Monzer al-Kassar, 63, described by prosecutors as one of the world's most prolific arms dealers, was convicted in November

Monzer al-Kassar, 63, described by prosecutors as one of the world's most prolific arms dealers, was convicted in November of agreeing to sell weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to protect a cocaine-trafficking business and attack U.S. interests.U.S. prosecutors asked a judge on Monday to sentence a Syrian arms dealer convicted of conspiring to sell weapons worth $1 million to Colombian rebels to decades in prison.Kassar, a longtime resident of Spain known as the "Prince of Marbella" for his lifestyle in the glitzy seaside town, will be sentenced in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, along with Felipe Moreno Godoy, a Chilean, 59.Kassar was extradited after Spain received assurances from U.S. authorities he would face neither the death penalty nor a life sentence without chance of parole.In a sentencing memo on Monday, prosecutors asked for Kassar to serve a prison sentence "substantially in excess" of the 25-year minimum he faces, but "less than life.""From his palatial estate along Spain's Costa del Sol, Al Kassar commanded an arms trafficking network of criminal associates and front bank accounts that spanned the globe," the memo said.In this case, the memo said, he agreed to supply 12,000 weapons to the FARC, which "he believed intended to use the arms to kill Americans."Kassar's defense lawyers, who argued during the trial he was a legitimate arms dealer, asked in separate court papers for a sentence of 25 years, the minimum he can receive."There were crimes of greed, not crimes of terrorism," said the lawyers. "All this for a crime -- really, a DEA sting operation -- in which nobody was harmed," they said, referring to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.Kassar "will likely die in prison in a foreign country ... thousands of miles from his wife and children," the lawyers said.The prosecution case was based largely on evidence gathered by two undercover operatives who posed as FARC arms buyers and videotaped negotiations in Spain with Kassar and Moreno.Both were convicted on a host of charges including arms sales, conspiracy to kill U.S. officials, conspiracy to aid a terrorist organization and money-laundering.
The U.S. embassy in Madrid said Kassar had been selling weapons since the 1970s to the Palestinian Liberation Front and clients in Nicaragua, Bosnia, Croatia, Iran, Iraq and Somalia.

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Removal companies in Malaga on the Costa del Sol are saying that the number of Brits who are returning to the UK is on the increase

Removal companies in Malaga on the Costa del Sol are saying that the number of Brits who are returning to the UK is on the increase and the number who are booking them to move out here is decreasing .A trend of the credit crunch .There are many reasons for doing this and some of them involve walking away from financial committments which they cannot meet .Rents , mortgages , business taxes to name but a few .

Pensioners are more pragmatic as most do not have mortgages and their needs are less so they are prepared to weather the storm .Most have experienced some form of hardship in their lives before , this is nothing new

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Many who are returning are doing so with heavy hearts as they have loved the life here but when the money isn’t coming in then other avenues have to be explored and at the end of the day there is no place like home .Most of those spoken to about their returns to the UK have had to think about jobs , children , benefits that they would never have in Spain that they will be able to access in the UK, education , health care , the reasons go on and on .

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Urban warfare erupted on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe

Britons are among thousands of tourists fleeing Guadeloupe after full scale urban warfare erupted on the French Caribbean island.Trouble broke out on the island earlier last month after protesters began rioting over high prices and low wages.
But the situation escalated this week after protesters began turning on rich white families as they demanded an end to colonial control of the economy.The troubles come at the height of the holiday season, with thousands of mainly British, French and American tourists on the paradise tropical island.Guadeloupe descends into full-scale urban warfare after demonstrators riot over low wages and white control of the island's economyViolence has escalated on the Caribbean island as protesters turn their attention to rich white families who they blame for their poor standard of livingProtesters were now targeting 'all white people', with the media in mainland France describing the situation as virtual civil war'.Guadeloupe is a French overseas department ruled directly from Paris, and authorities in France have sent 300 extra riot police to the island in a bid to quell the violence.Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters are roaming the streets of the capital Point-a-Pitre, looting shops and restaurants, burning cars and vandalising public buildings.Holiday resorts along the coast have hired extra security to protect tourists, while the airport is jammed with visitors now trying to get out of the country.Union leader Jacques Bino was the first man to die in the violence when he was caught in crossfire on Tuesday while driving a car near a roadblock manned by armed youths who had opened fire at police.Six members of the security forces were injured during shoot-outs with the armed youths as they tried to help emergency teams who were trying to save Mr Bino's life.Dozens more police and demonstrators have also been hurt in frequent clashes on the capital's streets - which one newspaper describing it as looking like a battlefield'.Protesters ransacked shops and torched cars as the island descends into full-scale urban warfareMost shops, banks, schools and government offices are now shut in Guadeloupe and the neighbouring French tourist island of Martinique - where protests are also mounting.Guadeloupe's socialist opposition leader Malikh Boutih said: 'It is shocking to watch a police force which is almost 100 per cent white confront a population which is 100 per cent black.'All the same elements of the riots on mainland France in 2005 are present here.'We don't have the same concrete buildings, there are palm trees instead, but it's the same dead-end, the same "no future" for young people, with joblessness and a feeling of isolation.' The first protests began a month ago when the left-wing union coalition, the Collective Against Exploitation, demanded a £180 a month pay increase for low-wage earners. President Nicolas Sarkozy sent his minster for overseas departments to the island to meet with union leaders on response to the demands. But the racial tensions which have been simmering for decades exploded into full-scale rioting, with colonial descendants who own 90 per cent of the wealth becoming the focus of the violence.The unrest was further aggravated last week when wealthy white landowner Alain Huyghues-Despointes publicly criticised mixed-race marriages and said he preferred to 'preserve his race'.In Paris, the violence has provoked divisions in Mr Sarkozy's cabinet with black minister Rachida Data acknowledging that Guadeloupe suffered from 'a problem with the distribution of wealth'.Laetitia Delaprade, spokeswoman at Voyages Antillais, a Paris-based travel agency that specialises in French Caribbean, said: 'People are scared. No one wants to go there and those that are there want to get out.' Tourism Authority chief Madeleine de Grandmaison said: 'Tourism is fragile. People are not only cancelling this week, but also for all the months of February, March and April.'We have a huge deficit of tourists ahead of us. At least 10,000 tourists have cancelled vacations in Martinique and Guadeloupe.'

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Around 70% of Santander’s retail clients affected by the Madoff scandal have accepted a settlement offered to them by the Spanish bank

Around 70% of Santander’s retail clients affected by the Madoff scandal have accepted a settlement offered to them by the Spanish bank, lawyers told a US court in Miami on Thursday as part of a class action lawsuit. Meanwhile

between 7% to 9% have refused the offer and prefer to continue with their legal proceedings.

Santander’s retail clients were exposed to the Madoff alleged Ponzi scheme via the Optimal Strategy US Equity fund run by Santander’s hedge fund arm Optimal. Santander’s total exposure to Madoff’s funds amounts to €2.3 billion. Despite the negotiated solution to Santander's Madoff exposure, problems have been arising elsewhere for the Spanish bank as

unit-holders of the real estate fund Santander Banif Inmobiliario are also planning to file a lawsuit for the way it has handled requested redemptions

, German newspaper Handelsblatt reports in its printed edition.

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John Fitzgerald Kennedy committed multiple murders for financial gain, special circumstances that qualify him for a potential death penalty.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy sat with his hands folded on the counsel table when he learned that the six-man, six-woman jury also determined that he committed multiple murders for financial gain, special circumstances that qualify him for a potential death penalty.Reputed Long Beach street gang member showed no emotion Thursday when an Orange County jury – after less than three hours of deliberations – convicted him of two counts of first-degree murder for his role in the murders at sea of yacht owners Thomas and Jackie Hawks.Jurors will return to Superior Court Judge Frank F. Fasel's 9th floor courtroom on Monday to hear additional testimony to help them decide if Kennedy should get death, or life without the possibility of parole.Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy said he will see to introduce evidence about Kennedy's prior criminal record, including a 1988 attempted gang murder. The prosecutor said he will also call to the witness stand some of Thomas and Jackie Hawks' family to show the impact that their deaths have had on others. "We're looking forward to Monday," Murphy said.Defense attorney Winston Keith McKesson said he was disappointed with the outcome of the guilt/innocence phase, especially the speed of the deliberations. "Deliberating for three hours is really not deliberating at all," McKesson said. "I don't believe they carefully considered the evidence from both sides."
Kennedy is the third defendant to be convicted in connection with the Nov. 15, 2004 murders of the Hawkses, who were forced to sign sales documents for their yacht, the Well Deserved, before they were tied to an anchor and thrown overboard somewhere near Santa Catalina Island.Murphy argued that Kennedy was hired at the last minute by mastermind Skylar Deleon to help subdue Thomas Hawks, a 57-year-old former probation officer who was a serious weight lifter.
Deleon, 29, of Long Beach, was convicted last year and is awaiting a likely death sentence on March 20.His former wife, Jennifer Henderson Deleon, 28, was convicted in 2006 and has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for her role in putting the Hawks at ease so they would agree to go on the final cruise with her husband and the menacing-looking Kennedy.Kennedy testified on his own behalf last week and claimed he was not on the yacht, had never actually been to Newport Beach, and had never met Skylar Deleon until both were charged with the murders.But Murphy countered with key witness and co-conspirator Alonso Machain, one of five people charged in the case. Machain, 25, of Pico Rivera, who is cooperating with authorities in hopes of getting leniency later, positively identified Kennedy as the bulky man who agreed to go along on the murderous mission on Nov. 15, 2004, after another gang member backed out at the last minute.Murphy also called Myron Sandora Gardner, Sr., another alleged co-conspirator hoping for leniency later, to the witness stand. Gardner, 45, of Long Beach, said he introduced Kennedy to Deleon on the day of the murders.
The Hawkses retired in 2002 to cruise the seas around California and Mexico aboard the aptly named Well Deserved, a 55-foot trawler. But they decided to sell the yacht in the fall of 2004 to return to Prescott, Ariz., so they could spend more time with a new grandchild.They were surprised when they quickly found what they believed was a serious buyer: Skylar Deleon, a young man with a pregnant wife and infant daughter who claimed he was a successful former child actor who could buy the yacht for cash.But Deleon, who only appeared in two nonspeaking roles in the television show Power Rangers, and his wife were deeply in debt and had no cash or assets to buy the Well Deserved. Instead, Murphy contended during the three trials, Deleon intended to steal the boat, killing the Hawkses in the process.Deleon needed a big guy like Kennedy, Murphy contended, after seeing Thomas Hawks for the first time and realizing that Hawks was a physically fit weightlifter who could put up a fight if cornered.Machain testified during the three trials that Kennedy and Deleon caught Thomas Hawks by surprise below deck. Kennedy, Machain said, got Hawks in a headlock and Deleon used a Taser gun to subdue him. Hawks was then placed in handcuffs.When Thomas Hawks retaliated later after he and his wife were tied to the anchor, delivering a swift back kick into Deleon's groin, Kennedy decked Hawks with a powerful punch to the face, Machain testified.Then Deleon threw the 60-pound anchor overboard, yanking Thomas and Jackie Hawks to their deaths, Machain testified.
Their bodies have never been recovered.

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Banco Santander has suspended payments in its largest real estate fund

Banco Santander has suspended payments in its largest real estate fund in a decision which has left 43,200 clients with their investment frozen.The fund, Santander Banif Inmoboliario, has assets of 3.2 billion, but those who now ask for their original investment will be paid ten per cent.It comes as the bank finds the fund unable to meet recent requests for withdrawals amounting to 2.617 billion, some 80% of the total.The decision to freeze the fund is a first in Spain, although it is contemplated in law, with the bank asking the regulator CNMV for a two year frozen period. It comes despite the bank’s announcement last month of profits of more than 8 billion €.Those who have investments in the fund can find a serious of recommendations in the National Commission for Market Values website

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Self-confessed killer of 17 year old Marta del Castillo from Sevilla, 20 year old Miguel Carcaño, and his friend Samuel Benítez

self-confessed killer of 17 year old Marta del Castillo from Sevilla, 20 year old Miguel Carcaño, and his friend Samuel Benítez who helped to throw the body of Marta into the Guadalquivir River, have been ordered to prison in Sevilla today without bail.
Dozens of people waited outside the courts before and after the appearance of the two youngsters, shouting ‘asesinos’ and other insults, as the emergency services spent their third day searching the river for the body of Marta.It’s now known the two used a wheelchair belonging to the late mother of the main accused, and a moped to take Marta’s body to the river from Miguel’s house in the Macarena area of the city.
The two spent some four hours giving their statements to the judge in Instruction Court 4 in Sevilla which heard how the two got rid of the body in the early hours of Sunday January 25, just a few hours after Miguel had killed Marta by hitting her with an ashtray during an argument.

There has been a fourth arrest in connection with the death of the missing Sevilla 17 year old, Marta del Castillo.The latest arrest came this morning and is understood to be Javier Carcaño, the brother of the man, Miguel Carcaño, who has confessed to the killing the girl after getting into an argument with her three weeks ago.
Javier, along with an unidentified 15 year old boy, faces charges of covering up the crime, while a friend of Miguel, Samuel, could face other charges after helping to dispose of the body.There were shouts from the public of ‘asesinos’ as Miguel and Samuel arrived in court in Sevilla today. The prosecutor has called for prison on remand for the two.For the third day the search is continuing along the length of the Guadalquivir river for Marta’s body. The two used a wheelchair belonging to the mother of the main accused, and a moped to take her body to the river from Miguel’s house in the Macarena area of the city.

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Miguel Carcaño, the 20 year old who has confessed to the killing of missing 17 year old Marta del Castillo in Sevilla

Miguel Carcaño, the 20 year old who has confessed to the killing of missing 17 year old Marta del Castillo in Sevilla, has been currently going out with a 14 year old girl, Rocio. Miguel Carcaño will appear in court in Sevilla on Monday charged with the murder of 17 year old Marta del Castillo.She has told the press that although she knows that he is the killer, she cannot believe it. She said she knew that he was quite a jealous man, and when she had asked him if he had anything to do with the crime, he had simply hung his head in silence.

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Amer Hady Saed British property developer had suffered a severe blow to the head and cuts as if he had been defending himself against a knife attack

The victim, named in reports as Amer Hady Saed, 68, had suffered a severe blow to the head and cuts as if he had been defending himself against a knife attack, the Spanish newspaper El Pais said. Body of a British property developer has been found at a luxury villa in southern Spain.His body was discovered by workmen renovating a £4.3 million mansion in Marbella, on the Costa del Sol, on Tuesday morning. It is understood Iraqi-born Saed held a British passport and had moved to Spain from London five years ago. He was married to a Moroccan woman, the newspaper said.details on the death of the Iraqi man whose body was found beaten to death in Marbella on Tuesday. The victim was 68 year old, Amer Hady Saed, whose body was found by some building workers in a luxury villa which is still under construction in Calle Margarita, La Carolina. A jacket had been thrown over his head and his hands were bloody, and cut as if he had been defending himself.The man, who had a British passport, had been in Marbella for some five years, but his domestic employees did not know his business activities, describing him as a quiet man. He was married to a Moroccan woman, and spent time both in Morocco and London. The Daily Telegraph reports he was a Property Developer.There are no reports of any police record, but police have established that he was in debt. The villa where his body was found is on the market for 4.8 million €.His death is the fourth violent killing on the Costa del Sol this year, after the kidnapping and death of a San Pedro builder, the shooting of an Irish drug trafficker in Benalmádena, and the discovery of a 28 year old woman found stabbed in her home in Málaga.

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Hundreds of Marbella residents affected tens of millions of euros disappeared. A court in San Roque (Cádiz) investigating an alleged scam Lansbanski

Hundreds Marbellas British residents wiped out tens of millions of euros disappeared. A court in San Roque (Cádiz) is investigating an alleged scam perpetrated against foreign residents in Marbella, in an amount that could exceed 40 million euros.
In the spotlight is the Icelandic capital Lansbanski bank recently nationalized due to the international financial crisis, and its subsidiary Luxembourg Luxembourg SA Lansbanski, now in liquidation after entering into receivership. Both the mother and its subsidiary entity and the insurer Lex Life and Pension Luxembourg SA, also belonging to the same group, is shown as reported for alleged misleading advertising and fraud in a complaint filed by the office Martínez-Echevarría, Pérez y Ferrero representing 28 concerned, all foreign residents in Spain. The total number of victims, according to sources in the firm exceeds a hundred. Among those reported are also three agencies with investment activity in the Costa del Sol and dedicated to the British market, the majority nationality of the alleged victims, all pensioners and properties of high value.
According to the complaint, from 2004 players began to market investment in the UK market on the Costa del Sol a financial product from an insurance company owned by the Icelandic bank's subsidiary in Luxembourg which provided a policy of capital secured with the mortgage of their property.Laoperación consisted of mortgage housing, amounts to around half a million euros each, and the investment of that money in a financial product that allowed for a return that not only covered the interest on the capital borrowed, but also supposedly generated additional income. Guests were taken on the grounds that it was a product that is self. Zero risk and return safely. Nothing could be further from what would happen next.
In product advertising, disseminated in different ways in English on the Costa del Sol, also ensures that the system would result in a reduction of the tax base by reducing inheritance tax, when the death of the owner, the amount of the loan value of the property tax with a clear benefit in favor of heirs of the dwellings. This, according to Spanish law, it is not possible, explain the law firm has filed the lawsuit, which has led to including in it a possible crime of misleading advertising.
Given the success of the product, in 2006 the bank opened an information office in New Andalusia, which grew from the acquisition of customers. The concerted lending institution and the amounts financed channeled through his office in Luxembourg to Lex Life insurance which means insurance capital would allegedly promised returns.
However, the financial capital was not insured as promised, let alone self, which led to customers being unable to meet interest on the loan and the amount that entered the insurance capital lost value. After the entry into receivership and the parent bank's liquidation of the luxembuguesa subsidiary, the alleged victims are not contracted quantities of capital in the insurance and the threat of power lose their homes.
Dramatic spiral Customers, as assured in the lawsuit have entered into the next spiral: they are in breach of the obligation to pay interest on the loan and because they earn interest on late payment will not be able to share the following interests by rioja that default interest will increase, with Lex Life insurance is not going to generate the necessary profit to cover the interest due or to meet to be due in the future because if this was not possible when the amount had not been entered yet depreciated , much less what is now the majority has no additional safeguards that provide; despatrimonializado have and their creditworthiness, which could achieve its greatest asset, its building, is completely exhausted, and if all this were not enough 'weight all about the imminent threat of enforcement of security, and especially the mortgage, which would inevitably lead to its downfall, with the loss of their home. The situation worsened after the last October, the Icelandic State was forced to nationalize the bank as part of measures to prevent the collapse of the financial system. This means that creditors of the bank, others in good faith throughout this process, they will hold mortgage collateral and may proceed with its liquidation.
The bank has closed its office in Marbella and has cut all communication with customers.

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Arrested Camorra boss Ciro Mazzarella in the Caribbean country of the Dominican Republic

Arrested Camorra boss Ciro Mazzarella in the Caribbean country of the Dominican Republic. He was listed among the Italian government's 100 most dangerous fugitives.Mazzarella fled to Columbia from Italy in 2006, before moving to Costa Rica and then to the city of Santo Domingo, where he allegedly continued to coordinate various Camorra activities.Money raked in by Italy's Mafia surged to 130 billion euros last year, a 40 percent increase on 2007, Italian research institute Eurispes reported last month.
Drug trafficking remains the primary source of revenue, bringing in about 59 billion euros, while arms sales earned the Mafia 5.8 billion euros. Organised crime groups draw off 92 billion euros of untaxed revenue or about 6 percent of Italy's GDP each year from Italian businesses, through protection payments, usury and other forms of extortion, Eurispes said.Italian authorities confiscated 5.2 billion euros in assets from the Mafia in 2008 - including 2.9 billion euros from the Camorra, 231 million euros from 'Ndrangheta and 1.4 billion euros from the Sicilian Mafia.

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Arrested a tattooist suspected of killing a German woman found dead on a beach

Thiwat: Accused of strangling German
Arrested a tattooist suspected of killing a German woman found dead on a beach on Koh Phangan in Surat Thani province.The half-naked body of Astrid Al Assaad-Schachner, 45, was found on Sunday morning on Ban Wok Nai beach. She was wearing only a pair of jeans.Police assumed she might have been strangled. There was no trace of sexual assault. A wallet with 690 baht cash and a passport were left near the body, which was about 300 metres from a pier.Pol Col Charoon Uchupap, a superintendent at Koh Phangan police station, said Mrs Assaad-Schachner arrived in Koh Phangan on Dec 10 last year and rented a house.It was her second visit to Koh Phangan. Her first visit was in 2007 when she spent four months on the island.
On Saturday night witnesses saw the woman drinking beer at a bar about a kilometre from where her body was found. She left the bar at 10pm. Witnesses told a joint investigation team of Koh Phangan and CSD police that Mrs Assaad-Schachner was last seen with tattooist Thiwat Kasempok, 29.After he was arrested, Mr Thiwat admitted to strangling the woman as he had been outraged that she had told other tourists he was attracted to her and had tried to rape her.Mr Thiwat said it was her who had approached him, but he was not interested in her. Mr Thiwat insisted he had not raped the woman, said Pol Lt-Col Jom Singnoi of the CSD.Koh Phangan is famous among international tourists for its full moon parties.

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Drugbust on Prague underground scene

Drugbust on Prague underground scene, and it is a third cocaine bust in about 40 days. Police officers from the national anti-drug central (NPC) have seized three members of an organized gang who were producing and selling cocaine in Prague. One of them was caught when he was selling 300g right in front of a MC Donald’s premise. According to the recently published report of Prague criminality cocaine became a common drug, but we somehow didn’t realize how common until we read almost every two weeks about dealers being busted. According to a doctor from Prague centre Drop-In Jiri Presl the increasing popularity of this deadly substance returns Prague to its First-Republic reputation – “Prague used to be famous for cocaine.”

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Drug traffickers brought cocaine in by air in suitcases handcrafted for that purpose and with a special system of concealment and transportation.

Thirteen people, mostly of South American origin, have been arrested in the dismantling of a drug-trafficking organization that had been operating in several Spanish provinces.In the so-called Operation Alvagar, the Civil Guard seized almost 10 kilos (22 pounds) of high-purity cocaine that on the black market could have provided 400,000 doses, the Spanish Interior Ministry said.The group basically operated in Madrid and Catalonia, although it moved easily throughout all of Spain and used as its center of operations a house in the central city of Toledo.The organization's kingpin, according to the ministry, is also accused of conspiring to murder, since he was planning to call on hired killers to settle a number of scores.
Thanks to the cooperation of Ecuador's National Police, it was discovered that the gang leader lived in Spain under a false identity and that he had a long record in his country for holdups, illicit bearing of arms and four murders, three of them attempted murders.Through the use of hired gunmen he was planning the deaths of three people of the same family, one of them his previous partner.
The agents charged with dismantling the group spoke of the "complications, compartmentalization and complexity" of the operations the criminal organization carried out.The drug traffickers brought cocaine in by air in suitcases handcrafted for that purpose and with a special system of concealment and transportation.

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Brett Stevens arrested in a major drug bust

“A year-long operation targeting trafficking, manufacturing and large-scale distribution of illicit drugs culminated today with police storming 15 properties in South-East Queensland.Five people, including a 44-year-old Narangba man believed to be a prominent member of the Gold Coast drag-racing fraternity, were arrested.
The man was charged with producing the drug MDMA, growing cannabis and supplying amphetamines.Police also seized an estimated $6.1 million worth of cash and property, including six high-performance cars and five motorcycles. All the vehicles were seized from a property near Yatala, south of Brisbane.The raids were the third stage of Operation Golf Brazen, a joint investigation of the Queensland Police Service, Australian Crime Commission and the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission.Today, police seized four pill presses worth about $40,000 on the black market and capable of procuding 1000 pills per minute.They also found three hydroponic set-ups, 1825 MDMA (ecstasy) tablets, 80 grams of cocaine and $1 million in cash.Search warrants were executed on the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and one in NSW.Since the operation began 12 months ago, 45 people have been arrested on 150 charges.ACC chief executive Alastair Milroy said the operation had made a dent in a crime syndicate operating across three states, which also included Western Australia.“We believe the drugs were predominantly distributed on the eastern seaboard of Australia,” he said. “We are very pleased to have dismantled this network.”The CMC used its star chamber powers to elicit information from persons of interest, said acting Chief Superintendent Ian Parsons.“Our investigators have provided crucial expertise in identifying assets bought with the proceeds of crime.”
The 44-year-old man was due to face Brisbane Magistrates Court today.”

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Spanish law firm three million people were affected by the Madoff affair

There are up to three million "direct and indirect" victims worldwide of the alleged fraud by US broker Bernard Madoff, a Spanish law firm that has filed a US lawsuit in the name of some of the victims said Tuesday.
"Our calculations are that at least three million people were affected by the Madoff affair, three million people who could be directly or indirectly affected by the case," Javier Cremades, the president of law firm Cremades Calvo-Sotelo, told a news conference.The estimate is based on information collected from over 30 law firms around the world that are representing the victims of the alleged pyramid scheme in 25 countries, he said.Cremades said the total amount involved could turn out to be higher than the 50 billion dollars (39 billion euros) that has been widely estimated so far.Last week the law firm, which has offices in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Portugal in addition to Spain, filed a class action lawsuit in Florida in the name of people who invested in Madoff through a fund run by Santander, Spain's largest bank.Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Santander offered to reimburse the 1.38 billion euros which its private banking clients lost by investing in its Optimal fund -- the first offer of its kind by a bank involved in the case.Santander, the largest bank in the eurozone by market capitalization, said in December that it had a total of 2.33 billion in client funds exposed to Madoff. It has so far not offered to reimburse its institutional investors.The law firm said Madoff had victimized people in many countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Switzerland, South Africa, Mexico and Israel.Madoff, a 70-year-old former chairman of the Nasdaq stock market, was arrested in December and charged with using billions of dollars from new investors to pay off older ones in a Ponzi or pyramid scheme.

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Ley de Costas, Coastal Law.property can now be bought and sold, and indeed passed in inheritance, provided the building was built legally before 1988.

Spanish Government has added a last minute amendment to the Ley de Costas, Coastal Law. The change comes as an attempt to lessen the barrage of criticism the law has received from Europe, following complaints from the British and German embassies.

The law is in fact not a new one, but is now 20 years old, but only recently has the current Minister for the Environment, Carmen Narbona, started to enforce it.

The 1988 law declares that the beach is public land, up to the point where the sea reaches in the worst of storms. Any homes built in that area before 1988 were taken into ownership by the state ahead of demolition, but the owners were granted up to 60 years grace, but they were told that they could not sell or reform their properties. The decision on whether a particular property lies in the public area was allowed to take five years. The reform has now come via an amendment to the Maritime Navigation law, taking the legislation change directly via the Justice department and away from the Environment Ministry, needing only additional approval in Congress.
It states that such property can now be bought and sold, and indeed passed in inheritance, provided the building was built legally before 1988. An estimated 45,000 homes are estimated to be affected all along the coasts of Spain.

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Emeliano Venenoso, 33, who may have escaped arrest but was ambushed by still unidentified men who shot him and his common law wife Cristy several time

Following two separate police operations, the suspects in the robbery of an Australian national, shooting of businessman Ernesto Dy, and other previous hold ups in Bacong, Dauin and Dumaguete were arrested, Tuesday. They are believed to be members of the so-called Martisan gang which victimizes beach goers and dating couples. But one of their alleged accomplices was severely injured after he was ambushed on Wednesday night by still unidentified gun men near his house in Banilad, Bacong which also resulted to the death of his common law wife. Two of their remaining cohorts are still being pursued by authorities.First to fall was Mario Dindo Tabanag, 34, a resident of Sitio Lawigan, Brgy. Sacsac, Bacong after Vanessa Vidgen the wife of the Australian National, Douglas Vidgen positively identified him as one of those who robbed them a few days earlier.Seized from Tabanag were one .22 caliber hand gun and several pieces of jewelry. He implicated Danilo Celestial, alias Enteng, 27, as the mastermind and was later arrested by joint PNP elements from Bacong, Dauin and Dumaguete inside his residence in Purok Santan, Brgy. Taclobo, Dumaguete City Celestial yielded one caliber 38 revolver snubnose with four live ammunitions, one white plastic container with marijuana leaves, 3 cellular phones, 2 chargers, one pair pearl earrings, hairclip, ring, Australian coins and one coin purse. The two have been charged appropriately before the prosecutor’s office.Not so lucky was alleged gang member Emeliano Venenoso, 33, who may have escaped arrest but was ambushed by still unidentified men who shot him and his common law wife Cristy several times before fleeing. Venenoso who was hit in different parts of his body survived but Cristy was declared dead on arrival at the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital.

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Craig Johnson, assets in Dubai may be even more valuable than those already seized in the UK, which totalled more than £6 million (Dh31.5m).

Craig Johnson, 35, was sentenced in 2006 to 12 and a half years in prison, although British reporting restrictions prevented details of his case from being made public until now. After accomplices of Johnson were imprisoned in September, the true picture emerged of the outwardly respectable businessman.Investigators say they believe Johnson’s assets in Dubai may be even more valuable than those already seized in the UK, which totalled more than £6 million (Dh31.5m).Customs officials in the UK seized Johnson’s helicopter, yacht, luxury cars and mansion, all of which were found to have been purchased with the proceeds of crime. At one point, Johnson owned several properties across Dubai, as well as a luxury car dealership and a professional racing team.“It is fair to say that, as extravagant a lifestyle as Johnson lived in the UK, we firmly believe the lifestyle he lived out here in Dubai was as extravagant, if not more so,” said Euan Stewart, criminal investigations director with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the UK.Investigations into other assets are continuing, with officers keen to establish whether any of his properties in the UAE were, in fact, bought legitimately. Although there is an extradition treaty in place between the UAE and the UK, there is no formal process for recovering the proceeds of crime. Investigators are hopeful, however, of recovering millions of pounds that Johnson has been ordered to repay the British government.

The court records show that Johnson was part of a gang that imported and exported mobile phones between companies owned by gang members, with value added tax (VAT) being kept illegally at every stage of the proceedings. The profits of the VAT fraud were then filtered through a series of bank accounts and business transactions.

The phones were imported – at least on paper – VAT-free from various EU countries. In many instances the phones did not even exist. The paperwork showed they had been sold on more cheaply, but with VAT added, through a chain of companies known as “buffers”. Sham invoices were issued.Once the goods had been sold a number of times they would be re-exported via a corrupt freight forwarding company. The exporter would then claim a credit from the British customs department for the VAT paid on the purchase of the phones, and the company that “imported” them would disappear when its VAT bill was due to be paid.While the fraud was being carried out, Johnson boasted of owning a major car dealership in Dubai. Company records show that Johnson still owns a 12-per-cent share in the dealership, and an employee said he believed Johnson was still owner. No one else at the company would respond to questions about Johnson.In 2002, Johnson spent £1.75m to establish a Dubai rallying team, Protrak World Motorsport Management, and competed twice in the Middle East Rally Championship. But when he was detained in the UK in 2003 and his string of investments unravelled around him, his workers, mostly from the UK, found themselves abandoned in Dubai. The team disbanded soon afterward, and most of the staff have left Dubai.Drivers, staff and management who worked for Protrak all declined to be interviewed for this article.An associate of Johnson’s in Dubai said: “He had private jets and helicopters and whatnot and there are not many expats who have that. Back then, four or five years ago, it was a smaller community, and the big fish seemed even bigger back then.” He said most people in Dubai had “no idea” about the extent of Johnson’s fraud, and that rumours of Johnson’s imprisonment emanating from the UK had reached only a few people Johnson knew in Dubai.In June 2006, Johnson was one of seven men imprisoned in the VAT scam after an eight-month case at Birmingham Crown Court. The scam cost the UK government £68 million (Dh359m) and led to a five-year inquiry by British customs officials. Details of the case emerged only after another VAT fraud case in which Johnson was implicated ended in September.
In November, Wolverhampton Crown Court, which was hearing the HMRC claim for reimbursement, ordered Johnson to pay a further £26m he was found to have made through money laundering, or face another 10 years in prison. He was ordered to pay £8m of that sum within the next year. Mr Stewart said: “This result is down to the excellent co-operation we had from the UAE on a federal level and, in particular, from the Central Bank.”He also paid tribute to the “landmark work” carried out by diplomatic staff in the UAE on creating an extradition treaty between the UAE and the UK, which will facilitate the investigation of money laundering in the country.
Cameron Walker, a law enforcement co-operation counsellor with the British embassy in Abu Dhabi, welcomed the more general efforts to catch British VAT offenders living in the UAE.“There are elements in the UAE – the ministries, banks and police – who are now working very closely with us and realise the extent of the problem,” he said. “The co-operation of the Central Bank, the police and the Government has been tremendous when you consider it is not a UAE problem.”

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Recent report from Economic Analysts in Andalucía paints a pretty bleak picture for Andalucía

Recent report from Economic Analysts in Andalucía paints a bleak picture for Andalucía but the province of Malaga the home of Costa del Sol has a much more rosy future than the rest of Andalucía. Malaga with a growth rate of 1.5% last year is the leading province for economic growth whose average growth rate is 1.1%. The gross regional product of Andalucía is expected to fall by 1.1% in 2009 however the least effect of the decline will be felt in Malaga and Sevilla.

One very interesting statistic was that the number of building licenses issued in the province of Malaga was more than 13000 less up to September of last year than the year before. The report not surprisingly states that the crisis in the building industry has been mainly due to the overpricing of housing in the region and the only way out of trouble is for prices to be adjusted downwards. The report suggest prices need to fall 17% nationally and 27% in Andalucía but according to Spanish property experts Spanish Hot Properties some Costa del Sol Property has already been reduced by up to 30% from last years price by developers keen to liquidate there stock and in some cases as much as 45%. According to the report such a price drop would stimulate the property market especially when you consider that the average Malaga family spend 56% of there salary on mortgage this is set against an Andalucian average of 45% and a national average of 40%. However house price falls alone won’t restore the confidence of the local property buyers market with the Andalucian unemployment rate likely to reach 23% in 2009 set against a national average of 17% but price readjustment would be a very good starting point.

So how does the latest report and statistics impact on Spanish property sales in Costa del Sol and when is the right time to buy . Some time in 2009 is the right time to buy according to Susana Suspenda the Marketing and Operations manager for Spanish Hot Properties. “Costa del Sol tourism is holding up very well with Andalucian tourism down 2.3 % but Malaga actually having a 2.4% increase which indicates this is still the place where overseas property buyers want to buy and from our recent survey we can see people are very keen to snap up the bargains that are available and they obviously want to buy as close to the bottom of the market as possible. What the report clearly states is that 27% falls is what is needed for the market to readjust so if you can buy at 40% below value then your 13% ahead of the game so to speak.

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Laura Zuniga Mexican beauty queen arrested in the company of heavily armed drug suspects will be released

Mexican beauty queen arrested in the company of heavily armed drug suspects will be released after prosecutors decided not to charge her with any offense, the attorney general's office said on Friday.Laura Zuniga, 23 and the reigning Miss Sinaloa, was detained along with seven men in December at a military checkpoint. Police found assault rifles and more than $55,000 in cash in the luxury vehicles they had been driving.The raven-haired beauty from the drug-infested northwestern state of Sinaloa has been a fixture in the Mexican media since she was arrested and placed in a federal detention center.The attorney general's office said on Friday it had not found evidence that she was involved in criminal activity.Prosecutors believe Angel Garcia Urquiza, a leader of the Juarez drug cartel who was with her at the police checkpoint, is Zuniga's boyfriend. Urquiza and the other men arrested at the checkpoint near the western city of Guadalajara remain in a federal detention center.
Zuniga was slated to compete in the 2009 Miss International contest but she was stripped of her Queen of Hispanic America title in the wake of the arrest.Sinaloa state is home to major drug smuggling routes into the United States and is a key battleground in the brutal turf war between Mexico's violent drug cartels.The escalating battles between cartels and police claimed more than 5,700 lives last year, despite the deployment of the army en masse, and the increasing lawlessness poses a major challenge for President

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Police gangster boss of a Romanian crime syndicate arrested in Barcelona

internal affairs division of the Autonomous Police yesterday arrested at dawn two security agents of the Montjuïc Sants station in Barcelona. The investigation against the two policemen, who head of the department of number 22 of Barcelona, was launched six months ago when one of the defendants was heard in a telephone conversation with a Romanian crime syndicate operating primarily in the subways. The
investigation determined that the agent of 25 years had control of the gang. The two policeman were arrested at three in the morning along with five other members of the criminalgang. One of the internal affairs officers found at one of the policemans home gun's with serial numbers removed, an electric truncheon (tazar), a significant amount of cocaine and a lesser amount, hashish. Also seized were objects such as - jewelry, televisions, cameras, mobile phones etc, as well as documentation from other theft victims. The two police officers last night were held in separate cells at the Les Corts. They will today be questioned and when they will very shortly appear before a court. The investigation began six months ago. The investigating officers of the regional area were following a group of Romanian theives. After hearing one of the gang members in converstion during an intercepted call with
one of the arrested parties, the case was then passed to Internal affairs. The accused officer in question, was then assigned to a group of plainclothes policeman in Sant Marti that is dedicated to the fight against repeating offenders.
The monitored calls then showed that the agent had become the leader of the criminals. Part of the crimes committed was that of money being taken from stolen credit cards. He was also found to be philandering with a drug dealer in his home that he shared with his Romanian girl, police found a bag of cocaine and a set of scales. The other accused officer of 32 years of age, has been found to have had a lesser involvement. The internal affairs division are continuing with their enquiries and have also found two other offenders who have been involved with stealing. The two detainees are the latest developments and the investigation continues.

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Body of San Pedro de Alcántara businessman, Fernando Moreno, was found bound and gagged close to the Istán road.

Body of San Pedro de Alcántara businessman, Fernando Moreno, was found bound and gagged close to the Istán road .Nine who were close to the 76 year old Marbella businessman, Fernando Moreno Espada, have been brought in for questioning by the police as they investigate his death during an express kidnapping attempt last week.
Searches have been carried out in several homes in Urbanisation La Campana, San Pedro Marbella, Torremolinos and Málaga, and more arrests have not been ruled out.
It’s understood that of the nine detained yesterday now only two remain in custody. Some of those detained are reported to be foreigners, but their nationality has not been revealed. Reporting restrictions remain in force in the case.Diario Sur reports this morning that one of held is an ex employee of the victim.

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largest bust of a euro counterfeiting ring ever. Euros were tracked out of Italy to Spain

Italian police conducted an early- morning dragnet across the country to round up more than 100 people in what they described as the largest bust of a euro counterfeiting ring ever. About 700 of Italy’s Carabinieri police together with Rome’s anti-counterfeiting squad carried out 96 arrests in nine regions of the country. A total of 109 arrest warrants were issued. Four laboratories for printing fake euro bills and minting phony coins were discovered, and 1.2 million euros ($1.6 million) was sequestered during the investigation, police said. “This is the biggest operation ever conducted against euro counterfeiters,” Colonel Carlo Pieroni, who participated in this morning’s arrests, said in a telephone interview from Reggio Calabria. “This was a cartel set up to make and distribute fake money nationally and internationally.” The bills were tracked out of Italy to Spain, Germany and Lithuania, according to a statement. The investigation began in 2005 as a probe into mafia drug trafficking, Pieroni said, and the main counterfeiting activities were carried out in areas where the ‘Ndrangheta and Camorra mafias operate. The European Commission Anti-Fraud Office, or Olaf, and the European Central Bank took part in the investigation.

“Today’s operation again shows how multifaceted the Calabrian mafia is,” Giuseppe Pignatone, the chief mafia prosecutor in Reggio Calabria, told reporters today, according to Ansa news agency. The ‘Ndrangheta “takes advantage of every opportunity for illegal income.”

The operation was dubbed “Giotto” after the Italian master painter who ushered in the Renaissance. Some of the fake cash made it to Latin America, Pieroni said, which is an indication that some of the funny money may have been distributed as part of drug transactions. Phony bills worth 20, 50 and 100 euros were discovered, as were false 1- and 2-euro coins. While the quality of the forgeries was “average,” according to Martin Mund, a counterfeit expert at the ECB who aided in the probe, the ring may have produced as much as half of all the counterfeits withdrawn from circulation in 2007 and 2008.
“Anyone familiar with the security features of the banknotes could have realized that they were false without the use of any special equipment,” Mund said in written responses to questions by Bloomberg. The ECB has no plans to change any of the euro’s security features, he said. “The number of counterfeits in circulation is still very limited,” Mund said. Today’s operation follows a similar raid yesterday by finance police near Naples that netted 3.7 million euros worth of fake Algerian dinars, a half-ton of high-quality paper and a sophisticated printing press.

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Banco Santander, Spain’s largest bank, has offered to pay 1.38 billion euros, or $1.8 billion, to reimburse private banking clients

Banco Santander, Spain’s largest bank, has offered to pay 1.38 billion euros, or $1.8 billion, to reimburse private banking clients who had invested with the disgraced financier Bernard L. Madoff, a settlement that could prompt other financial institutions to follow suit. The offer, which does not apply to institutional investors, was announced Tuesday as investors brought a class-action suit against the Spanish bank in Federal District Court in Miami. They accused the bank of not adequately scrutinizing the Madoff investments, according to Bloomberg. The offer is an indication of Santander’s desire to preserve its image as a conservative institution that prides itself on having avoided the troubles plaguing other big banks because it shunned exotic financial instruments. Santander said in December that it had an exposure of $3 billion to Mr. Madoff’s firm, the largest of any commercial bank. The money was invested through a Geneva-based hedge fund unit, Optimal Investment Services. Mr. Madoff was arrested Dec. 11 and accused of running his investment business as a Ponzi scheme that paid generous returns to investors using money fed into it by new victims. Santander said in a statement Tuesday that the bank had acted “at all times with the due diligence” and “in accordance with all applicable laws and sound banking practices.” The bank’s offer to reimburse clients was “based exclusively on business considerations, namely the group’s interest in maintaining its business relationships with those clients,” the statement said.
Santander said clients would receive a quantity of preferred shares in the bank equal to their initial investment. They would receive a coupon of 2 percent a year on the shares. A spokesman for the bank, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with the bank’s rules, said the shares could be traded. The bank would have the option to buy the shares back after 10 years. The bank also announced Tuesday that Optimal would close seven of its funds because clients had been withdrawing money from them.

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Richard Keogh was shot seven times after leaving a meeting with a South American drug dealer

Richard Keogh was shot seven times after leaving a meeting in a bar with a South American drug dealer.Keogh’s killer stood over him discharging shots into his body and head as he lay on the pavement outside a hotel and casino complex on the Costa del Sol.The drug-dealing contact he had just met, who is believed to be from Venezuela, was interviewed by the police about Keogh’s last movements. He was then detained on foot of an outstanding warrant for drugs charges.Police are hopeful an examination of the Honda Civic getaway car will yield fingerprint evidence that would have been destroyed if efforts by the gunman to set the car on fire had been successful.It is understood that a pair of gloves and a spent magazine from a handgun were also found in the car.The vehicle was seized by police less than a half a mile from the spot where Keogh was murdered late on Saturday night outside the Torrequebrada hotel and casino at Benalmadena Costa.The Honda Civic pulled up alongside Keogh – a father of four and a known gangland figure – and his wife as they were walking along a pavement just after 11pm. Keogh tried to escape after being shot at twice. However, he fell injured and the killer fired a number of rounds into his body from close range.A postmortem examination identified two shots to his back, two to his head and one each to his thigh, leg and arm. At least 12 bullet casings were found at the scene.Gardaí believe Keogh had been a significant player in the drugs trade in Ireland for at least six years. Detectives suspect that over the past year he was sourcing large quantities of cocaine from international gangs in Spain for export to Ireland.It is unclear if Keogh was shot as part of a dispute with international dealers based on the Costa del Sol, or if he was targeted by an Irish drugs gang with whom he was in dispute before he left Ireland with his wife and children just over a year ago.Gardaí are assisting the Spanish investigating team to build a profile of Keogh’s movements in recent times and his associates both here and in Spain.The dead man was originally from Carnlough Road, Cabra, but had settled in the Belfry estate in Duleek, Co Meath. He was shot and wounded outside his house in November 2007 and decided to move from Ireland to Spain.
Gardaí believe the attempted murder in 2007 was carried out by a drugs gang based in Louth and Meath, supported by a Tallaght gang. The suspected gunman is from Belfast and is a dissident republican.Keogh had an elaborate system of CCTV cameras concealed in the eaves of his house, with viewing screens hidden in the attic. The gun attack was clearly captured by the cameras.However, when the suspected gunman was put in an identification parade by gardaí, Keogh refused to pick him out. Gardaí believe he had secret talks with his attackers and thought the drug dispute had been resolved. Keogh had a number of properties here and a part share in a car garage in Dublin’s north inner city. Those assets are being investigated by the Criminal Assets Bureau.

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Alan Dickson lived in Malaga where he took on a job and cared for his ailing mother before coming to the attention of Spanish police.

Alan Dickson fled following his Christmas holiday release from Castle Huntly open prison at Longforgan in 2006.He lived in Malaga where he took on a job and cared for his ailing mother before coming to the attention of Spanish police.Dickson had been jailed for 10 years in March 2002 after being “shopped” by one of his drug couriers.
The 38-year-old, formerly of Falkland, sent the couriers back to Scotland laden with cannabis resin-laden suitcases from his flat in Torremolinos, Spain.He was in business for over nine months before he and four accomplices were trapped in an undercover operation led by Fife Police and the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency.
It was estimated that the drugs involved in the enterprise could have had a street value of over £1 million.Three of his assistants were jailed for a total of 13 years at the High Court in Edinburgh, while a fourth walked free in return for giving evidence.He appeared from custody at Perth Sheriff Court yesterday, where depute fiscal Alan Kempton told the court that Dickson had been faced with at least 22 months’ further imprisonment when he took the decision to flee.He explained that Dickson had been serving the latter part of his sentence at Castle Huntly, having been transferred from HMP Perth on June 20, 2006.“On December 23, 2006, the accused was released from Castle Huntly on temporary licence,” Mr Kempton said.“He was to return no later that 4pm on December 28, but by 7pm on the 28th he has still not returned and a warrant was issued for his arrest.“The accused was subsequently arrested in Spain, having been living in Malaga, on October 13, 2008.”Solicitor Michelle Renton told the court that her client had surrendered himself to the police in Spain after he became aware that they were looking for him.She said, “He was given his release from Castle Huntly for the Christmas holidays.“He decided to abscond because his mother—who along with his father lived in Malaga in Spain—had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.“He absconded to care for her and he did so until she died on May 8, 2008.“While in Spain, together with attending to his mother’s needs, he rented a property and was working.“He was a law-abiding citizen in Spain, for what that is worth.”Miss Renton said her client’s extradition warrant had later come to the attention of the Spanish authorities.She said, “After handing himself in, he co-operated fully with the extradition procedure.”The accused spent two months in a Spanish cell before being extradited back to Scotland and Perth Prison.Dickson, described as a prisoner at Perth, admitted absconding from HMP Castle Huntly, Longforgan, on December 28, 2006 having been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment at Edinburgh High Court on March 5, 2002 in relation to drugs offences.
Sheriff William Gilchrist said, “To abscond from open prison is a serious offence, whatever the motivation.”The sheriff sentenced Dickson to an additional 12 months’ imprisonment.He will also have to serve out the remaining 22 months of his original sentence.

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John McKeon, from Finglas in Dublin, has been missing presumed dead in Spain for over three years.

Organised crime unit of the Spanish police is investigating the murder of Richard Keogh (30), from Cabra in Dublin. Security sources in Spain say the killing is believed to be drugs related. Keogh, a father of four children aged between two and nine years, was wounded several times after at least 10 shots were fired in a drive-by shooting in Benalmadena Costa near Marbella. He was walking along a pavement with this wife at about 11.35pm on Saturday when a car pulled up and at least one occupant opened fire. Keogh collapsed on the pavement outside the Torrequebrada Hotel. The dead man is originally from Carnlough Road, Cabra, but in recent years had settled with his family in the Belfry estate, Duleek, Co Meath. On November 2nd, 2007, Keogh was putting his bin out for collection when a gunman fired at least five shots at him as his wife and two-year-old son looked on. He was wounded in the shoulder and arm but managed to run back into the safety of his home. His attacker tried to run into the house but Keogh’s partner slammed the door shut as a number of bullets hit the house. Shortly after the murder attempt, Keogh put his five bedroom detached property up for sale and moved with his partner and children to southern Spain. Keogh has been a target of the Garda National Drug Unit for a number of years as part of Operation Rugby and Operation Banish. He was associated with a man from Cabra who was a member of an international gang caught with cocaine valued at €400 million off the coast of Spain a number of years ago. Keogh’s assets are currently being investigated by the Criminal Assets Bureau. Garda sources said they regarded Keogh a “significant player” in the drugs trade here. The deceased was one of a growing number of gangland figures involved in the motor trade in Dublin. He was a partner in a garage in the north inner city. Garda sources said that while he had addresses in Balbriggan and Duleek before moving to Spain, he remained closely associated with drug dealers from Cabra and from Dublin’s north inner city. He and was also associated with the Finglas-based gang once led by Martin “Marlo” Hyland.
Gardaí suspect that when Keogh moved to Spain he began sourcing cocaine and other drugs from international gangs there for export to his contacts in Ireland. They believe his murder is most likely linked to a drugs dispute with an international cartel rather than with any Irish criminals based in Benalmadena Costa. Southern Spain is popular with Irish gangs because it is the European distribution hub for cocaine smuggled from Colombia via West Africa. Keogh’s murder is the latest in a series of killings in which Irish drug dealers have been shot after relocating to continental Europe. Peter Mitchell (39), of Summerhill in Dublin, was wounded in a shooting in Marbella last August. He was a one-time associate of John Gilligan. Drug dealer Paddy Doyle, of Portland Place, in Dublin, was shot dead near Marbella last February. The former leaders of the notorious Dublin Westies gang, Shane Coates and Stephen Sugg, were shot dead in Alicante, southern Spain, in early 2004. John McKeon, from Finglas in Dublin, has been missing presumed dead in Spain for over three years. Cork drug dealer Michael “Danser” Ahern was found dead in the freezer of an apartment in Portugal in 2005.

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Richard Keogh.has been shot dead in a gangland-style attack in Spain’s Costa del Sol.

Richard Keogh.has been shot dead in a gangland-style attack in Spain’s Costa del Sol. The victim, aged 30, was gunned down in the resort of Benalmadena, near Torremolinos, at around 11.30pm last night.It is understood the victim,was walking down the street when a gunman arrived in a car and fired several shots. Originally from Carnlough Road in Cabra, he moved to Spain two years ago after a previous attempt on his life in Duleen, Co Louth.According to reports, the father-of-four died after a car pulled up and a gunman fired at least 10 shots at him.Gardai said they will assist the police force in Spain with their investigation in to the gun attack. “An Irish national was shot dead in Spain,” said a spokeswoman.
“We will co-operate if requested to and will assist in whatever way we can,” she said.Keogh has been shot dead in a gangland style attack in the resort of Benalmadena, near Torremolinos in Spain at approximately 11.30pm last night. Police in the Costa del Sol have launched an investigation into the fatal attack.It is understood the victim may be from Co Meath. The 30-year-old,Keogh was walking down the street when a gunman arrived on the scene by car. He fired several shots and the victim was hit a number of times. It is understood he died at the scene.It has been reported police are investigating the possibility that the murder was linked to a turf war between rival drug gangs in the area.

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Banco Santander SA,Spanish authorities want to know what officials at Banco Santander knew about Madoff’s alleged fraud

Banco Santander SA, one of the largest banks in Spain, has been caught up in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme scandal. And now, Spanish authorities want to know what officials at Banco Santander knew about Madoff’s alleged fraud, and when they knew it.

Numerous individuals, institutions and hedge funds lost money because of Madoff’s alleged scheme. But according to the Associated Press, losses for Banco Santander’s clients were among th highest of any bank linked to Madoff’s invesment advisory business. Those clients were invested in the Optimal Strategic US Equity Fund, which is managed by a unit of Banco Santander. That fund has lost more than $3.1 billion as a result of investing with Madoff, the Associated Press said.

Shortly after the U.S. FBI arrested Madoff for securities fraud last December, Spain’s anticorruption prosecutor began investigating the relationship between Banco Santander and the accused swindler. The prosecutor wants to know whether managers of the Optimal Strategic US Equity Fund knew of problems at Madoff’s operations when they marketed the vehicle to investors. A key question is why Santander Chairman Emilio Botín sent one of his chief lieutenants to see Madoff in New York just weeks before the alleged Ponzi scheme collapsed.
They are also looking at the timing of the resignation of Manuel Echeverría, who The Wall Street Journal said presided over the Optimal fund while it built its relationship with Madoff. He left the bank on June 30, 2008 after 19 years there. Five colleagues also quit at the same time.Others have questioned the methods Banco Santander used to recruit investors for the Optimal fund, and some lawyers representing Santander clients claim the bank made a practice of steering unqualified investors to Optimal.According to a report on Bloomberg.com, Santander branch managers channeled customers with money from property sales or inheritances to private banking salespeople, who convinced them to sink their money into the Optimal Strategic US Equity Fund. These investors reportedly included a retired school teacher who put $388,000 - half her savings - in the fund. In another case, a street vendor was convinced to invest more than $400,000 in lottery winnings in the fund. That client had to return to street vending after Santander lost his winnings.So far, Banco Santander has maintained that because the Optimal funds losses were the result of fraud, it will not be compensating its clients.

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Police in Argentina confiscating and seizing over 300 kilos of Cocaine!

Police in Argentina confiscating and seizing over 300 kilos of Cocaine!
Sources said the drug is worth of more than two million U.S. dollars in Argentina’s illegal market, and the value could increase to 12 million euros (about 16 million dollars) once it lands in Europe

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Madrid, Ronald O'Dea, 42, and James McDonald, 39,Stephen Denis Brown, 42 and Brian Rawlings, 63,are expected to spend several months in prison

Ronald O'Dea, 42, and James McDonald, 39, both from Glasgow, were detained following police raids in November. Londoners Stephen Denis Brown, 42 and Brian Rawlings, 63, were also arrested in a joint operation with the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency. The men are expected to spend several months in prison before facing trial at the National Criminal Court in Madrid. The operation also resulted in the arrest of Gerard Mooney, from Dublin, in October 2008. It is alleged that a truck that he was driving to Scotland contained 70kg of speed when it was stopped by police near Oxford. The subsequent raids in Marbella, on the Costa del Sol, and Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, resulted in the Britons being arrested. The money laundering charges relate to the seizure of property in Spain along with luxury goods worth nearly £11m. These included a Ferrari F430 Spyder, a 599 Fiorano, two Hummers, a Porsche Cayenne turbo, an Audi Q7, a Mercedes 63 AMG and two BMWs. A luxury yacht was also confiscated.

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EEC report on Land Grab law and real estate abuse in Valencia

European Parliament is threatening to freeze funding to Spain unless real estate abuses are brought to an end.Attack on the Spanish judicial system contained in the report from Danish M.P. Margarete Auken, was not welcomed by the Spanish.

Spanish Euro MP’s from both the Socialists PSOE, and the Partido Popular, say they will add amendments to the draft of the report on the land grab and other alleged real estate abuse carried out in Spain, which was presented yesterday by the Danish parliamentarian, Margarete Auken, to the Petitions Commission of the European Parliament. They have until the 27th of this month to present their amendments. The proposed modifications will be voted on February 11.

The Green Danish MP suggests a moratorium on all town planning in the Valencia region unless that water supplies for the new properties are guaranteed, and wants a reform of the town planning legislation in the region. She says that European funding could be withdrawn from Spain if the abuse does not end, and criticises the Spanish Constitutional Court for not protecting the rights of purchasers by not firmly applying article 33 of the Spanish Constitution which refers to private property.That attack on the Spanish Constitution brought the response from the PP Euro deputy, José Manuel García Margallo, who said the text was barbaric.
Socialist Euro deputy, Maruja Sornosa, said the text could be improved and announced amendments against the part of the text which attacked the Spanish Judicial System. She also wanted to see the moratorium removed, with a grand new town planning agreement put in its place and also wanted the threat to remove European funding removed from the text.The draft was approved however by the Green Euro MP, David Hammerstein.The presentation of the draft in Brussels has caused great effect in the Valencia region where most of the town planning abuses are based, although both Andalucía and Murcia are included. President of the Generalitat regional government in Valencia, Francisco Camps, called on the Socialists to apologise for their behaviour and allegations made, he said, to damage town planning in the Valencia region, blaming them for job losses in the construction sector. Government delegate, Ricardo Peralta, responded to that by saying the problems in Valencia came from the economic crisis and not from the reports from Brussels.The Auken report is the third EU report about building in Spain and comes after reports in 2005 and 2007, all highly critical of building law in the country. The Valencia region is at the centre of them all.

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Juan Antonio Roca,fourth section of the Penal Hall of the National Court is to make public the sentence

The fourth section of the Penal Hall of the National Court is to make public the sentence against the ex Real Estate Assessor of the Marbella Town Hall, Juan Antonio Roca, and the five others accused in the Saqueo money laundering corruption case, on Friday.The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor has asked for a ten year prison sentence for Roca, for allegedly diverting public funds away from the Marbella Town Hall to private companies over the years 1991 to 1995.

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lese majeste cases ,Thai police formally charged leading leftist commentator Giles Ungpakorn on Tuesday with insulting the king

Thai police formally charged leading leftist commentator Giles Ungpakorn on Tuesday with insulting the king, the latest in a slew of lese majeste cases critics say are stifling dissent and freedom of speech.Following are details of some of those who have recently fallen foul of the law, which carries between 3 and 15 years in prison for insults or threats to the deeply revered monarchy.In many cases, the status of the investigation is unclear due to police reluctance to discuss the taboo issue of the monarchy's role in politics, which is officially nil.

JAKRAPOB PENKAIR - A spokesman for ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Jakrapob had to resign as a minister in the pro-Thaksin government in May after being accused of slandering the king in a talk at Bangkok's Foreign Correspondents' Club.

JONATHAN HEAD - The British BBC correspondent in Bangkok has received three lese majeste complaints. One was related to an online BBC story not written by Head which did not place the photograph of the king at the top of the page, as is customary in Thailand.

CHOTISAK ONSOONG - The young political activist was accused by police in April of insulting the monarchy for refusing to stand during the royal anthem that precedes all movie screenings in Thailand.

JITRA KOTCHADEJ - A union activist and friend of Chotisak, Jitra was fired by bosses at her clothing factory in August for appearing on a TV panel discussion wearing a T-shirt saying "Not standing is not a crime," a reference to Chotisak.It is not known if she has been charged by police.

SULAK SIVARAKSA - A leading academic and long-time critic of the lese majeste law, the 75-year-old was taken from his Bangkok home late one night in November and driven 450 km (280 miles) to a police station in the northeast province of Khon Kaen.
There, he was charged with insulting the monarchy in a university lecture he gave in December the previous year.

HARRY NICOLAIDES - An Australian author, English teacher and long-time resident of Thailand, Nicolaides was sentenced to three years in jail this week for defaming the crown prince in his 2005 novel, 'Verisimilitude'. Only seven copies of the book were sold.

DARUNEE CHARNCHOENGSILPAKUL - More commonly known as "Da Torpedo," the pro-Thaksin campaigner was arrested in July after delivering an exceptionally strong 30-minute speech denouncing the 2006 coup and the monarchy.She is thought still to be behind bars, although it is not known if she has been formally charged.

SUWICHA THAKHOR - Suwicha was arrested last week on suspicion of posting comments on the Internet that insulted the monarchy. His arrest coincided with a speech by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva saying the law should not be abused.

OLIVER JUFER - The Swiss national was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2007 for spraying black paint on huge public portraits of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. He was pardoned and deported after serving four months.

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VERISIMILITUDE:Enslavement of Thai women into the sex industry are revealed

"The grim reality about generational debt bondage in the Third World
and the enslavement of Thai women into the sex industry are revealed
in VERISIMILITUDE. Towns in Northern Thailand whose populations have
been decimated by the AIDS virus have been left as dustbowls
littered with orphans, widows and stray dogs. This is the horror of
the truth not dissembled by politicians, deconstructed by academics
or finessed by journalists."

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Jeff Johnson arrived to report that he had just been stabbed whilst drinking with his wife at a friend’s bar

Police and medics were called out to the police box at Soi Nernplubwan on Sunday 11th January, after Mr. Jeff Johnson arrived to report that he had just been stabbed whilst drinking with his wife at a friend’s bar. Apparently, the 59 year old got into an argument with the owner, named as Alan, which turned nasty as he stabbed Mr. Johnson in the chest. He was rushed to hospital and an investigation is now under way about the incident.

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Three Frenchmen Enriquez, 29, Sanz-Fernandez, 39 and Zaidi aged 36, charged with the serious crime of drug possession and drug taking

Three Frenchmen found themselves at Pattaya Police Station on the morning of the 20th January, charged with the serious crime of drug possession and drug taking. The three, Enriquez, 29, Sanz-Fernandez, 39 and Zaidi aged 36, together with two teenage Thai women were given urine tests which proved positive to taking drugs. They were caught in a police raid at an apartment in Soi Bonkai 2, South Pattaya where they were involved in a swinging sex and drug party. The men, who have only recently arrived in Pattaya, all denied the allegations even though two large packets of marihuana were seized as evidence against them. They have all been detained for further questioning.

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VERISIMILITUDE:Harry Nicolaides The offensive passage quote(illegal for them to repeat the passage)

According to news reports, the offensive passage in Verisimilitude amounts to three sentences that concern the romantic life of an unnamed crown prince

."From King Rama to the Crown Prince, the nobility was renowned for
their romantic entanglements and intrigues. The Crown Prince had
many wives "major and minor "with a coterie of concubines for
entertainment. One of his recent wives was exiled with her entire
family, including a son they conceived together, for an undisclosed
indiscretion. He subsequently remarried with another woman and
fathered another child. It was rumoured that if the prince fell in
love with one of his minor wives and she betrayed him, she and her
family would disappear with their name, familial lineage and all
vestiges of their existence expunged forever."

As reporters covering Nicolaides were warned that it would be just as illegal for them to repeat the passage as it was for him to publish it, news reports I've seen don't say what the disrespectful sentences are. They do say that the law Nicolaides broke has never been invoked by the royal family itself, always by government officials who say the offense puts national security at risk.

Why? Because Thai democracy is constantly falling apart and being patched back together, and the near universal reverence in which the Thai people hold their King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 81, has been deemed indispensable to keeping the country in one piece. Here's blogger Sean Nelson, an American who's taught in Thailand, calling Nicolaides a "fool," adding, "To openly publish such a book and remain in Thailand is asking for trouble."

Nelson continues, "If you do some research on the life of King Bhumibol, you'll see a great man. He's used his ancient powers to up-lift (in a close and personal way) impoverished rural Thais. He took a strong interest in up-lifting the far North of his nation out of suffering and opium-growing. Coffee is now the thriving crop and the land is ideal for it. Not only has he crossed boundaries by allowing commoners to openly look at him, but also to lay hands on him (laugh if you will, but it's a profound symbol.) Considering the culture to which he belongs, he has been a strong force for liberty and equality in Thailand. And, in my possibly wrong opinion, expatriates who under-mine the royal family or the crown prince shit where they sleep."Which, from the descriptions of prison life in Bangkok, might be what Harry Nicolaides will be doing for the next three years. Unless the king pardons him -- and given the king's forgiving history with a law he has said he personally regrets, this is an outcome that's not only possible but even, we must hope, likely.
There are bloggers who maintain that Verisimilitude is so obscure they question whether the book actually exists. They seem to be looking for reasons not to sympathize with Nicolaides. But here's a post from the Akha Heritage Foundation (the Akha are a tribe who live in the hills of northern Thailand) that not only claims the book exists but reviews it, calling it a "trenchant commentary on the political and social life of contemporary Thailand....Savage, ruthless and unforgiving, VERISIMILITUDE pulls away the mask of benign congeniality that Thailand has disguised itself with for decades and reveals a people who are obsessed with Western affluence and materialism and who trade their cultural integrity and personal honour for the baubles of Babylonian America." Then the post prints what it claims is an excerpt from Nicolaides's book, an excerpt describing the romantic exploits of a crown prince. Read it if you dare, but then don't plan a vacation to Thailand.The Akha Heritage Foundation post says, "Write the Thai Government, the Australian Government, and demand his release." That would be a welcome development, and I'm not sure their post brings it any closer.

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Lese majeste.In Thailand, this provision is routinely used to silence any form of criticism of the government

Lese majeste literally means an offense or crime committed against the ruler or supreme power of a state - or, in other words, the crime of dissent. In Thailand, this provision is routinely used to silence any form of criticism of the government.

A recent case that has been brought to our attention is that of Associate Professor Giles Ji Ungpakorn, from the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University. He is facing Lese Majeste charges for writing a book A Coup for the Rich, which criticised the 2006 military coup. He also wrote an article on the coup for Asia Sentinel. Others who have been accused of Lese Majeste are former government minister Jakrapop Penkae, who asked a question at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club in Bangkok, about exactly what kind of Monarchy they have in Thailand. There is also the case of Chotisak Oonsung, a young student who failed to stand for the King’s anthem in the cinema. Apart from this there are the cases of Da Topedo and Boonyeun Prasertying. In addition to those who opposed the coup, the BBC correspondent Jonathan Head, an Australian writer names Harry Nicolaides and social critic Sulak Sivaraksa are also facing charges. The latest person to be thrown into jail and refused bail is Suwicha Takor, who is charged with Lese Majeste for surfing the internet.

The Thai Minister of Justice has called for a blanket ban on reporting these cases in the Thai media. The mainstream Thai media are obliging. Thus there is a medieval style witch hunt taking place in Thailand with secret trials in the courts.

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Sentenced Harry Nicolaides to six years in prison

Shuffling to the front of the court in leg chains, he said one muted word: "Guilty."
The judges sentenced Nicolaides to six years in prison, reduced to three because he pleaded guilty.Thailand is one of the few nations in the world to retain the archaic lese majeste law and the penalty is a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison and a maximum of 15 years.Nicolaides' brother, Forde Nicolaides, said last night his family was extremely distressed at the outcome of the case."We will now do all that we can to ensure that Harry remains strong, healthy and positive in the circumstances," he said."Harry does not intend to appeal the decision but … wishes to focus … on considering an application for royal pardon."

writing three ill-conceived sentences in a novel that sold fewer than 10 copies, Melbourne man Harry Nicolaides was yesterday sentenced to three years in a Thai prison.

Barefoot, wearing leg shackles and looking drawn and weary, Nicolaides stood to hear his sentence.The would-be writer was arrested at Bangkok Airport on August 31 last year on charges of lese majeste — the crime of maligning the revered Thai monarchy.A book he had written in 2006, Verisimilitude, contained a brief reference to an unnamed crown prince. The passage was deemed insulting and a complaint was made to the police.On his way home to Melbourne in late August, the 41-year-old apparently had no idea a warrant for his arrest had been issued months earlier.Nicolaides was charged, repeatedly denied bail and finally brought to a Bangkok court yesterday for his long-awaited trial.
Hyperventilating and crying, Nicolaides said his time in prison has been "torture". "This has to be a bad dream," he said. "I've faced uncertainty for five months." Nicolaides said although he had lived and worked in Thailand, he was ignorant of the consequences of the lese majeste law."I was aware an obscure law existed. I did not believe it would apply to me," he said."I didn't have the foresight to contemplate that my words would offend."Since his arrest, Nicolaides has been held in a cell along with dozens of Thai prisoners. His family fears his health is failing and the emotional pressure is taking its toll.With his voice catching, he went on to say he had no idea who had filed the complaint against him. He had no intention of insulting the king, he said, and he respected the king as he respected his father."Words are empty vessels that we fill with meaning; the person who made that complaint filled those words with meaning all their own," he said.
The judges were forced to impose a jail term when Nicolaides declined to fight the case

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Spain was last week one of three eurozone countries warned over its public finances

"I wish we could leave the eurozone. That way we could devalue."

Spain was last week one of three eurozone countries warned over its public finances in the space of three days, underlining the parlous state of the single currency economies. Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's said Spain could face a downgrade after entering recession in the fourth quarter, citing concerns about its high private sector debt as well as its deteriorating public finances. Greece and Ireland were also put on notice by S&P - with a downgrade driving up their borrowing costs. S&P said Spain had to cut public spending to match falling government revenues.
million newly built properties now remain unsold. Prices have plummeted and construction has ground to a halt

."This is different to anything we have experienced before," finance minister Pedro Solbes admitted in El País newspaper, and warned of a nightmare 2009.

The economy will shrink by 1.6%. The budget deficit will come close to 6%. "We have used up the margin we had in public spending," he said. Solbes's predictions reveal the depth of suffering to come. By the end of this year, 16% will be unemployed.
By that measure Spain has far-and-away the most troubled economy in Europe. It shed a million jobs last year, a feat not managed by any other European country since the 1930s, according to El Mundo newspaper. Another million jobs are expected to go this year. Spain already has as many unemployed workers as Germany, a country with almost double its population. Spain's savings banks predict unemployment of 18%. "That is surely impossible. It is the stuff of social revolution," commented one senior trade unionist."The real problems will come in the second half of this year," said Victor Renes of the charity Caritas - when the first wave of jobless will be reduced to minimal aid from one of western Europe's less generous welfare systems. Caritas has already seen demand for help leap 75% in 2008.Immigration has increased eightfold in a decade. It is so new that Spaniards have never competed for jobs with foreigners in a recession before. "I am worried that we will see racism and xenophobia," said Renes.With almost a third of the workforce on short-term contracts, sending workers to the dole queue has been relatively easy. Getting them back into work may not be so simple. An emergency €11bn (£10bn) public works programme will keep some in work this year. Javier Morillas of San Pablo-CEU university warns: "These are merely temporary measures. They have no long-term impact." Spain trails Europe's other leading economies in areas such as productivity, education and research and those who left school early for well-paid jobs on building sites are poorly prepared.
Spain may start to pull itself out of recession by the end of the year but meaningful growth will be harder to achieve, said José Carlos Diez of Intermoney.
Tight regulation means Spain's banking sector escaped the credit crunch without government rescues. Some, like Banco Santander, have gone shopping - snatching up Sovereign in the US and adding Alliance & Leicester and parts of Bradford and Bingley to the business.The building bust, however, will still hurt them. The banks' problem is not mortgages, but money owed by builders and developers. This accounts for 40% of loans and a majority of bad ones. Socialist prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is blaming Spain's problems on external factors such as the credit crunch. "This is a national emergency," said shadow finance minister Cristóbal Montoro. "Trying to solve our problems with public spending is a huge error."

Developer has shut his sales shop, halted building and handed 2,000 homes over to the banks. In his hardware store Barrios proposed a solution. "I wish we could leave the eurozone," he said. "That way we could devalue."

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Woman was shot in the leg by a man who tried to steal her car on Avenida Juan Carlos I in Estepona.

Woman was shot in the leg by a man who tried to steal her car on Avenida Juan Carlos I in Estepona. On Tuesday a Mercamálaga employee was jumped and mugged of more than one thousand euros takings which he was on his way to bankTwo thieves armed with a gun and a knife jumped a man as he was about to leave for work in Vélez-Málaga on Friday morning, and stole a case he was carrying which contained 60,000 euros worth of jewellery. The victim, a jewellery sales representative, was overpowered by his assailants but managed to scream for help. At that moment, the victim's cousin, who happened to be passing by, came to his aid but was stabbed in the hand by one of the thieves. He was later taken to the Vélez-Málaga hospital with a serious injury.Witnesses say that the two thieves fled the scene in a getaway car, in which two other men were waiting, and drove off towards Malaga city. The victim told the police that the suspects had a foreign accent.

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