in close order up isolated, parched hillsides. Many have been built in locations totally unsuitable for housing: by the sides of dual carriageways, away from shops and amenities – anywhere that developers could find a landowner willing to sell. Property has driven the Spanish economy like no other in the European Union. Last year, housing investment accounted for a tenth of GDP and 13 per cent of private sector jobs. More than four million dwellings have been built in the last decade, a boom fuelled partly by an influx of British retirees (some three-quarters of a million Britons now reside in Spain). Britain's Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors says the number of homes built last year would be excessive even given steady market conditions, never mind a downturn.
But it's on the Costas where the developers are really hurting. La Axarquia is part of Malaga province, a constellation of 29 coastal and inland councils. Ask about the number of illegally built properties in La Axarquia and the official figure will be about 10,000. Local environmentalists put that at more than 20,000.
"In Marbella, the local council is calling on the regional authorities to retrospectively authorise illegally built properties because otherwise mortgages cannot be raised on them," says Mr Rhys-Jones. "In other words, they want to draw a line under the old era." However, he does not believe the property industry will be cleaned up any time soon. "In my town of Estepona, the mayor was elected in May on an anti-corruption ticket. He is now awaiting trial, charged with money laundering, and influence-peddling relating to planning permission."
Housebuilding was popular with ordinary Spaniards, struggling to match the living standards of their more developed partners in the EU. Unfettered building was a vote-winner with local electorates because of the money it injected. Smallholdings, worth next to nothing as agricultural land, suddenly took on great value. Helping it all in recent years was the pound's strength against the euro, making Spain an attractive destination for elderly British couples wanting to maximise their pensions. Now, the pound has dropped and the developers are finding fewer takers from the UK. The result is an enormous glut. Prices are falling relentlessly on the Costas, destroying the hopes of Britons who bought properties as investments.
Tina Reeves, who has worked as an estate agent in Spain for the last 18 years, says tortuous planning laws are part of the problem. "Licences granted by local councils to developers are being rescinded by the regional authorities," she explains. "It's not the fault of the developers, it's the fault of local councils granting licences and not passing it by the region. Also, not many Spanish banks are lending at the moment. They are getting uptight because even they don't know whether anything is legal any more."
Drive inland, a few miles from the Costa Blanca resort of Torrevieja, and you come to the village of San Miguel. As recently as 25 years ago it was an isolated spot, accessible only by a potholed road. Now it is thriving, partly thanks to an influx of expatriates such as Margaret and her friend Melvyn, both from south Yorkshire.
Margaret moved to Spain a decade ago. She feels sorry for people like Peter, but says they are often victims of their own naivety. "People leave their brains at Gatwick. You wouldn't part with your money that easily in the UK, but when they get here, they do. Spanish people will not sign unless everything is in order.
"They bring these people out from England on short breaks and show them a new-build property or a plan and tell them, 'This is your dream' – and it is a dream. The amount of building has gone mad. There is hardly a patch of coastline not built on. When we came here, you would have detached properties with a bit of land. Now it's apartments and houses crammed together."
The value of Margaret's pension has dropped with the pound – the rising euro means she is worse off by the equivalent of a weekly shop – but she says he and her husband would never return to Britain. "I wouldn't go back. I don't think I could afford to live there, to be honest."
Melvyn, a former environmental health officer, is very pro-Spanish. However, he warns: "Corruption is commonplace. They bring you out here and show you a patch of land with a view and it looks beautiful. But when you hand over money you have saved all your life, you find they've built another house a few yards away and there's no view." A few miles away, Peter is sitting in his apartment, musing on the last few years.
"If we went back I think we would say, 'Well, we lived in Spain for two years. It was an experience. There were a lot of good things and a lot of bad.' "
His wife appears more accepting of misfortune.
"I had the image of running private keep-fit," she says wistfully. "You looked out and the mountains were right on top of you. I loved the idea of that."
As a kind of remedy, the couple have been offered an apartment being built at another site. But "it's not what we wanted", says Peter, the stress telling in his voice.
His dream of golf in the morning and a mountain view at sunset is likely to remain just that.


The biggest corporate failure in Spanish history, Martinsa-Fadesa on Tuesday filed a petition for court administration after accumulating debts of EUR

Posted On Saturday, July 26, 2008 0 comments

the biggest corporate failure in Spanish history, Martinsa-Fadesa on Tuesday filed a petition for court administration after accumulating debts of EUR 7 billion.
Anecdotal evidence apart - the number of creditors affected in this recourse to court administration is the largest in Spanish economic history - the disaster is clearly due to the profound recession that the Spanish property market is now going through, after two decades of the real estate bubble, in which building companies embarked on a dizzy spiral of indebtedness and excessive construction.
They believed that they were looking at an endless party, but they have now come up against the financial institutions' difficulties in maintaining the necessary flow of loans in a situation of worldwide tightening of liquidity.It would not be fair to take a too distant view of the causes of this particular cataclysm. In trying to understand the reasons for the crash in the building industry, there is a need to keep in mind the long list of absurdities committed in recent years by property developers.One of the main causes is to be found in the obvious imprudence with which the construction industry has been managed.More than a few construction company executives - among others, the president of Martinsa, Fernando Martín - persistently denied that prices of construction company shares were going to fall, or that a contraction of the market was around the corner, even after the disturbing summer of 2007.With such a lack of perception, combined with indigestible deals such as the purchase of Fadesa, it can come as no surprise that Martinsa, with assets of more than EUR 10 billion and a debt amounting to nearly EUR 7 billion, had erred in its calculations and found that it now cannot obtain a EUR 150 million credit.
The financial institution creditors have examined the accounts of Martinsa and have determined that it does not generate sufficient income to back new loans.
This is a rigorous market analysis that ought to have been carried out during the 10 fat years. Had this been done, the firm might now be in a position to weather the storm.The other source of unease now apparent in this crisis is the painful situation of the financial market.The abnormal restriction of credit may mean the coup de grâce for businesses that rely on assets inflated by speculation, as seems to have been the case of Martinsa, but it will also tend to stifle the regular financing of solvent companies.This is the exact point at which the responsibility of the government comes into the picture.It is not a question of the public sector coming to the rescue of the property developers, though there may be many firms as sick as Martinsa.The rules of the game demand that excesses in supply and prices must be paid for.But the government must recognise the real gravity of this crisis. And one of the best ways of doing so is to consider how the drought of credit may be corrected.That way, the innocent will not have to pay for the misbehaviour of the guilty.


Thousands of buyers who have not yet taken ownership of their properties on what has become known as the "Costa del Crash" could lose everything.

Posted On Saturday, July 26, 2008 0 comments

Thousands of buyers who have not yet taken ownership of their properties on what has become known as the "Costa del Crash" could lose everything. Lawyers specialising in real estate report a surge in the number of British buyers contacting them for advice after the developers they bought from have gone under. Spain is suffering similar economic jitters and rising prices as the United Kingdom. Others who have paid in full now own homes on resorts that may never be completed. They are seeking to recoup their losses to salvage what remains of their dream move abroad or hope of a perfect holiday home. "I've now got dozens of British clients who all want to know where they stand," said Martin de la Herran of the Spanish law firm Abolex.
He said that the biggest problem lies with those who have paid deposits on properties that may never be built. "Some people have paid 50-60 per cent of the final cost of the home, the company goes into administration and it's a long process to get their money back. Courts are not fast in Spain as we know."
At the resort of Costa Esuri in Ayamonte, on the border of Spain and Portugal, building work has ceased. The developers Martinsa-Fadesa, one of Spain's largest real estate firms, filed for bankruptcy last week following the path of about 60 smaller construction firms that have gone under since the start of the year when the bubble burst on a decade-long construction boom that had fuelled Spain's economy.
The development of 2,184 homes and two golf courses on the bank of the Guadiana river is far from complete. Semi-constructed buildings cover one hillside, cranes loom over a half built hotel, and one golf course is little more than bare earth.
Ben and Kate Byrne, newlyweds from Warrington in Cheshire, have just taken possession of their three-bedroom "townhouse". The couple, who paid 230,000 euros (£180,000) for their property, hoped to use it as a holiday retreat and to rent it out for the rest of the year. "It's an eye sore and not exactly what we thought we were buying into," said Mrs Byrne, 30, a PA at the Environment Agency.
"Unfortunately, its rental potential isn't much at the moment." The house has not been connected to mains water and has been without electricity since Martinsa-Fadesa went into administration last week and stopped running the generator.
The large roof terrace is supposed to have views of the resort's second golf course but instead it overlooks earthworks and a tarmac road that leads nowhere. A commercial centre that would have contained shops and restaurants has not been finished. "This was supposed to be a self-contained community but there is nothing here at the moment except for the club house," said Mrs Bryne of the golf club which houses the resort's only bar and restaurant. The estimated 1,000 people, around 700 of them British, who have already taken possession of Costa Esuri properties, are frustrated at the complete absence of information from Martinsa-Fadesa about what will happen next. They have formed a residents' committee and are taking legal advice. "We've been told nothing by the company," said Mr Byrne, 31, a musician. "We have been left in limbo, not knowing if or when the resort will be finished or who to turn to for maintenance issues." But they feel they are lucky ones. "Hundreds of others have yet to complete on their properties here so they could end up with nothing," he said.


Tuesday, July 22, 2008

James Douglas Willson retired Des Plaines pilot convicted of international drug trafficking in Morocco

Posted On Tuesday, July 22, 2008 0 comments

James Douglas Willson, 67, suffers from diabetes and kidney failure and has lost 35 pounds, said his daughter, Marilyn Brief.
A retired Des Plaines pilot convicted of international drug trafficking in Morocco isn't getting adequate medical care and may not survive his 7-year prison sentence, a family member says."My dad's body is shutting down," Brief said. "He's dying."
Imprisoned since early May, Willson was convicted after a Cessna 337 he reportedly was flying was seized by Moroccan police on a rural road, according to a statement from the Moroccan news agency.Willson piloted the twin-engine plane and landed it in Morocco to load drugs, according to the statement, which said two Moroccans also received prison sentences. Brief and Mouafik Anis, Willson's Moroccan attorney, said that Willson was a passenger on the plane, which took off in Spain but was forced to make an emergency landing in Morocco.A friend of Willson's recently delivered the plane to Spain and asked him to take a training flight with the pilot to make sure he could use the equipment, Brief said.
After the emergency landing, Willson was arrested, although no drugs were found on him or in the plane, Anis said during a telephone interview from Morocco."How can we charge someone with trafficking drugs when we did not find any drugs?" Anis said. "You must find drugs."Willson was sentenced June 16. The case is in the appeals process, Anis said.Willson is at a disadvantage in the Moroccan court system, according to Anis, who said he isn't always given advance notice of court dates. It is up to him, he said, to provide translations for his client.
The U.S. Embassy in Morocco referred all questions to U.S. State Department officials in Washington, D.C.Steve Royster, a State Department spokesman, said he could not say whether the embassy was involved in ensuring a translator was present at Willson's court proceedings. But he said at least one hearing was postponed because a translator was not available.Royster said the consular office in Morocco made sure Willson's U.S. health records were sent to the prison doctor.
"Whenever an American is detained overseas, we have a role to make sure he's getting access to the legal system and conditions that are humane," he said.Representatives have visited Willson twice and spoken to him on the phone several times.The consular staff also speaks to Willson's attorney almost daily and the prison doctor regularly, he said.The consular staff reported that Willson is about to be transferred to a larger prison with a better medical facility. Embassy officials also worked with Willson's attorney to make sure the family could visit him in prison in June.
"We're continuing to monitor the case," Royster said.
U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) said he has talked with Brief and helped her get in touch with government officials to assist her father.
"I just can't imagine what [she] is going through," he said.
Willson is housed in a facility without a roof or air conditioning, Brief said.
During his career, Willson flew planes for Ryan's Aviation and Atlas Air cargo carrier out of O'Hare International Airport, she said.
The Chicago native also worked as a pilot for Midway Airlines, a commercial airline that was based at Midway Airport.
"My dad has only been an upright citizen—an ordinary, working man," Brief said. "It's like they think my father is disposable, and he's not!"


Álvaro Iglesias was found guilty of sexually abusing five children between 2002 and 2004.

Posted On Tuesday, July 22, 2008 0 comments

The Spanish paedophile known as ‘Nanysex’ has been sentenced to 58 years in prison for sexually abusing five children between the years 2002 and 2004. The name came for Álvaro Iglesias following his system of offering himself to babysit for the children who he would then go on to abuse. He also faces charges on six counts of the corruption of minors in localities in Madrid and Murcia.His friend and accomplice José G.C. was sentenced to 31 years in prison by the Madrid court, and a third defendant, Eduardo S.M. was sentenced to 14 years after he was the only one of the three to show remorse for his actions.‘Nanysex’ was arrested in May 2005 after a long police investigation into the abuser who would record his abuse on videos which he would then exchange with others on the Internet.


Martinsa-Fadesa -- which operated out of Ireland and dealt with several agents here -- preparing to declare bankruptcy in the face of debts of €5bn.

Posted On Tuesday, July 22, 2008 0 comments

Spanish housing crisis claimed its first major victim, with property developer Martinsa-Fadesa -- which operated out of Ireland and dealt with several agents here -- preparing to declare bankruptcy in the face of debts of €5bn. It has created major shockwaves here, among customers who are still awaiting the completion of their dream home in the sun.Another announcement, which sent ripples across the industry this week, was news that Larionova, the biggest and most high profile of the Irish foreign property agents, is also to shut up shop, amid difficulties getting payment from developers.These fresh worries come on top of the triple whammy already tarnishing Irish investors' little slice of abroad, with interest rates doubling in the past 18 months, property prices in some previous 'sure thing' hotspots such as Spain, Bulgaria and even the US taking a hammering and -- the final straw -- the taxman relentlessly coming after what little of the spoils may be left.
The Revenue investigation into offshore investments is far from over, having already identified more than 2,000 Irish owners of foreign properties and with more trawls to come.Letters have been sent out to those suspected of owning assets abroad, which tells them that under EU legislation, they have been identified as being in receipt of income from an offshore bank account or accounts, informing them that while this is not illegal, the holders must pay tax on any interest earned on the account.
Where the accounts were opened in connection with the purchase or ongoing maintenance and running costs of a property abroad, Revenue asks for clarification regarding the date the property was purchased; whether it is being rented; the total costs involved; and the source of finance for the purchase.
In addition, they are also seeking the identities of intermediaries such as estate agents and lawyers who assisted in the purchase of the property.
They ask that accounts, tax with interest, and any necessary penalties owed be forwarded.Those not yet identified as possible tax defaulters are urged to come clean -- with a voluntary disclosure granting benefits such as a reduction in interest from 100pc to 10pc, non-publication for tax evasion and non-prosecution for tax evasion. Meanwhile, officials warn they are monitoring advertisements and websites, exchanging information with foreign tax administrations and continuing to seek new ways to identify the owners of offshore property.Those involved in the selling of overseas property publicly say they are confident that most people are now tax compliant -- but privately, they may not be so sure, with one industry source actually laughing at the idea that this might be the case.
He said that while anyone who purchased in the EU might be an easy target for Revenue, those who bought in the US -- the third most popular destination for Irish property investors -- will prove more difficult to catch, as will anyone who paid cash for property in any market who did not buy via an Irish agent.
Ironically, it is this last group who is the real target for Revenue, keen to know whether hot money had been used to make the purchase.One investor, who would not be named, told the Irish Independent that he and his wife had bought a classic apartment in Hungary's capital city, Budapest, almost five years ago. Rent on the property has only recently begun to cover the cost of the mortgage top-up the couple had secured on their own home. They recently received notification from Revenue that their tax affairs are under investigation, though they have made little profits from their little dabble overseas.'The profits are probably in the hundreds rather than thousands, especially when you take into account the renovation costs, which weren't cheap. What we're more worried about is that we got a top-up on our mortgage here and are claiming tax relief on that, so it could be a little bit sticky," he revealed.
"On the face of it, it might not be seen to be a particularly good investment, especially with all these new complications, but because we bought an old building in a really central location, I don't think we'll lose out in the long run."
Tom McGrath, a property lawyer specialising in overseas markets, confirmed that he is seeing increasing numbers of clients who are not tax compliant and who are in trouble.He advises them to take immediate action to deal with their tax problems, saying: "Don't sit on it. There's bound to be a solution."Other distressed clients have bought without any legal advice and got themselves into a contract with a developer who has failed to meet his commitments.
"The worst offenders are in Bulgaria," Mr McGrath revealed, where investors are asked for more money at the close of a sale or are asked to pay a certain sum under the counter."We ask clients not to participate in this activity -- they're not doing themselves any favours."With regard to the credit crunch, he does not think many Irish people have been forced to sell their property abroad yet -- but adds that he "hopes the situation is not as bad as people are predicting".In Spain, property prices have been coming down hugely, due to planning corruption and oversupply -- with corruption rife in tourist areas. However, Mr McGrath says Spain has a practical way of dealing with corrupt developers: "Forget about tribunals, they lock people up."
He finds overseas sales to have largely cooled off, but he is still seeing a steady flow of clients interested in investing overseas -- particularly in Portugal, Spain, France and Italy.Meanwhile, there are also Irish people still investing in Poland and Germany, he said.Colm Murphy, of Property Tax International, said it is vital that people are aware of their tax obligations here and in the country they bought.
Technological advances in computer software have made it a lot easier for tax officials across Europe to share information, he revealed.
In Spain, for example, new software was implemented some months ago, which alerts the tax office when there has been a change in the notary deeds of a property following a sale.Mr Murphy's company has seen an increase of around 20pc in the number of clients coming to them with tax concerns."People are coming to us and saying 'I have this property in Spain and haven't done anything about it'. Buying property overseas is hard at the best of times -- most of the time people are buying in the dark, because the estate agents are just trying to get the cash off you."

Other issues can arise, of which Irish buyers may be ignorant. "In some countries, such as France, your domestic will doesn't cover your French property and so if a couple owns a property and the wife dies, her share will be broken down among all her living relatives."

Simon Palmer, of Empire Consulting, warns that it is very short-sighted to try and dodge tax on foreign property investments.

"During the boom, the tax man wasn't clamping down, but he is now," he said.

According to Mr Palmer, some unscrupulous agents are telling would-be investors that rent will cover a certain section of the mortgage and they will "just have to put this much in" to make up the shortfall.
"But property should always wash its face -- even from the outset," he said.
He advises people to avoid emerging markets, such as Bulgaria and Turkey, and tourist resorts, because they are too risky. Wiser investments are made in the UK, a French city, or Gemany.
"Then they could take a punt at a higher-risk market," he said.


Sunday, July 20, 2008

Hundreds of thousands of families are abandoning the Costa del Sol

Posted On Sunday, July 20, 2008 0 comments

Hundreds of thousands of families are abandoning the Costa del Sol and other traditional holiday destinations for eastern Europe and north Africa to escape the punitive euro exchange rate. With state schools breaking up, many families will spend this weekend packing their bags to go to Turkey, Croatia, Bulgaria, Tunisia and Egypt rather than Greece, Spain or France. Most eurozone countries have never represented such poor value for British travel makers, with £1 buying just €1.26. A year ago holidaymakers' money went 20 per cent further, with the exchange rate at €1.49. Those countries outside of the eurozone – but only slightly further in terms of flying time – such as in eastern Europe and north Africa have witnessed a surge in bookings, according to travel companies. Lastminute.com, the travel website, said bookings to Turkey are up more than 14 per cent, bookings to Tunisia have shot up by 95 per cent and the number of people taking holidays to Croatia has soared by 150 per cent compared with last year. Meanwhile, bookings to Italy are down eight per cent, Spain is down four per cent, Greece is down eight per cent and France has dipped by two per cent. These figures are backed up by CheapFlights, which specialises in finding air plane tickets for independent travellers.
While bookings to Barcelona have fallen by 16 per cent, tickets being bought to Dalaman, on the southwest coast of Turkey, have increased by 9 per cent.
The Co-Operative Travel Company describes the new trend as a "seismic shift".
Phil Davies, the editor of TravelMole, the travel industry website, said: "Given people are counting the pennies, the strong euro is having a significant impact on where people are going.
"Why go to Spain or France, if it will cost you so much more when you get there?"
A bottle of beer in Turkey will set you back just £1.11 – little more than a third of the price of the same bottle in France, where it costs £2.96, according to the Post Office. Prices in Greece are 22 per cent more expensive than its neighbour Turkey when it comes to a basket of popular goods such as beer, sun cream and insect repellent, due to the strong euro and relatively weak Turkish Lira.
The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) pointed out that while Spain was "having a poor year" official figures show that it remains clearly the number one destination with more than 12 million Britons visiting the country every year. Greece welcomes 2.2 million Britons – a million more than Turkey.
Tunisia, despite its new found popularity, attracted just 270,000 British holidaymakers in 2006, the most recent year for which figures are available from the Office of National Statistics.
However, the popularity of non-eurozone countries is no short-term blip, experts said. ABTA estimates that 1.32 million people will fly out of Britain this weekend from just the main airports.
By its calculations, bookings for Egypt are up 28 per cent and Turkey are up 20 per cent. Bob Atkinson at TravelSupermarket, the price comparison website, said: "There is a clear trend towards visiting more exotic locations, and doing something a bit more interesting or active on holiday.
"After all a lot of people have done Spain to death. Why not visit Tunisia, Egypt or Croatia – once you are there the holiday will be significantly cheaper."
Families that have not booked a holiday in the hope of catching a last minute deal to these cheaper destinations are set to be frustrated, however.
Holiday companies, anticipating the economic slowdown, have cut back capacity . This factor, combined with the fact that very few people have actually cut back on their holidays means that prices for last minute deals are high.
However, Lastminute.com has a seven nights stay a the El Mouradi Gammarth – a five start hotel in Tunisia's Gammarth resort –for just £199 per person.
The cheapest deal for a week long trip to Croatia will set you back £414 per person, according to the travel website.


Thursday, July 17, 2008

Martinsa-Fadesa bankrupt 2,531 homes on the Costa del Sol at risk

Posted On Thursday, July 17, 2008 0 comments

The filing for bankruptcy protection of the constructor Martinsa-Fadesa, the largest in Spanish history, leaves the construction of 2,531 homes on the Costa del Sol in the air. The company, chaired by Fernando Martín had developments planned in Manilva, faces having to pay compensation to Marbella Town Hall for the irregular construction of 1,386 homes in the town, and also owns land in Antequera for industrial and commercial use in the business park.Manilva I.U. left wing Mayor, Antonia Muñoz, told the Diario Sur newspaper that the development there was likely to be revised in any case, with the land earmarked possibly being reclassified.
Martinsa has already built a dozen developments in Guadalmina Alta in Marbella, amounting to a commercial centre and 1,386 homes in agreements signed during the GIL administration and not recognised by the Junta de Andalucía.84 apartments have also just been completed in the Nueva Calahonda urbanisation in Mijas, where 20% of the properties have been sold and the keys handed over.The collapse of the Martinsa-Fedesa company, which has filed for bankruptcy protection in the face of massive debts, has left an estimated 12,500 families fearing that their new homes will not be completed. The Government though has said that it will ensure that the company meets its obligations in such cases.
The suspension of payments in Martinsa, which now has reported total debts of more than 7 billion €, led to large falls among other builders and also banks on the Spanish stock market yesterday.
Caja Madrid, which lent the company 1 billion € said yesterday that the debt was guaranteed given the assets of the firm, where the only problem was one of liquidity.
Unions calculate that as many as 4,000 jobs are under threat. 234 workers in the firm are the first to lose their employment.
There are also press reports this morning that the Martinsa company may try and back out of the purchase of Fadesa it carried out nearly two years ago. Under the Ley Concursal, if there is a subsequent bankruptcy, the purchase can be rescinded over a following two year period, and in this case there is still two months to go.
Such a scenario would be a serious one for the founder of Fadesa, Manuel Jove, because ff the courts do decide to annul the operation, he would have to pay back the same amount of money.
Many of the Martinsa problems stem from the interest being charged on the 5 billion € loan the company took out to carry out the purchase of Fadesa 22 months ago.


Friday, July 11, 2008

Joseph Jones was accompanied by officers from the Herts and Beds Major Crime Unit on his return from Spain

Posted On Friday, July 11, 2008 0 comments

Joseph Jones, 23, of Crescent Road, New Barnet, was accompanied by officers from the Herts and Beds Major Crime Unit on his return from Spain yesterday.The headless body of father-of-four John Finney was found in Ickleford in March, weeks after he was abducted outside his home in Northaw.One of three implicated in the case, Jones and another man were arrested in Spain on murder charges in May.The third, 28-year-old Mark Curran, of Dollis Valley Way in Barnet, is on remand ahead of a further Crown Court hearing at St Albans later this month.


Thursday, July 10, 2008

European interior ministers plans to set up temporary joint police stations in tourist areas and at major sporting events.

Posted On Thursday, July 10, 2008 1 comments

European interior ministers discussed Monday plans to set up temporary joint police stations in tourist areas and at major sporting events.French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, chairing informal talks in the Riveria resort city of Cannes, said that a pilot station would be set up in Lourdes, "when the pope next visits France" in mid-September.Her Italian counterpart, Roberto Maroni, said that Franco-Italian stations would be in place as soon as August in French cities most visited by Italians; Paris, Versailles and Nice.The stations "would allow, when an EU member state is a nation that hosts many tourists from another country, for citizens of that country to have access to police from their home and who speak their language," she told reporters.They could be set up for three months, for example, around tourist seasons or one month for a large sporting event, like the recent Euro 2008 football championship."As you know, we have excellent beer in the Czech Republic," said Czech Interior Minister Ivan Langer."So if you drink quite a lot and, if you're French, I can imagine that it is pleasant to meet a policeman who speaks your language and who will assist you and will take you to your hotel without any problems," he said.His Spanish counterpart Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba also backed the idea, saying it was important for visitors to "have the possibility of using their own language to resolve a problem".
Alliot-Marie said the ministers also discussed exchange training programmes for police, which would involve officers spending time with their neighbours to better share policing techniques and best practices.


£6.3 billion worth of personal goods is being left unattended in Brits' holiday homes across the UK and abroad

Posted On Thursday, July 10, 2008 1 comments

More than £6.3 billion worth of personal goods is being left unattended in Brits' holiday homes across the UK and abroad, according to new research from high net worth insurer, Zurich Private Clients.The findings show that British holiday property owners have an average of £15,200 of contents in their homes-away-from-home, while some risk leaving more than £100,000 of personal belongings in their second homes. This can cause problems because second home are often left vacant for months at a time.Indeed infrequent homeowner visits are the biggest reason for homes being left lying empty; two-thirds of those with holiday homes admit to personally visiting their property no more than every three months, and one in 10 stay only once a year. While others encourage family and friends to use their second home, 52 per cent of properties are still left completely unoccupied for a month or more at a time.Zurich Private Clients are also seeing a developing trend for wealthy clients being targeted and burgled whilst in their European holiday homes. This can involve the burglar(s) releasing gas into the air-conditioning system or through an open window, to disable the inhabitants whilst they remove valuables. Those with larger jewellery collections appear to have been the major target to date.
And it seems that many second homeowners are not even protecting themselves with insurance. One in 10 do not have any home contents insurance, with another one in 10 (11 per cent) not knowing if their insurance is adequate.
Worryingly, many are not even taking basic steps to protect their vacant homes. Just half (48 per cent) have window locks on their property and only one in five (22 per cent) have an alarm fitted - while one in 20 (six per cent) admit that they have no security measures in place at all.
But their purchases are not without caution, as a fifth of holiday property owners (22 per cent) admit that they are worried about security for their homes-away-from-home. Besides properties being left unoccupied (56 per cent), other concerns include local crime (24 per cent) and their houses being deliberately targeted by criminals (16 per cent).Despite this apprehension, it seems Britons' passion for property is so strong that they will still invest in a pad that might get used just once or twice a year.In fact, one in five (18 per cent) holiday homeowners are looking to purchase additional properties, with half of those (47 per cent) set to buy in 2008. Currently, France (24 per cent) and Spain (26 per cent) are the most popular destinations for holiday homes, but up and coming places such as Cyprus (four per cent) and Bulgaria (three per cent) are attracting more investors. A quarter (26 per cent) who are looking to purchase in the future are considering buying in the UK, nearly half (45 per cent) on the continent, and an adventurous 26 per cent are looking beyond Europe.


ex Mayor of Marbella, Julián Muñoz six month prison sentence

Posted On Thursday, July 10, 2008 0 comments

The Provincial Court in Málaga has confirmed the six month prison sentence handed down against the ex Mayor of Marbella, Julián Muñoz and five GIL party councillors, Rafael González, Manuel Calle, Mario Jiménez, Marisa Alcalá and José Marino Pomares, for real estate corruption in the Incopromar case.
The group of six were also banned from holding public office for seven years in the case which came as a result of a licence being given to the Incopromar company to build 68 homes, shops and parking on land not classified for building in the Avenida del Mar in the town.


Mijas Costa bridge came down when a crane got caught underneath it, and the blocked A7 motorway caused traffic chaos for the rest of the evening,

Posted On Thursday, July 10, 2008 0 comments

Four of the six injured in the accident caused by the collapse of a pedestrian bridge over the A7 motorway in Mijas Costa on Monday afternoon have been allowed home from hospital, while the two men who were in the first car which was crushed by the falling bridge remain in a serious but stable condition in the Costa del Sol hospital in Marbella.
The men aged 44 and 30 had to be rescued from the remains of their crushed vehicle by fire-crews. One has suffered head, abdomen and neck injuries, the other facial and head injuries.
The bridge came down when a crane got caught underneath it, and the blocked A7 motorway caused traffic chaos for the rest of the evening, not least because a breakdown in communications led to a delay in the opening of the toll motorway to all traffic amid several scenes of road rage from frustrated drivers.The company which has the toll concession has meanwhile been warned by the Ministry for Development following their taking an hour to obey a Ministry instruction and lift the tolls following the accident on Monday. The company was ordered to lift charges at 1850 but it was not until an hour later that the barriers were lifted, causing serious delays to thousands of travellers.


Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Gang of drug traffickers had six light planes for bringing drugs from Africa into Spain.

Posted On Wednesday, July 02, 2008 0 comments

Spanish authorities have broken up a gang of drug traffickers that had six light planes for bringing drugs from Africa into Spain.The criminal organization was led by a veteran airline pilot, arrested together with 11 other gang members, who used airfields and landing strips in wooded areas in Andalucía to evade detection by security forces.Besides the six airplanes, the Civil Guard, Spain's militarized national police, seized assault rifles and other weapons plus documents and a quantity of drugs.The first phase of the operation was launched last November, when the Civil Guard was alerted to the existence of several drug traffickers suspected to bringing hashish from Africa into Spain.At the end of February three Spanish citizens and two Frenchmen were arrested in the southern province of Seville with 400 kilos (880 pounds) of hashish.A laboratory was also dismantled where the drug was ground up and mixed with chemicals to make it undetectable by any possible police inspections.After this first phase, the Civil Guard verified that some gang members were still at large.The group had acquired new fast, long-range aircraft for transporting cocaine, using routes familiar to the gang from their experience of bringing hashish into Spain.These later investigations led to the capture of one of the kingpins, a Spaniard, together with a second pilot of Colombian origin and an airfield employee who apparently aided in the operations.


Nueva Andalucía property fraud trial three British citizens to be given prison sentences of 28 years

Posted On Wednesday, July 02, 2008 0 comments

Malaga Public Prosecutor is calling for three British citizens to be given prison sentences of 28 years for stealing 5.7 million euros from the sale of properties in a housing development project in Nueva Andalucía. The prosecution says that in October 1988, the developers signed a contract with the real estate company in which the three suspects worked, and that these "pocketed 5.7 million euros paid by the buyers of the properties." This forced the developers to file for bankruptcy in 1990.
The prosecution wants the suspects to serve sentences of eight years each, four years more for one of them who is also accused of fraud. The trial is to begin on Tuesday this week and will continue on the 23rd and 24th of the month.


Estepona secret tax offices had large sums of money in bank accounts

Posted On Wednesday, July 02, 2008 0 comments

The ‘Astapa’ investigation has revealed two separate networks set up to manage the payment of illegal commissions at Estepona Town Hall.
Although connected, each group had its own secret ‘office’ where the deals were made, according to the investigations carried out by the Financial and Tax Crimes Unit (UDEF).
Documents seized in the search of the municipal premises appear to confirm that the corrupt group had been operating since June 2003 when the PSOE came into power with the help of councillors from the Partido de Estepona (PES, former members of GIL).
It appears that the first and most important of these commissions ‘offices’ was controlled by Barrientos himself and managed by the head of the Mayor’s office, José Flores, along with Francisco Zamorano and the former planning coordinator, Pedro López.
The second and more modest ‘branch’ of this network was run, according to the police investigation, by Arturo Cebrián. Business people paying commissions either met with the group in municipal offices or, especially in the case of smaller building firms, spoke on the telephone to someone calling himself ‘Raúl’ who told them in which bank account they had to make the payment.
“No building licence, planning agreement or re-zoning deal”, said the anti-corruption specialists, would have been given the green light if it hadn’t previously passed through this ‘parallel administration’ at Estepona Town Hall. Detectives have had the collaboration of two key figures who were familiar with the workings of these clandestine ‘offices’ at Estepona Town Hall. Apparently these collaborators are people who had been involved but were regretful and went to the police.
By Thursday morning 13 of the 26 suspects arrested on Tuesday had appeared before the judge in charge of the case, Isabel Conejo, and had been released on bail, with sums ranging between 30,000 and 500,000 euros. Charges include bribery or accepting bribes, influence peddling, money laundering, embezzlement and fraud.
Police find 600,000 at estate agency
As well as the tons of paperwork and computers confiscated during the almost 40 searches carried out in relation to the ‘Astapa’
investigation, police have also seized various sums of money. The most significant of these was the 600,000 euros in cash found on the premises of a small real estate agency located in a central street of Estepona.
Police have also discovered large sums of money in bank accounts, some of these abroad, linked to some of the suspects arrested.


12 of the people charged in the Astapa corruption case based in Estepona Town Hall, have calmly walked back into the building

Posted On Wednesday, July 02, 2008 0 comments

El País reports that 12 of the people charged in the Astapa corruption case based in Estepona Town Hall, have calmly walked back into the building and are back doing their jobs. While the Socialist ex Mayor of the town, Antonio Barrientos, remains in prison on remand, the four councillors who were also arrested are now back at their posts, as are the town planning technicians implicated in the case. This comes despite a warning given by the Town Planning Councillor, Rafael Duarte, that should this happen there was a possible risk of evidence being destroyed in the case. He has written to the Councillor for Hacienda, Francisco Zamorano, himself released on 50,000 € bail in the case, calling on him to act to ensure that no technical reports are manipulated. El País reports that Zamorano has responded that there is no legal reason to limit the access to the Town Hall of those implicated in the case.


ex Mayor of Marbella, Marisol Yagüe home auctioned

Posted On Wednesday, July 02, 2008 0 comments

First Instance Court number 5 in Marbella has placed for auction the home of the ex Mayor of Marbella, Marisol Yagüe. The sale comes as part of the sentence which condemned her to pay more than 722,000 € for building reform work carried out to the property.According to the auction documents the property is worth more than 1.9 million €, although there is a mortgage in place with the Banco Español de Crédito and has another embargo in place on it.Those who are interested in the property have to go to the courts and supply a bank guarantee for a 30% deposit to take part in the auction which is set for September 23. Bids will be made in closed envelopes and the highest bid will win provided that it is at least 70% of the estimated value.


Torremolinos man has been convicted and sentenced to four years in prison

Posted On Wednesday, July 02, 2008 0 comments

Torremolinos man has been convicted and sentenced to four years in prison for attempting to murder another man over a debt. The court heard how he approached the victim in the street in the early hours of June 25, 2006, and slit his throat, severing the jugular vein. The victim survived the attack but took more than two months to recover.


Montejaque hashish plants find

Posted On Wednesday, July 02, 2008 0 comments

19-year-old youth has been arrested in the village of Montejaque near Ronda on drugs offences. The Guardia Civil arrested him after 19 hashish plants were found growing in pots on his patio. A routine patrol had spotted the plants and the officers suspected they were cannabis. First they set about identifying them as drugs then they made the arrest.


6,000 euros cash robbery in Malaga

Posted On Wednesday, July 02, 2008 0 comments

case of robbery of recently withdrawn cash has been recorded in Málaga. Two thieves relieved a man of 6,000 euros which he had just taken out of a city centre bank at lunchtime last Friday. The pair, reported to have South American accents, felled their victim with a blow to the legs before snatching the money and fleeing.


Brit arrested for exposure

Posted On Wednesday, July 02, 2008 0 comments

National Police in La Línea have arrested a 54-year-old British national of Indian origin for allegedly exposing himself to a child in the town. He was reported to the police by a neighbour after he habitually appeared nude and making obscene gestures by his window while a neighbour’s five-year-old daughter was in his clear view on the balcony.


Moroccan national arrested Algeciras port

Posted On Wednesday, July 02, 2008 0 comments

The Guardia Civil in Algeciras port have arrested a Moroccan national, described as violent and dangerous and alleged to be a member of an international drug trafficking network. At the time of his arrest at the Tangier ferry passport control it is believed he was trying to flee to Morocco after Italian police issued a warrant for his detention.


Arrested a 35-year-old Málaga man alleged to have robbed two shops in Torrox Costa.

Posted On Wednesday, July 02, 2008 0 comments

Guardia Civil officers in Nerja have arrested a 35-year-old Málaga man alleged to have robbed two shops in Torrox Costa. He is thought to have threatened staff with a large kitchen knife and a replica firearm before making off with a total of 800 euros. His targets were a small corner shop and a bakery.


Five people have been arrested for allegedly attacking officers at the Alhaurín el Grande Guardia Civil headquarters

Posted On Wednesday, July 02, 2008 0 comments

Five people have been arrested for allegedly attacking officers at the Alhaurín el Grande Guardia Civil headquarters. The incident occurred when relatives of a detained man saw officers restraining him after he tried to escape. From outside the facility’s fence, they hurled rocks and punched one officer who approached the fence.


Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Head of the BBVA's debt-collection department had been shot twice through the chest

Posted On Tuesday, July 01, 2008 0 comments

Police are investigating a number of leads after a bank director was found shot dead at a chalet in Bollullos de la Mitación (Sevilla) where he has been staying occasionally since the break-up of his marriage.
Andrés Toro Barea (55) was found by a work colleague after failing to turn up for work on Monday. He had been shot twice through the chest. Detectives believe it to be significant that none of the doors or windows had been forced and that nothing appears to have been stolen. The positioning of two armchairs in the lounge seems to suggest that the victim and his killer sat and talked, providing further evidence that they may have known each other. Neighbours have confirmed that Mr Toro was seen taking out the garbage at around midday last Sunday.
As the head of the BBVA's debt-collection department, Mr Toro had noticed a considerable increase in his workload recently as a consequence of the economic slowdown.


Spanish police have travelled to Switzerland to extradite the care worker suspected of killing Conchita Gadea

Posted On Tuesday, July 01, 2008 0 comments

Spanish police have travelled to Switzerland to extradite the care worker suspected of killing 80 year old Valencian socialite, Conchita Gadea, whose bound and gagged body was found at her home on the calle Botánico Cavanilles, just opposite the Viveros gardens in Valencia, on February 1st, 2007. The autopsy revealed that Ms Gadea died of a heart attack. Detectives suspected the maid from the start on the grounds that she had not turned up for work either the day before, nor on the day when her employer's body was found, and given that there was no evidence of a break-in. However, after more than a year without any sign of a breakthrough, they were about to archive the case until they were informed just a few days ago that a Georgian woman named María matching the suspect's description, had been arrested in Switzerland.


Spanish National Police have broken up a criminal gang which was based in the Valencia region

Posted On Tuesday, July 01, 2008 0 comments

Spanish National Police have broken up a criminal gang which was based in the Valencia region and made up of citizens from Eastern Europe, mostly from the Ukraine and Russia.The gang was engaged in criminal activities such as vehicle theft, arms trafficking and extortion, and they also had a laboratory set up for identity document and money falsification.
In total there have been 11 arrests in a police operation in which some 70 officers took part. Police say that they think the three main heads of the group are among those now in custody, and that the group was in frequent contact with similar gangs along the Mediterranean coast. Their structure was almost military in nature, and firearms and ammunition was also recovered.Investigations in the case started six months ago, which finally led police to the criminals’ base and to links to people used by them to launder the proceeds. 8 home, three shops and a warehouse were searched simultaneously today in Sagunto, Paterna, Algemesí, Cullera and Alberic.


Hundreds of Britons who have sold a property in Spain between June 2004 and December 2006 have begun the fight to reclaim their money

Posted On Tuesday, July 01, 2008 0 comments

Hundreds of Britons who have sold a property in Spain between June 2004 and December 2006 have begun the fight to reclaim their money from the Spanish government, who overcharged them Capital Gains Tax by 20%. However, where as initial conservative estimates put the total amount to be reclaimed at £11,000 per person – totalling an estimated £37 million – over the last three months hundreds of Brits have registered average reclaims of more than £19,300 each – totalling more than an estimated £86 million that British people have been overcharged by the Spanish government.
The tax loophole – which was originally exposed by currency exchange brokers HiFX and Spanish lawyers, Costa, Alvarez, Manglano & Associates – came about after British non residents paid a Spanish Non Residents’ Income Tax rate of 35% on any capital gains, compared to a rate of 15% paid by Spanish nationals. This 20% overpayment not only totals a profit somewhere in the region of an estimated £86 million, but also contravenes European Community Treaty rules on discrimination and therefore was unduly charged by the Spanish Government. British people applying for a refund are also set to add on missing interest at a compound rate of 6% to their reclaims, meaning payouts could be on average 26 % larger than first thought.
However, whilst more than 300 people have so far joined forces and registered requests for rebates since the launch of the website that was set up to help them (www.spanishtaxreclaim.co.uk) , thousands more are still to come forward.
Mark Bodega, Director of currency specialists HiFX said: “Since launching the website and establishing this class action against the Spanish tax authorities, we have always said it would be extremely difficult to put an actual figure on the number of people affected by this tax issue and how much they would be able to reclaim from the Spanish government. This is largely because the Spanish government will not reveal this information, and this is why our initial estimation about the amount being able to be reclaimed was on the conservative side. However, the sums that people are coming forward to reclaim are much larger than anticipated, almost double in size. So far more than 300 people have registered to be part of the class action, which is a huge response – but we anticipate there are more than 4,500 British people affected by this, meaning there are still a lot of people who need to come forward to reclaim what is rightfully theirs.” People who have sold property previous to June 2004 have already missed out on being able to make a reclaim on their overpaid tax, as under Spanish law claims can only be made dating back over a four year period, meaning millions more have become victim to this tax trap.
Commenting on the issue, Spanish Lawyer Emilio Alvarez said: “A change in the law at the start of 2007, which saw the standard Capital Gains Tax for non Spanish residents being brought in to line – ºa reduction from 35% to 15% , passed by largely unnoticed. As a result, thousands of people who had previously sold property in Spain are entitled to a 20% rebate, with estimates now standing at £19,000 each plus interest. The response so far has been amazing, thousands have made enquiries, with more than 200 people registering to begin the reclaim process. However, if anyone believes they have been affected by this they need to move quickly, due to stringent legal restrictions people who sold their property before June 2004 have already missed out, as claimants must register within 4 years, but thousands of Brits can still join forces and fight to get the Spanish tax authorities to pay back the money owed.“In some cases potential claimants are being put off by the lawyers who acted for them during the sale as they are being told that they will not be able to get hold of the necessary forms (Form 212) or that this consumer campaign will not succeed. As a result, we are offering to speak to the Spanish Tax Office on behalf of any clients who have doubts to ascertain whether or not they are eligible and get the forms they need.”


British holidaymaker Mark Day,has died after falling 40ft from a hotel during a forfeit for losing a game of poker.

Posted On Tuesday, July 01, 2008 0 comments

British holidaymaker has died after falling 40ft from a hotel during a forfeit for losing a game of poker.
Mark Day, 20, plunged to his death in a freak accident on Sunday night during a holiday with university friends at the three-star Majorca Beach Hotel in the resort of Magalluf. Police sources revealed that after losing a game of cards he was dared to strip off and run along a hotel corridor in just his socks and underpants.
But he lost his balance at the end of the passageway and smashed through a fifth-floor window, falling to concrete below. He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics shortly after 8pm. Mr Day's friends, Marc Smart and Steve Kimberley, both 21, who studied with him at the University of Essex, are helping police piece together the events leading up to the incident. A source said: "We're not clear yet whether he slipped because he lost his balance as he ran with just his socks on or whether he was running too fast and couldn't stop in time. "But he crashed through the window and fell more than 40 feet from the corridor which was on the fifth-floor. "We believe the victim had been drinking and that may also have impaired his judgement." The hotel refused to make an official comment but a receptionist said: "The dead man was with two friends who are talking to the police at the moment. We don't expect them to return to the hotel." The pair, who were sharing room 519 with the victim, have been moved to another hotel by travel firm Thomas Cook. Although police have ruled out anything suspicious related to the death, an investigating judge has now taken charge of a routine investigation. The 11-storey hotel Majorca Beach Hotel is located directly opposite the beach in Magalluf and is popular with British holidaymakers. Mr Day death is the third accident of its type this year so far in Majorca and comes amid high season at holiday resorts across the Mediterranean. An 18-year-old holidaymaker was seriously injured last Monday after falling from his fifth-floor hotel balcony in Magalluf. A fortnight ago another teenager was injured after falling from his apartment in the Port of Alcudia in the north east of the island.


'Fat Freddie' Thompson in Alicante and his lieutenant who shot Foley is in Malaga

Posted On Tuesday, July 01, 2008 0 comments

'Fat Freddie' Thompson and two of his key associates have fled to Spain in fear of their lives.The trio, including the gangland figure reported to have shot Martin 'Viper' Foley, left the country at the weekend.
Thompson is thought to be in Alicante and his lieutenant who shot Foley is in Malaga.
Early Saturday, the home of another associate was ripped apart in a grenade attack.
The 2.20am explosion came horrifically close to claiming the lives of the children of the household. They had been watching television until 2am.
The grenade was rolled into the sittingroom of the house, ripping out the ceiling and attic.Gardai are convinced that the departure of Thompson and his pals will do little to calm his two feuds with the INLA and another jailed drug dealer.a consortium of criminals have pooled €40,000 to have Thompson taken out. Already €20,000 has been paid over to the INLA to carry out the contract.The INLA have brought in a hitman from the North to carry out the contract.
Meanwhile, Thompson's gang have three criminals trying to shoot the INLA's Dublin chief.The ongoing violence has left local people terrified. Locals are also furious that the gangs are tarnishing the good names of the communities in the Crumlin/Drimnagh areas and the south inner city."When our children are looking for jobs, it doesn't help them when these thugs are spoiling the reputation of the area," said one local.One of those arrested was the criminal who shot Foley earlier this year and who has now fled to Malaga.Officers seized a bulletproof 7 series BMW in the chase, along with a stolen BMW about to be fitted with false plates


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