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 sale of the actor’s Marbella mansion, Malibu, in 1999.

The plot on the beachfront was then used to build a four story block which was completed in 2004.

There are 23 people indicted in total in the case, including the ex Mayor, Julián Muñoz."

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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 craft

A 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 as they were already on duty for the air display, but they could do nothing to save the lives of the two on board the craft as it exploded when it hit the ground.

An investigation has been opened by the AESA, Spanish Air Safety Agency.
The event was organised by the British Royal Air Club."

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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 20s arrested. The places targeted include a solicitor's and accountants' offices.Gardai are examining a number of front companies that operate in Ireland, the UK and Spain that claim to export food from the Iberian peninsula but which detectives believe are being used to transport cannabis and cocaine into Britain and Ireland.

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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 Sol.

One Spanish woman, who asked not to be named, said: "He moved in about October last year and virtually built a new house. He kept the shell of the existing property, which was only about eight or nine years old, but totally renovated it and the garden and put up loads of security cameras.

"The original house was yellow and in perfect condition, but he repainted it red ochre.

"I saw a woman going in and out of the property and heard children's voices but I never really got to know anyone there."

The woman added: "They kept themselves to themselves, although in December they plastered the house with Christmas lights.

"We knew police had raided the property but we didn't know why. We saw half-a-dozen cars parked outside on Tuesday morning at around 10.30 and men with guns on their belts milling around.

"We thought it might have something to do with the raids they've been announcing on the television in the Costa del Sol but we weren't sure.

Cameras

"The house stood out because of the amount of security cameras. We wondered why on Earth someone would have so much surveillance in an area which is already patrolled by security guards paid for by the neighbours."

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

A children's bicycle was visible in the landscaped gardens, which boast a private swimming pool.

An English-speaking woman appeared on the top balcony yesterday, but when asked about Daniel Kinahan she replied: "I don't know anything. I'm just here looking after the dogs."

It had previously been thought Kinahan had been arrested in his €800,000 flat in another nearby seafront development called Torre Bermeja.

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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 €500 million, Spanish authorities say.

In Spain some 60 properties – including villas, apartments and business premises – have already been frozen in the first part of an assets confiscation case there. The properties in Spain are valued at about €150 million by the authorities.

The Spanish properties are located along the Costa in Benalmadena, Fuengirola, Mijas, Marbella, Nueva Andalusia and Estepona. Kinahan lives in a €6 million villa, and also regularly stays in an apartment valued at €800,000 in a gated complex near Marbella.

There are other properties in Ireland, England, Dubai, South Africa and Belgium.

One of the companies controlled by the gang is an upmarket car dealership in a Costa resort which sells supercars, Porsches, Bentleys, Hummers, McLarens and Ferraris, to name but a few.

Television news footage in Spain has shown vehicles being confiscated from the dealership and car parks next to plush apartments and villas where some of the nine Irish suspects where arrested on Tuesday morning.

It is believed that the international investigation being led by the Garda and authorities in Spain and the UK has identified a network of some 30 companies set up or controlled by the gang for money laundering and investment purposes.

Some of the firms are small front companies set up on the pretence of transporting food from Spain to the UK and Ireland. But for nearly a decade Kinahan has been transporting drugs in lorries to small warehouses in Ireland and England.

A spokesman for the Spanish interior ministry said the Kinahan gang had ploughed money into companies in a diverse range of sectors, including renewable energy, waste recycling and infrastructure projects.

The gang was not only investing and laundering its own drugs money, but was acting as financial agents for Irish gangs who used Kinahan and his legal and financial contacts in Spain to launder proceeds of their crimes.

The Garda and Spanish police have drawn up a list of 19 names which they believed represent the nucleus of the Kinahan gang. At least 11 people on the list are Irish.

The Spanish police had not prioritised investigating Irish organised crime gangs on the Costa del Sol until recently because local gangs were given more priority.

However, the murder of several Irish men in the past two years forced the Irish gangs on to the radar of the Spanish authorities.

Paddy Doyle (27), of Portland Place in Dublin’s north inner city, was shot dead as he drove his BMW 4X4 near Marbella in February, 2008. He was linked to one of the Crumlin-Drimnagh feuding gangs and was a suspect in at least three gun murders here.

Richard Keogh (30), from Cabra in Dublin, was shot dead in Benalmadena Costa near Marbella in January 2009. He was a known drug dealer.

Former John Gilligan gang member Peter Mitchell (40), of Summerhill in Dublin’s north inner city, was wounded in a shooting in Marbella in August 2008, but survived.

In the course of investigating these attacks the Spanish became aware of the presence of a large number of Irish gangs based in the south of the country, the biggest of these by far being the cartel headed by Christy Kinahan.

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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 targeting drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms crime.”
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said borders would not protect organised crime gangs.
“[These] events are evidence of the determination of those involved in law enforcement, fully supported by their governments, to take international gangs straight on.”
Trevor Pearce of the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) said the raids were a major blow to a key gang supplying drugs and guns across Europe.
“We also believe this network has been offering a global investment service, ploughing hundreds of millions of pounds of dirty cash into offshore accounts, companies and property on behalf of criminals.”
The international drug trafficking and money laundering investigation has found evidence that Kinahan and his associates have built a property portfolio worth in excess of €150 million. The properties are in Ireland, Spain, Dubai, South Africa, Brazil, Belgium, England and Cyprus and will most likely now be confiscated.
Kinahan and his associates arrested in Spain can be held for up to two years without charge. Four Spanish solicitors were also arrested, in the operation code-named Operation Shovel."

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'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 partners, Ulianitski's widow, Irina, last month won a court challenge for a share of her slain husband's estate, prompting the appointment of liquidators who decided to auction their shared business interests."

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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 his villa near Marbella, the large-scale smuggling of firearms and the laundering of hundreds of millions of pounds in crime profits.

In co-ordinated dawn raids, 230 officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) arrested nine men and two women in the West Midlands, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Kent, Middlesex and south London. Premises were also being searched in Belgium, Cyprus, and Brazil as well as in Britain, Spain and Ireland.

Kinahan’s sons, Christopher junior and Daniel, were also held in the wave of arrests in Spain. Daniel Kinahan featured in the long-running probe into allegations of horse-race fixing featuring champion jockey Kieren Fallon. The jockey was cleared of all charges.

Soca’s Trevor Pearce said: “The scale of this joint operation is an indication of how prolific we think this network was."

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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 French painter, lived in Marbella from the early 1970s to the late 1990s in a beachside mansion called Malibu.
They entertained stars including Richard Burton, Michael Caine, Omar Sharif and George best in the magnificent whitewashed villa.
Connery sold the property for a reported $9million in the late 90s, and 72 luxury flats were later built on the land.
A two-bedroom apartment there is now worth around £2million.
Magistrate Ricardo Puyol is reportedly investigating the sale of the house and allegations of tax evasion and money-laundering.
The actor and his wife are expected to appear before the magistrate at Marbella's Court of Instruction number 1 on May 27, 28 or 29.
They will be questioned in detail, behind closed doors, before the magistrate decides if any further action should be taken.
Neither Connery or his wife have been arrested or charged with any offence.
On Wednesday officers from the National Police accompanied by tax officials raided the officers of law firm Diaz-Bastien & Truan in Marbella and Madrid.
Operating on the orders of the magistrate, the officers reportedly seized 30,000 documents.
The magistrate has placed a secrecy order on the case which bans any officials from speaking about the investigation.
National newspaper El Mundo said the magistrate is investigating a number of property deals made during the tenure of controversial Marbella mayor Jesus Gil y Gil, the former owner of Atletico Madrid football club.
It said the magistrate was investigating possible tax evasion, embezzlement, perversion of justice and money-laundering.

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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 ‘ahead of time’ as documents were lacking, but insisted that he was completely sure that the building could have been made legal, and he did not think he was committing a crime.
‘If I had known that, I would not have done it’, he told the court. ‘I always acted in good faith for the good of the village’.Diaz Navas has said he will not resign from his post or from the Partido Popular until the result of his appeal.

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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 in Les Corts, Ángel Luna. He claimed the report shows that the law was broken on some 50 occasions as contracts were often split into smaller segments.In response Francisco Camps, the President of the Generalitat, on Thursday defended the contracts awarded by his administration and said that the Sindicatura de Comptes said that ‘everything is under legal control and in perfect conditions’. He also claimed that more contracts were split up under the Socialists.

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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 backhanders

The 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 girlfriend, Vanelde Freita, and the case documents say that between 2003 and 2007 he managed several real estate deals, including one from the Galician company, Inmonuar, in the area known as El Raiguero. For this deal to proceed he is thought to have used intermediaries to purchase the land needed, for which Morales received ‘a substantial commission’ of 3.6 million.

However, despite a request from the prosecutor, the current Mayor of Totana, José Martínez Andreo, has still not been indicted.

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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 where the Mayor allowed the number of homes to be built to be increased from 1,300 to 2,400. As part of the deal, the Royal Marbella Estates sold the land it purchased for 9.7 million € for 117.9 million the following year after the Mayor had reclassified the land in between the two dates.

In questioning despite his claim, Tirado was unable to name a single party donor, or give any more information, for example say the size of the largest single donation.

When asked why the money was not in his safe, Tiraldo told the court that he had been advised by a friend, who was an expert in security, that he should put only a small amount in the safe, as a prize for a possible thief, and hide the larger amount elsewhere.

The prosecutor is demanding a two year prison sentence for bribery.

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