boyfriend of the Chinese woman who was found dead in a warehouse on the Guadalhorce industrial estate in Málaga last week has been remanded to custody in connection with her death

The boyfriend of the Chinese woman who was found dead in a warehouse on the Guadalhorce industrial estate in Málaga last week has been remanded to custody in connection with her death.
The pair had only been in the country a week when the body of 27 year old J.C. was found in a room in the lingerie warehouse where she and her boyfriend had been staying while on holiday in Spain.

A hammer and a cutter knife where found lying beside her body and are believed to have been the weapons which were used to kill her.
The boyfriend, who is also from China, was arrested in Málaga on Saturday and is understood from police sources quoted by El País to have spent the days while he was being sought by police hiding out in Guadalhorce.

The suspect was remanded to custody by a Málaga duty judge on Sunday and the case now passes for further investigation to a domestic violence court.

Read more: http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_28290.shtml#ixzz180Vtl3DD

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Planning Department employee is said to have also asked the woman for money to let the irregularities pass unnoticed

An employee from the planning department in Calvià Town Hall has been arrested by the Civil Guard for allegedly offering to turn a blind eye to irregularities in a local building project in return for sexual favours from the owner of the property.

It’s understood from El Mundo that the Town Hall took the decision to suspend their member of staff without pay last Friday once they investigated the situation after being informed of what had happened by the woman concerned. She also told them that the suspect had asked her for money to allow the irregular work to go ahead.

The Town Hall then put the matter in the hands of the local Civil Guard and the man was arrested on Monday morning.

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paid 6 million € in deposits in the years 2005 and 2006 for 350 apartments in the Estepona Beach and Country Club, via the British real estate company, Ocean View Properties.

case relates to deposits and monies paid for 350 apartments in the Estepona Beach and Country Club

El Mundo reports today on the case of a hundred or so purchasers from Northern Ireland who between them paid 6 million € in deposits in the years 2005 and 2006 for 350 apartments in the Estepona Beach and Country Club, via the British real estate company, Ocean View Properties.

The newspaper brought some 70 families of those affected to a meeting in Belfast where the Marbella lawyer, Antonio Flores, from the company lawbird.com explained that the urbanisation was promoted by the Spanish company Sun Golf Desarrollos Inmobiliarios S.L. 

The lawyer explained that there was a ‘commercialisation agreement’ between Sun Golf and Ocean View, under which the latter was to pay commissions to the former for the collection of deposits. Ocean View also found lawyers in both Spain and the U.K. to represent them and recommend the promotion.

Lawbird now has the idea of starting legal action in the Estepona courts, although they have not ruled out starting proceedings in the National Court because the single administrator of Sun Golf, Ricardo Miranda Miret, has his headquarters in Madrid, and the Ocean View representatives are based in Britain.

Similar frauds to the Estepona development are alleged to have been carried out in Morocco and the Dominican Republic.

The Northern Ireland victims have called for a meeting with the N.I Prime Minister, Peter Robinson, over the matter, and have also lamented the lack of coverage of the case in the Ulster media.

El Mundo prints statements from many of those defrauded, who say they were told the LTA British Tennis Federation were to invest, and that they were told that Disney World was going to Estepona.

Read more: http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_28281.shtml#ixzz180Ut58HN

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Enrique Morente, is now reported to be be ‘brain dead’

famous flamenco singer suffered complications after surgery at the start of the month in Madrid

One of Spain’s best known flamenco singers,Enrique Morente, is now reported to be be ‘brain dead’ after complications following surgery in Madrid on December 4 and 6. The 67 year old entered a coma last Friday, and a statement said then that he had suffered a brain haemorrhage after the original operation which was for cancer of the oesophagus.

A statement from the Clínica de la Luz on Monday confirmed that the singer is now brain dead, although machines are keeping his life signs constant.

Enrique Morente is the patriarch of a Granada family of singers and artists, considered to central to contemporary flamenco in Spain.

The family have issued several statements of thanks for the repeated concern and affection shown to them since his admittance to hospital. 

Read more: http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_28283.shtml#ixzz180UN02Cx

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US embassy cables: IRA used 'respectable businessmen' during Irish boom to buy properties in Spain | UK news | guardian.co.uk

US embassy cables: IRA used 'respectable businessmen' during Irish boom to buy properties in London and Spain UK news guardian.co.uk: "Irish criminal justice officials are convinced that pound sterling notes seized in Dublin and Cork in mid-February in an apparent IRA-tied money-laundering scheme was money stolen from Belfast's Northern Bank. Police are attempting to establish forensic links between the seizures and robbery in order to bring charges by late 2005, with a court case to follow a year later. Irish investigators continue to pursue a possible Bulgarian link to the money-laundering scheme, but are reluctant to provide details on exchanges with Bulgarian counterparts. The Bulgarian Ambassador in Dublin denies any Bulgarian involvement and wishes that Ireland would close off this line of inquiry publicly. Irish officials, more generally, remain concerned that IRA funds acquired through sophisticated investments are seeping into resources available for Sinn Fein's political activities in the Republic of Ireland. Post expects that Irish officials will remain reticent on details of the money-laundering investigation until charges are filed. End summary."

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Spains longest serving prisoner goes on hunger strike after he is moved to new prision

Spains longest serving prisoner goes on hunger strike after he is moved to new prision: "Miguel Montes Neira, considered to be the longest serving prisoner in Spain, having to date spent 34 years behind bars for concurrent crimes (none for violent crimes) has started a hunger strike to protest his impending transfer to a Huelva prision, where he has no family connections.

The prisoner, who has been serving a prison sentence since October 7, 1976 by a score of cases, was admitted for two years in prison in Jaen II, where he arrived from the prison of Granada, but a week ago was sent to Huelva, just as his defense and his family were preparing to order a recount of his time in prison to the court prison supervision.

Neira Montes, 60 years old, asks to be set free due to the length of time he has spent, or at least in the meantime, whilst his parole is considered, to be transferred to the prison in Cordoba, where his daughters live."

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Celebrity Lifestyle Fraudsters Jailed - UK Broadcast Film and Television News

Celebrity Lifestyle Fraudsters Jailed - UK Broadcast Film and Television News: "Five gang members have been jailed for 15 years for stealing £17m of taxpayer’s money in a complicated ‘missing trader’ VAT fraud.

During a four and a half year investigation, criminal investigators from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) smashed the multi million pound fraud, centred on the mobile phone industry. VAT claims to steal a further £5m had been made, but these were stopped from being paid.

Paperwork recovered during house searches showed that the gang were planning on a further fraud to steal an additional £300m of VAT from the public purse, however this plot was foiled.

Gary Lampon, Assistant Director of Criminal Investigation for HMRC, said: “This was organised fraud on a massive scale used to blatantly fund the extravagant lifestyles of this criminal gang at the expense of the British taxpayer. ‘Missing trader’ fraud is not merely a paper fraud, it is organised crime and we are determined to pursue and bring to justice the criminals behind this type of fraud and confiscate the proceeds of their crimes.”

The gang used the proceeds of their crime to purchase high value items in cash including; several UK properties worth over £1m each, performance cars including a Rolls Royce Phantom for £250,000, a Ferrari for £165,000, and a property in Spain valued at over £1million."

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