Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust and TD Bank, Gibraltar face trial

two banks where Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein laundered money will face a trial over multimillion-dollar claims by victims of the scam, a Broward County judge has ruled. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld declined to entirely dismiss any of the suit’s defendants. In an order, dated Dec. 9 and distributed by plaintiffs’ attorneys on Tuesday, Streitfeld ruled that all claims against the two bank defendants, TD Bank and Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust, would go forward. A hearing was set Tuesday discuss a trial schedule. TD Bank said because it was pending litigation it would not comment other than to say "it believes and expects the facts to prove...

Read More

Spanish Lenders May Need $120 Billion, Moody’s Says - Bloomberg

Spanish Lenders May Need $120 Billion, Moody’s Says - Bloomberg: "Spanish banks that helped spur the country’s property boom with mortgages and loans to developers may need as much as 90 billion euros ($120 billion) in capital, Moody’s Investors Service said. That estimate is based on a scenario in which lenders would need a Tier 1 capital ratio, a measure of their financial strength, of as much as 12 percent to tap funding, Moody’s said in a statement. Spanish banks declined today, led by Banco Santander SA, the country’s biggest. “Given the situation after Ireland where the banks will have to be recapitalized to a much higher capital level,...

Read More

Colombian denies Spain money laundering charges - Colombia news | Colombia Reports

Colombian denies Spain money laundering charges "Oscar Fernando Cuevas, a Colombian wanted for extradition to Spain on accusations of money laundering, denies being guilty of the crime, reports W Radio. Cuevas said that he asked for money from a Spanish bank because he was broke, which 'is not a crime.' He also accused his brother-in-law Juan Pablo Medrano of attempting to kidnap him to make off with the family's money, but Medrano denies these accusations. Cuevas was arrested in Colombia on November 5 upon the request of Spain. He allegedly fled Colombian authorities and took refuge in the European country in 2001, where he requested political...

Read More

36 year ban from public office, and an 810 million € fine for Juan Antonio Roca

Prosecutor is also calling for a 36 year ban from pubic office for the ex Municipal Real Estate Assessor in MarbellaThe prosecutor has called for a 24 year prison sentence, a 36 year ban from public office, and an 810 million € fine for Juan Antonio Roca, the ex Municipal Real Estate Assessor in Marbella Town Hall, for his alleged role at the centre of the Malaya corruption case.He is accused of continual money laundering, fraud, passive bribery and the misuse of public funds among other charges. The Prosecutor considers that Roca laundered some 240 million € over a ten year period, and the written accusation against him says that in real estate...

Read More

PR-USA.net - June 2010 Property Market Report for Costa del Sol

PR-USA.net - June 2010 Property Market Report for Costa del Sol: "Probably the area where most deals are being done right now at property sales under €200,000 because this is where the best value is, The exception to the rule is the self confessed capital La Cala de Mijas where prices have held up that much more which is understandable if you have ever been to the area La Cala easily stands out as the best place to live along this part of the coast but not everyone will share that opinion but the property price tends to reflect that opinion as a whole. You can also buy some very nice villas is this particular area from around €400,0...

Read More

Britisher, has died after being shot while on a street terrace, from a passing large cylinder motorbike carrying two riders

26 year old has not been named in reportsA 26 year old man, reported to be British, has died after being shot while on a street terrace, from a passing large cylinder motorbike carrying two riders in Mijas. The victim has not yet been named.Diario de Sevilla reports that it happened at 10,10pm on Saturday night at the British-run Lounge Bar, Terraza de Miraflores, in the Riviera del Sol Urbanisation, an area popular with drinkers. Reports say that...

Read More

SICKENED holidaymakers watched as boozy Spaniards tortured a young bull to death at a carnival.

SICKENED holidaymakers watched as boozy Spaniards tortured a young bull to death at a carnival.They kicked and punched the helpless animal in Alhaurin el Grande on the Costa del Sol.Ex-pat Colin Davies, 54, from Glasgow, said: "It was outrageous.They had been out drinking most of the day then converged on the ring."Drunken morons jumped hoardings and began goading one bull, before it descended into chaos and the animal was attacked."Government officials are investigating and have vowed to prosecute those involv...

Read More

Gored Spanish bullfighter remains in intensive care < Spanish news | Expatica Spain

Gored Spanish bullfighter remains in intensive care < Spanish news | Expatica Spain: "Top Spanish matador Julio Aparicio remains in intensive care a week after he was gored through the throat during a bullfight, the hospital which is treating him said Saturday.The 41-year-old was taken to hospital in life-threatening condition on May 21 after the half-ton bull jabbed one of its horns through Aparicio's chin and back out of his mouth at Madrid's Las Ventas bullring.Doctors at Madrid's October 12 Hospital performed surgery to reconstruct his jaw, tongue and the roof of his mouth and placed him on a ventilator.In a statement, the hospital said...

Read More

Statements taken in Marbella 'Goldfinger' case

Statements taken in Marbella 'Goldfinger' case: "Judge Ricardo Puyol, from Instruction Court One in Marbella, took the statements on Thursday from three lawyers in the ‘Goldfinger’ case where the Scottish actor, Sean Connery and his wife are indicted.The three lawyers, identified with the initials, H.D., L.J.,and C.T., are accused of the misuse of public funds, bribery, fraud, influence peddling and other charges in the case which relates to the...

Read More

British father and son die in Menorca airshow crash

British father and son die in Menorca airshow crash: "Bruce Hook and his son Ian were killed when they lost control of the Beech Baron craftA British father and son have been killed in a light aircraft crash when they were taking part in a race and lost control of the craft which crashed in flames.The tragedy happened at 1250 on Saturday shortly after the pair had taken off from the Real Aeroclub de San Luis-Mahón on Menorca.The father, 63 year old Bruce Hook, was considered to be an expert pilot and ex RAF, and was flying a twin motor Beech Baron. He was accompanied by his 26 year old son, Ian.The fire services were on the scene immediately...

Read More

John Cunningham, 58,arrested in Spain an armed robber and drug dealer.

John Cunningham, 58,arrested in Spain an armed robber and drug dealer. He was convicted in 1986 for the kidnapping of one of the heirs to the Guinness family fortune, Jennifer Guinness.Eleven properties in Spain were searched during the early morning raids, the details of which were disclosed today. Both Cunningham and Kinahan can be held without charge for up to two years under Spanish law.In Dublin, 29 premises were searched and one man in his...

Read More

curtains at Kinahan's mansion were closed yesterday and many of the shutters drawn down.

Yesterday it emerged that Daniel, son of alleged crime boss Christy Kinahan, bought the property last autumn and spent hundreds of thousands of euro renovating it and installing banks of security cameras around the perimeter.Neighbours told how they had grown suspicious at the level of surveillance equipment installed at the four-bedroom, two-storey property on a private beachside estate in Guadalmina, between Marbella and Estepona on the Costa del...

Read More

PROPERTY assets linked to the Christy Kinahan-led international drugs cartel in Brazil alone are worth an estimated €500 million.

PROPERTY assets linked to the Christy Kinahan-led international drugs cartel in Brazil alone are worth an estimated €500 million.That sum is more than treble the value of all cash and assets seized by the Criminals Assets Bureau in Ireland since the bureau’s inception almost 15 years ago. The details that continued to emerge in Spain yesterday reveal that Kinahan is at the head of a mafia-style operation with assets worldwide funded by drug trafficking, money laundering, gun running and even human trafficking.The property portfolio in Brazil is comprised of six leisure complexes and a string of residential properties, with a combined value of...

Read More

Convicted Irish drug dealer held after international operation - The Irish Times - Wed, May 26, 2010

Convicted Irish drug dealer held after international operation - The Irish Times - Wed, May 26, 2010: "Christy Kinahan, a 53-year-old father of three, was the key target in the raids in Spain, Ireland, the UK, Brazil and Belgium that began at 4.30am yesterday.Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said the arrests showed Irish criminals were mistaken if they believed by relocating to Spain they could evade capture.“This is an extensive and focused investigation...

Read More

'Every Rolls has a story behind it' - Times LIVE

'Every Rolls has a story behind it' - Times LIVE: "lime green Rolls was one of several sales at yesterday's auction of the liquidated assets of a business empire belonging to two controversial Cape Town figures - businessman Mark Lifman and the late Yuri 'The Russian' Ulianitski, who died in a hail of bullets three years ago on his way home from a restaurant. Lifman did not bid on any of the items which included a city 'nightclub' - sold for R7-million - two Sea Point apartments, and the Rolls - but his presence cast an imposing shadow over yesterday's proceedings, where bidding was slow to start. Although Ulianitski and Lifman were business...

Read More

Chris Kinahan '£500m cocaine king' in seized in swoops by 750 armed police

Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | UK News :: '£500m cocaine king' in seized in swoops by 750 armed police: "Chris Kinahan was held on the Costa del Sol as 750 police officers swooped on 32 suspects in Britain, Spain and Ireland. The 53-year-old Briton is alleged to be the head of a criminal net- work responsible for trafficking huge quantities of cocaine into every major UK city. Kinahan is also said to have masterminded, from...

Read More

Sean Connery has been ordered to appear before a Spanish magistrate investigating alleged financial irregularities on the Costa del Sol.

Sean Connery has been ordered to appear before a Spanish magistrate investigating alleged financial irregularities on the Costa del Sol.The James Bond star, 79, and his wife Micheline Roquebrune, are being investigated by a court in the millionaires' playground of Marbella.Five lawyers have also been ordered to appear before the court after police raided their offices on Wednesday in an operation named Goldfinger.Connery and his wife, Michelle, a...

Read More

Antonio Gregorio Díaz Navas was found guilty of illegally granting a building licence for a villa on non-buildable land

Antonio Gregorio Díaz Navas was found guilty of illegally granting a building licence for a villa on non-buildable landPenal court five in Málaga, has sentenced the Partido Popular Mayor of Canillas de Albaida, Antonio Gregorio Díaz Navas, to a seven year ban from pubic office, and a fine of 4,500 €, for town planning crimes. He was found guilty of granting permission to build a villa ‘with a serious disregard for the regulatory norms’, according to the sentence.The licence for the 137 square metre dwelling in the area known as El Mosquín, has also been rescinded, according to Europa Press.In court the Mayor admitted that he gave the licence...

Read More

Valencia Government, headed by Francisco Camps, awarded 85 contracts worth 7.2 million € to nine companies in the Gürtel corruption network,

Valencia Government, headed by Francisco Camps, awarded 85 contracts worth 7.2 million € to nine companies in the Gürtel corruption network, owned by Francisco Correa, between 2004 and 2008.The numbers come from a report from the Judicial Services of the Madrid High Court of Justice, where the summary of the case is being instructed.The contents of the 43 page report were revealed in the Valencia parliament on Thursday by the Socialist spokesman...

Read More

allegations of corruption in Totana, Murcia, will place the regional deputy and ex Mayor of Totana, Juan Morales

ex Mayor of Totana, and current regional deputy is accused of accepting backhandersThe judge instructing the allegations of corruption in Totana, Murcia, will place the regional deputy and ex Mayor of Totana, Juan Morales, on the accused bench for allegedly accepting backhanders from as many as 13 crimes. He faces bribery, fraud, money laundering, document falsification and other charges.He one of 13 accused in the case, a list which includes his...

Read More

ex Mayor of Manilva, Pedro Tirado, speaking to the court in Málaga, has said that the 762,101 € found in rubbish bags in his home, in 500 € and 200€ n

ex Mayor of Manilva, Pedro Tirado, speaking to the court in Málaga, has said that the 762,101 € found in rubbish bags in his home, in 500 € and 200€ notes, was from ‘anonymous party donations’ for his PDEM, The Manilva Democratic Party, which he founded in 2002 after leaving the GIL party.The Anti-corruption prosecutor claims that the money found in March 2005 was a backhander given to the then Mayor, from the owners of La Parrada, an enormous estate...

Read More

Euro Weekly News | Euro Weekly News - News/Costa del Sol

Euro Weekly News | Euro Weekly News - News/Costa del Sol: "BENALMADENA - A MISSING three million euros from land and property agreements in Benalmadena dating back six years is being probed by the Court of Auditors. Lack of control over municipal funds is believed to have led to the discrepancies between the amount earned and invested, with any irregularities discovered potentially seeing those in power at the time having to repay the mone...

Read More

Celebrity Cruises says it today is dispatching its newest ship, the Celebrity Eclipse, to Spain to rescue more than 2,000 British vacationers

Celebrity Cruises says it today is dispatching its newest ship, the Celebrity Eclipse, to Spain to rescue more than 2,000 British vacationers stranded by the ash-caused shutdown of flights across Europe. The Miami-based line says it is canceling the first leg of inaugural celebrations for the 2,850-passenger vessel, scheduled to begin Thursday in Southampton, England, so the ship can take part in what is becoming a Continent-wide effort to repatriate thousands of waylaid citizens of various countries to their homes. Celebrity says it is working with U.K. tour operators to arrange the repatriation. Some of the British vacationers the ship will...

Read More

British Royal Navy ship arrived in the northern Spanish port of Santander to pick up troops and civilians stranded

British Royal Navy ship arrived in the northern Spanish port of Santander to pick up troops and civilians stranded due to the volcanic ash cloud grounding flights across Europe.The HMS Albion will transport over 450 army personnel as well as around 280 civilians to the port of Portsmouth in southern England, the British defence ministry said in a statement.Among the army personnel who boarded the ship were members of a field hospital regiment and a RAF squadron who had completed a tour of duty in Afghanistan.The soldiers were able to reach Spain by plane as it is one of the few European nations not to be significantly affected by the ash cloud.Most...

Read More

Fake Gastric Banding Surgery Through Hypnosis - ABC News

Fake Gastric Banding Surgery Through Hypnosis - ABC News: "Lindley, 59, weighed 315 pounds and wanted to lose weight before retiring from her position in a school in Keighley, England. So in July 2009, she traveled to a clinic in Spain. She spent days in 'pre-surgery' counseling talking about her food choices and how gastric banding surgery would leave her stomach no bigger than a golf ball and make it uncomfortable for her to eat more than she needed. In her final session, Lindley went into the 'operating room' where she smelled antiseptics and heard sounds of the doctors and nurses talking. But rather than go under anesthesia, Lindley had actually...

Read More

The Associated Press: Spanish court shelves Israeli probe

The Associated Press: Spanish court shelves Israeli probe: "Spain's Supreme Court has upheld a lower court decision to shelve a probe of an Israeli air force bombing that killed a Hamas militant and 14 civilians in Gaza in 2002.The National Court ruled in June that Spain lacked jurisdiction because Israel was already investigating the attack. The Supreme Court said Tuesday that ruling was correct, rejecting an appeal of it by the Arab Cause Solidarity Committee, a Spanish advocacy organization.Israel had complained to Spain about the probe, which was begun in 2009 by a National Court investigating magistrate under Spain's practice of universal...

Read More

The Canadian Press: Spain's footballers call off strike over unpaid player wages

The Canadian Press: Spain's footballers call off strike over unpaid player wages: "Spain's soccer players' association (AFE) says it has called off a strike over unpaid wages which could have halted matches in the country's top four leagues.Luis Rubiales, an AFE spokesman, told journalists that enough progress had been made at talks with the Spanish League, the football federation and Spain's Sports Council to enable his organization to call off industrial action.The pay disputes applied mainly to players in the lower tiers.The strike could have disrupted 10 matches in the top division's 33rd round, including Real Madrid versus Valencia and Espanyol...

Read More

Workaholics escaping personal problems - UPI.com

Workaholics escaping personal problems - UPI.com: "About 8 percent of employees devote more than 12 hours per day to their employer to escape from personal problems, researchers in Spain say.Lead author Mario Del Libano of the Jaume I University in Castellon de la Plana in Spain says spending more than 50 hours per week working could indicate work addiction.Del Libano and colleagues confirmed the usefulness of Dutch Work Addiction Scale, a new scale for measuring addiction to work.Work addiction is characterized by extreme work activity with people working outside working hours, at weekends and holidays, inability to delegate, disproportionate...

Read More

Two arrested in Spain after fights break out at former mosque

Two arrested in Spain after fights break out at former mosque: "Two men were arrested after clashes between police and tourists who broke a ban on Muslim prayers at a cathedral in Spain which was once a major mosque, the local bishop's office said this week.Trouble broke out Wednesday when six members of a group of 118 Muslim tourists visiting the cathedral in the southwestern city of Cordoba knelt to pray and were ordered to stop by security guards.As they refused to stop praying, they were 'invited to continue with their visit or leave the cathedral,' the Cordoba's bishop's office said.The security guards called in police, who were attacked...

Read More

Seanie won't clear his name - Irish, Business - Independent.ie

Seanie won't clear his name - Irish, Business - Independent.ie: "OVER four out of five of Ireland's top 300 company bosses feel that former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Sean FitzPatrick (above) will not be able to clear his name.More than 83.5 per cent of respondents felt that the omens were bad for the disgraced banker. Most of the remaining respondents were undecided.Mr FitzPatrick was arrested and questioned by gardai two weeks ago. He is now believed to be staying near Marbella in the sunny south of Spain.In last year's poll, more than 88 per cent of respondents indicated that they felt that bankers should face criminal charges over their c...

Read More

Spain to invest billions in rail, road projects - BusinessWeek

Spain to invest billions in rail, road projects - BusinessWeek: "Spain said Wednesday it would invest euro17 billion ($23 billion) in a rail and road project over the next two years in an effort to boost its recession-hit economy and create jobs.Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said 70 percent of the investment would go toward new passenger and freight rail projects, as well as improvements of the existing network. The remaining 30 percent will be dedicated to highway construction and maintenance.He said the plan would not affect Spain's coffers for the moment as it would be financed initially by the companies contracted with funds...

Read More

Failed EU-U.S. data deal to be revived, U.S. says | Reuters

Failed EU-U.S. data deal to be revived, U.S. says | Reuters: "'There are still issues we have to work through,' Holder told a news conference in Madrid following talks with EU officials.'I am confident that over a relatively short time, the (data sharing) will be once again active.'Holder met EU officials in Spain this week to discuss security cooperation with the 27-nation bloc, notably the data agreement rejected by the European Parliament in February because of concerns over citizens' privacy. The United States wants access to information about money transfers in Europe, saying it is crucial in tracking suspected terrorists.Negotiations on...

Read More

Spain unveils measures to boost ailing economy - BusinessWeek

Spain unveils measures to boost ailing economy - BusinessWeek: "Spain's government announced Friday a package of measures aimed at boosting its ailing economy and generating more than 350,000 jobs.Economy Minister Elena Salgado said the initiatives were intended to help medium to small businesses, especially those operating in the hard-hit construction sector.'These are measures oriented toward creating employment,' Salgado said at a press conference after the government's weekly cabinet meeting.The 30 measures were designed 'to continue moving forward with our economic recovery,' Deputy Prime Minister, Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, said.Salgado...

Read More

Mayor of Marbella complains about TV progamme

Mayor of Marbella complains about TV progamme: "The Mayor of Marbella, Ángeles Muñoz, has written a letter of protest against the Telecinco gossip TV programme, ‘La Noria’.She is angry at the contents of last Tuesday’s programme when the subject was Isabel Pantoya and the Malaya corruption case based in Marbella.Muñoz says it showed an image of the town which does not correspond to reality, and that the treatment of Marbella was ‘unjust’ over the...

Read More

First Property Choice makes it Easy to Find Information on Cheap Spanish Property and Marbella Prope

First Property Choice makes it Easy to Find Information on Cheap Spanish Property and Marbella Prope: "latest buzz going around in the real estate market is about the reduced prices of prime properties in Spain. Recession is considered the main reason for the reduction in prices of Spanish properties. Most of the real estate companies have thus started listing their Spanish and Marbella properties at much reduced prices. However the downside of these listings for cheap Spanish property and Marbella property is that they fail to give the correct information to the customers.First Property Choice is a real estate company which aims to become the...

Read More

The Latest in Luxury Resort & Real Estate News - Real Estate Channel Global News Center

The Latest in Luxury Resort & Real Estate News - Real Estate Channel Global News Center: "Group Metro, the Dominican Republic's leading real estate and transportation company, together with their partner Frank Pimentel of Cotuicar announced March 29 the grand opening of its newest beachfront development: Marbella. This luxurious development, which includes both residential and hotel units, is located in Juan Dolio beach. For this special event, Group Metro hosted an exclusive event on the beach in front of the stunning new residential property. Among those who attended were the country's most elite figures including the President Leonel Fernandez,...

Read More

Britons return to sun, sea, sand and Spain - Times Online

Britons return to sun, sea, sand and Spain - Times Online: "They became a symbol of the global housing market crash, unsold, half-built, lining the Mediterranean like skeletal relics of a bygone, more prosperous age.But villas and apartments on the Spanish Costas are suddenly hot property again as Britain’s second-home buyers rediscover the attractions of life in southern Spain.Fresh from a chilly, dismal winter, drawn by falling prices and apparently undaunted by the low sterling-euro exchange rate, a new generation of would-be buyers has descended on Spain, according to the Spanish division of Taylor Wimpey.Typical holiday home buyers are no...

Read More

SPAIN rampant piracy and legal commercial P2P has put the country on the verge of “no longer being a viable home entertainment market.”

Sony boss Michael Lynton complains that rampant piracy and legal commercial P2P has put the country on the verge of “no longer being a viable home entertainment market.”According to Michael Lynton, chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, piracy is so rampant in Spain that Hollywood studios are considering discontinuing the sale of DVDs there altogether.“People are downloading movies in such large quantities that Spain is on the brink of no longer...

Read More

toll road planned between Ronda and the Costa del Sol. ?????

A leading Junta official has now admitted that she has no idea when the ‘ecologically damaging’ motorway will be built. Although public works chief, Dolores Fernandez, still insists that the project will eventually be completed, she stopped short of explaining exactly when. And, despite repeated Junta guarantees that the road will be operational by 2012, this now looks impossible. In fact, it is increasingly likely that building will not even have begun. The project was originally backed by Ronda mayor Antonio Marin Lara in 2007, after the Junta unveiled its toll road plans. A total of 400 million euros was set aside to replace the winding 45-kilometre...

Read More

Air Comet, on Tuesday finally applied for voluntary bankruptcy protection, three months after its licence to fly was withdrawn.

Air Comet, on Tuesday finally applied for voluntary bankruptcy protection, three months after its licence to fly was withdrawn.It’s debts amount to 160 million €, and now the bankruptcy process is finally underway it means that the workers can claim the back pay they are owed.The company was hoping to find a buyer or reach an agreement with the main banks to have given it credit, but finally it has admitted defeat and given in to union pressure. Unions say wages amounting to four or five million € remain outstanding.It also means that those passengers affected by the collapse of the company can now apply to the judge for compensation.It should...

Read More

EURO MP has slammed the visit of British minister Chris Bryant as insincere.

Marta Andreasen claims the visit to try and solve the huge demolition issue currently affecting hundreds of expats around the region didn’t amount to much.She explained: “I don’t think he achieved very much. I don’t think his visit was very sincere.“He’s not doing anything to resolve the problems of the people who are already suffering.”Minister for Europe Bryant visited pensioners in Almeria and announced that Spanish civil servants will now work...

Read More

Guardia Civil found the bodies of some 100 dogs as it broke up an illegal sales network in Cáceres

Guardia Civil found the bodies of some 100 dogs as it broke up an illegal sales network in Cáceres. The owner of the premises was arrested in the operation codenamed ‘toys’.He had been selling pedigree puppies imported illegally from Slovakia, despite many of them suffering from poor health and some of them from malformed bodies. According to the records some of the dogs had been vaccinated before they were born.SEPRONA, the environmental wing of the Guardia Civil had been working on the case for six months after receiving several complaints from people in Badajoz, after dogs were dying shortly after being purchased.At the Cáceres premises on...

Read More

Belgian Consul in Málaga, Claude de Hennin run over by a British resident in his car at the doors of the Belgium Consulate in Mijas.

Belgian Consul in Málaga, Claude de Hennin, who has lived in Spain for 41 years says he still cannot believe how he was attacked after an argument with his neighbours on Monday.He claims that he was run over by a British resident in his car at the doors of the Belgium Consulate in Mijas. Diario Sur reports he says he saw a child about five years old with a woman by the exit to the parking area and warned them he was about to drive out. The woman then turned to insult him in English, and he turned away and went inside.Later in the street though a British man with a dog came up to him and continued the insults. The Consul then called the local...

Read More

people affected by the Ley de Costas will give their evidence to the Petitions Committee in Brussels.

European Parliament has launched another attack on Spain’s coastal law ‘Ley de Costas’ describing it as ‘abusive’Labour and Conservative British MEPs criticised the law on the Petitions Commission, in their opinion, it confiscates assets of those who purchased in good faith.Conservative M.E.P. Roger Helmer said he was recommending his constituents not to buy property in Spain.‘If Spain wanted to enter the EU today, it would have many problems because...

Read More

heavy rain on September 21, 2007 had caused structural movement in the house and the damage was not covered by their policy.

Barrie and Janet Waterfall were full of hope when they moved to Spain nine years ago. Spanish retirement home, which is now uninhabitable But their dreams of a happy retirement have been shattered and their 21-year marriage has been brought close to breaking point - all because of a bitter dispute with their buildings insurer, Axa Spain. Retired teacher Barrie, 67, and Janet, 68, face financial ruin. They own a property rendered uninhabitable because of structural damage caused by a leak from a water main. They cannot sell it and now owe more than £39,000 to banks, credit card companies and friends. The mounting debt is the result of a costly...

Read More

Thousands of Britons have bought Spanish properties in good faith, only to find they were illegally built on protected land.

800 British and Irish residents marched in Almeria after demolition orders were issued for eight expat-owned homes in the nearby town of Albox. The owners are appealing but it is feared many more homes are under threat after Spanish regional authorities overruled planning permission. Thousands of Britons have bought Spanish properties in good faith, only to find they were illegally built on protected land. Albox home owner Nicola Veitch, of Jersey, said: 'We are devastated. We have every legal document under the sun for our propert...

Read More

pensioners lost their fight in the European Court of Human Rights to prove this pension freeze violates anti-discrimination rules.

One in five expats claims a sterling pension, with more than a quarter of Brits living in Spain (28%) and a third of British expats in Germany relying on this as their core source of income, according to Moneycorp. More than half a million pensioners living in Commonwealth countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand suffer a further blow because their state pensions don't rise each year in line with inflation. Only those living in the European...

Read More

Pensioners abroad have arguably been hit the hardest as they rely most heavily on their savings and pensions built up in the UK

four million Brits living abroad are planning a mass return to home shores after seeing their savings and income stripped by the plunging values of the pound and their property. Pensioners abroad have arguably been hit the hardest as they rely most heavily on their savings and pensions built up in the UK. They've been hit by a declining pound and falling interest rates. The dramatic slump has slashed their income by a third and has turned Brits into the paupers of Europe. Fears over job security and falling property prices are also giving expats second thoughts, according to research from foreign exchange specialist Moneycorp. Some 845,000 Brits...

Read More

Britons Daniel Rushton and Matthew Daly have been arrested in connection with an armed robbery at a supermarket in Puerto Banus, Spain

Britons Daniel Rushton and Matthew Daly have been arrested in connection with an armed robbery at a supermarket in Puerto Banus, Sp...

Read More

Protecting the Rock’s reputation from any fallout as a result of the Marrache case.?

Gibraltar said yesterday that it would work with the Financial Services Commission [FSC] to protect the Rock’s reputation from any fallout as a result of the Marrache case.The statement came amid concerns that an ongoing criminal investigation into the affairs of prominent local law firm Marrache & Co could impact on the Rock’s financial sector.The association said it would encourage members to take on Marrache clients swiftly and at minimum...

Read More

Two schools, in Manilva and Marbella, had to be evacuated after becoming flooded

Two schools, in Manilva and Marbella, had to be evacuated after becoming flooded, and in Manilva the A7 was closed for a time as underpasses to gain access to Sabinillas and Puerto de la Duquesa were underwater.There were several landslides affecting roads in the Manilva area.In Marbella the El Ángel college was flooded and evacuated and a wall collapsed close to the Barceló hotel in San Pedro Alcántara. More than 50 litres per square metre was recorded in Marbella and as much as 80 in some areas.In Estepona the marina was flooded and several local rivers and streams burst their banks leading to flooding of homes and businesses, with the Urbanization...

Read More

Benjamin and Solomon Marrache, appeared before the Magistrates Court yesterday charged with false accounting in respect of E1.8m of client money.

Two senior executives at a prominent Gibraltar law firm, brothers Benjamin and Solomon Marrache, appeared before the Magistrates Court yesterday charged with false accounting in respect of E1.8m of client money.The two men were arrested on Tuesday and spent the night in police cells before being ferried to court in a police van.The two Marrache brothers were ushered by police through a side entrance to Central Police station just before 10am and appeared before the magistrate in a crowded courthouse a short while later.Attorney General Ricky Rhoda, appearing for the Crown, urged the magistrate to impose stringent bail conditions for fear that...

Read More

Killing the Golden Goose More demolition orders have been issued in Albox

More demolition orders have been issued in Albox despite confusing statements by the Town Hall and the Mayor, Sr. José GarcíaIn an interview published on the English language Arboleasnow website , Sr. Garcia is reported to have denied the rumour that nine houses are affected, saying that only eight demolition orders have been issued "by the courts".This statement belies the fact that on the 15th December another of our members was issued with an order not by the courts, but by Albox Town Council itself!And on January 20th, the Official Bulletin board carried an instruction to demolish a building on a plot of land near Alcantarilla, Albox. However,...

Read More

Helen and Len Prior have been ordered to be given a temporary home by a judge’s order.

British Couple Helen and Len Prior have been ordered to be given a temporary home by a judge’s order.Lawyers acting for the couple are claiming compensation from the local council for the loss of their home and also applied for ‘provisional measures’ to house them in a similar property to the one they lost, and it is these measures which the judge has ordered be met. The local council now has to find them a similar property or pay the rent on another one while the case is completed.AUAN, Abusos Urbanisticos Almanzora No, the protest group acting against the demolition of property in the area, reports that Helen and Len have found a suitable property,...

Read More

Spanish real estate developer Habitat filed for protection from creditors which hold 2.3 billion Euros in debt.

The main creditors of the developer are La Caixa, Caja Madrid, Banco Santander, BBVA and Banco Popular, a total of 38 entities. This is not the first real estate company to go into administration. The total debt of real estate companies in administration is over 10,500 million Euros.The president of Habitat, however appears rather optimistic as he announced that “the company will face all their obligations and has enough active capital to confront its deb...

Read More

court has registered a condition of ‘bankruptcy’ for Polaris World Sports Centre, Polaris Development, Polaris World Development, Polaris World Indus

Polaris World returned to court with their creditors with the debt now owed to the Bank of Valencia by the Murcian constructor estimated to be around 62-million euros and around 100-million euros owed overall. According to the economic newspaper Cinco Días, the principle creditors are Caja Mediterráneo, Bancaja Group y Banco Popular.Polaris World accepted that 15 of its companies, are in a ’state of insolvencia’ and thus the group is seeking to initiate a period of negotiation with their creditors before entering suspension of payments. The insolvency affects four of the urbanizations, two hotels and El Oasis de Alhama commercial centre among...

Read More

Public Prosecutor is asking for 16 and a half in prison for a man accused of killing a couple and injuring two motorcyclists in Alicante

Public Prosecutor is asking for 16 and a half in prison for a man accused of killing a couple and injuring two motorcyclists in Alicante in February 2008. The private accusation is asking for 30 years in prison, considering that the accused was completely aware of what he was doing. The accused drove 16 kilometres in the wrong direction on the A-70, but told the court that he didn’t intend to kill himself, and had suffered a psychotic episode which drove him to the motorway. However, the doctor who examined him four days after the event ruled that he was completely sane at the time and had confessed he was in a hurry to get to San Vicente and...

Read More

Denia Judge has sent a young man who allegedly belonged to a gang who perpetrated four attacks against teenagers, stealing their mobile phones

Denia Judge has sent a young man who allegedly belonged to a gang who perpetrated four attacks against teenagers, stealing their mobile phones and money, to prison on remand without bail. The gang covered their faces with balaclavas and threatened the victims with kniv...

Read More

DAVID BROOKES, 59, a former Royal Artillery warrant officer and an ex-policeman, was killed by smoke in a fire in the town of Jimena de la Frontera

DAVID BROOKES, 59, a former Royal Artillery warrant officer and an ex-policeman, was killed by smoke in a fire in the town of Jimena de la Frontera His wife Florence, 58, was found by a passerby in hysterics in the street outside. The fire had already been extinguished when the man entered the house and found the lifeless body of Mr Brookes in a bedroom. Mrs Brookes, originally from Edinburgh, is recovering from severe shock in hospital.But her family did not know about the tragedy until they read about it in a newspaper on Friday, January 8.Mr Brookes' son Paul, 37, said: "It was awful to read this in the paper. It was a dreadful shock’’"It...

Read More

one million Britons living in Spain some 74 per cent revealed that repatriation is now a distinct possibility

one million Britons living in Spain some 74 per cent revealed that repatriation is now a distinct possibility, according to a study undertaken by Moneycorp.Some 37 per cent of those surveyed admitted that they were already looking into returning to the British Isles.The house market crash has seen the value of homes on the Costa del Sol crash to below 65 per cent their original asking price.“Brits living in Spain are particularly affected by the struggling property market with many owning holiday homes and letting out their Spanish properties.”Add the plummeting pound and limited job opportunities, the survey has fuelled fears that there could...

Read More

demolition of nine British owned properties in Albox, Almería.

President of the Junta de Andalucía, José Antonio Griñán, told Europa Press on Thursday that he had not received ‘any notification or letter’ from the British Ambassador to Spain, Giles Paxman, regarding the demolition of nine British owned properties in Albox, Almería.British diplomats are insisting that Ambassador Paxman has written and sent a fax asking for a meeting to try and find a solution to the problem, but speaking to journalists in Córdoba, José Antonio Griñán, said that the building licences for the properties had already been contested by the Junta at the time as not being considered as legal. He insisted that the Junta had therefore...

Read More

fraud paid for a luxury lifestyle in the UK and Spain which included the purchase of a villa in Marbella

Alan James Wilson was the director of a company which designed and rented portable refrigerated units from its base at Staffordshire Technology Park in Beaconside.Wilson took part in a fraud, as sole director of the business, which centred on falsifying rental agreement documents, misappropriation of company funds and disposal of equipment.The fraud paid for a luxury lifestyle in the UK and Spain which included the purchase of a villa in Marbella, currently on the market at 850,000 Euros, a 47-foot yacht which has a list price of £490,000, a luxury home in Derbyshire and Mercedes cars.The 57-year-old, from Chapel-en-le-Frith in Derbyshire, was...

Read More

Three men were seriously injured yesterday

Three men were seriously injured yesterday when scaffolding collapsed at a football pitch in the town of Santa María del Águila in El Ejido.The three men, aged between 40 and 51, were taken to the Poniente hospital where two of the men are reported to be seriously ill.All three men suffered bruising while one of the men has a broken leg.One of the men was released from hospital the day of the accide...

Read More

Third person has been arrested in connection with last Saturday’s shooting in Almeria city

Police arrested 27-year-old Spaniard, F.J.R.G., yesterday. A search of the address also revealed an Astra 9mm pistol which police believe to be the weapon used in Saturday’s killing, in which a 29-year-old Moroccan man was shot at point blank range in the city centre.Police believe F.J.R.G. to be the person actually responsible for the shooti...

Read More

Spanish association supporting the opening of civil war graves, the Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica (AMRH)

Spanish association supporting the opening of civil war graves, the Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica (AMRH), yesterday said they intended to push for further attempts to locate the grave of poet and playwright, Federico Garcia Lorca.In a statement published yesterday, the AMRH said they did not consider December’s failed attempt to find the mass grave a “failure” as it allowed certain erroneous oral testimony to be discounted.Lorca was killed in August, 1936 and buried in a mass grave along with three other men. Lorca’s family do not support the search for the poet’s remai...

Read More

Police yesterday arrested two Spanish men in connection with Saturday’s shooting in Almeria city in which a 29-year-old Moroccan man was shot

Police yesterday arrested two Spanish men in connection with Saturday’s shooting in Almeria city in which a 29-year-old Moroccan man was shot at point blank range and killed.The two arrested men, 22-year-old, J.M.S.S., and 23-year-old, D.R.M., both have criminal records for a variety of crimes. Police have said they expect more arrests to follow in the course of the next few days.The Moroccan man is the third person to be murdered in the province of Almeria this ye...

Read More