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Deal with the devil
CHOKING
It added such levels could cause ‘serious environmental and health problems’ to the local population. The European Commision has already calculated that up to 50,000 people die prematurely from air pollution caused by ships, in particular due to emissions of sulphur and nitrogen oxide. Both groups are calling for much stricter regulations on pollutants by these vessels, in a bid to cut back on pollution.
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Vol. 3 Issue 69 www.gibraltarolivepress.com April 25th - May 8th 2018
BAD AIR: In Gib
GREEN groups are warning that pollution from ships could be seriously damaging the health of Gibraltarians. A damning report by Ecologistas en Accion, alongside German ecological group NABU, claims that ultra-fine particles from boats in the Straits are up to 70 times higher than in cities. The study claimed that one recent reading measured 143,000 ultra-fine particles per cubic centimetre in the air near the Rock. While the local group Verdemar admitted the measure was taken just after the departure of a ship the difference between ‘normal’ city levels of approximately 2,000 particles per cubic centimetre is ‘alarming’.
An Olive Press campaign leads to landmark breakthrough for lethal drug which killed countless expats
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Trust linked to government minister buys key Rock property from Syria’s evil ‘Butcher of Hama’ By Laurence Dollimore
A GIBRALTAR office building owned by the uncle of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is being bought in a knock-down deal by a company linked to a government minister. Europort Trust, managed by Financial Services Minister Albert Isola and two of his relatives, is selling 6-9 Europort owned by ‘the Butcher of Hama’ Rifaat al-Assad for £13 million under a valuation price, a court judgement shows. The sensational ruling - which the Isola family tried to keep private - reveals that the property was bought for £17.5 million, well under its official £31 million value. And furthermore, the contro-
MAKING A KILLING: Rifaat cashing in via Isola versial deal was brokered by a sister company - Fiduciary - also run by the family trusts of Lawrence, Albert and Peter Isola. The purchase is set to go through despite hundreds of Assad’s properties around France, Spain and the UK being currently embargoed by the authorities, while he is being probed for money laundering, corruption and tax evasion. It also comes to light in the same month that Syrian dictator Bashar Assad was accused again of gassing opponents
and his own civilians - includcourt ruling, the property is being many children - during the ing sold to Glenthorne Trust, bloody civil war. which, again, is Ironically the build75% owned by the CRIM E ing houses various family trusts of No bail for key government Albert SpanLawrence, ish jewel thief bodies, includand Peter Isola. ing the Financial As revealed by the Intelligence Unit Olive Press, last is(GFIU) and even sue, Rifaat - who Albert Isola’s own earned the nickFOUND IN FUENGI ROLA Ministry of Finanname ‘the Butcher cial Services. of Hama’ when he 091 Under the deal, killed up to 25,000 which has been people in a ruthrevealed by a less crackdown on public Supreme BUTCHER: Last issue Sunni Muslims in 2
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NEWS IN BRIEF
Walk of shame
TWO Gibraltarian men have been extradited from Spain, via the land frontier, after a European Arrest Warrant was issued for GBH last August.
Ganja getaway
A DRUG smuggler who rammed a Guardia Civil police car, leaving an officer hospitalised, has been arrested. The 60-yearold from La Linea was caught with 27 bales of cannabis.
Dole dupe
SOME 43 people have been identified in a Social Security racket that defrauded more than €15 million. Conspirators were found in Cádiz, Granada, Malaga and Sevilla.
Stories and features in this edition of Gibraltar’s original community newspaper
Washed out
April 11th - April 24th
Trial set for exiled Syrian who used Gib companies to invest ‘stolen money’ into Spanish properties
THE uncle of Syrian dent Bashar al-Assad Presiis finally set to face trial following a Europe-wide probe leged ill-gotten gains. into alDubbed the ‘Butcher Hama’, Rifaat al-Assad, of amassed his fortune in 80, Syria during the 1980s, before legedly using companies alin Gibraltar and Panama chase more than 500 to purproperties in Spain and dozens of chateaus in France. Spanish cops raided 15 of
2018
A SPANISH thief has refused bail after been caught with watches andbeing jewellery worth 50,000 pounds. Builder Antonio Miguel Sanchez, from Marbella,Leon has
been charged with theft his properties in Marbella at the property in Cormorant from Syria’s coffers by and Puerto Banus last Rifaat Wharf, where he was underafter judge Jose de la year when he was exiled in the Mata 1980s. taking a renovation job. launched a money laundering The owners informed Rifaat and his relatives investigation. believed to have bought are ‘BUTCHER of items missing oncepolice A total of 76 companies 503 ’: Rifaat the and properties, including works had been completed. 16 people connected garages, While property empire, hadto the holiday homes, luxury hotel France. Sanchez denied their apartments and accounts frozen. country es- His largest property in Spain the theft forensic analysis is tates. the 3,000 hectare estate Some €300 million of matched his DNA to DNA lieved to have been is be- Most of the properties are La Maquina, which takes up a found on the jewellery looted in the Marbella boxas well as in third of the area of Benahavis es. and is worth a reported €60 The builder argued in court million. that he had merely moved The total market value of the boxes and other all the family’s properties personal belongings in Spain is reported to be a wardrobe so he stored in a AN Irish expat wanted whopping €691 million. could replace flooring. a dissident republican for the murder of for his trial and Last year, €862 million disappeared with his been arrested on the five years ago has girlfriend. confiscated by the French was Costa del Sol. Dean Evans, from Dublin, Evans, along with 35-year-old thorities, where he is set auScientific is one of three Edward men charged with the on trial later this year. to go murder of father- McGrathand and 46-year-old Sharif KelHowever this was at of-three Peter Butterfly, ly, was due to stand trial He may also face charges odds who was shot on charges conin with his initial dead in a car park Switzerland, where in County Meath in nected with the murder of 35-year-old he has view when he police interMarch 2013. Butterfly. Butterfly was been under investigation denied seeing them or touching anything Spanish police arrested in a car park after he found collapsed since 2013 for war 27-year-old Ev- from had been shot at ans on Thursday lunchtime allegedly committed crimes inside the wardrobe. a in the Stipendiary in Fuengi- It was car and died shortly after. rola. 1980s. alleged that Evans shot Magistrate Butterfly A European arrest Charles Rifaat’s brother expelled warrant was issued while he was sat in the back of the car. him insisting Pitto denied bail, by the Special Criminal McGrath and Kelly from Syria in the 80s his account Court were because was in sentenced Ireland last year, after Evans to he feared he was organising odds with the court’s at failed to show up life in prison after standing trial without eviEvans. political coup. An announce-a dence and the supporting ment on a trial is expected in scientific evidence. the coming weeks. Sanchez will next appear in court on May 2.
1982 - is currently under investigation in many countries. He is alleged to have invested hundreds of millions into property in France and Spain - with more than 500 properties in Marbella alone, it has been alleged. Spanish police raided 15 of his properties in Marbella last year after judge Jose de la Mata launched a money laundering investigation. Many of his Spanish properties were allegedly bought through trusts set up in Gibraltar. According to a high level Gibraltar source, Assad is ‘likely selling the Gibraltar property to unlock some cash while his accounts and property have been embargoed in Spain and France’. He added: “Whatever way you look at this, this is bad for Gibraltar PLC. It is not good for our reputation. “It is surprising that the French and Spanish judges did not force an embargo in Gibraltar too. “Ultimately where did this money come from in the first place?” A legal source added: “This is huge and the whole thing stinks. It’s unlikely to go away in a hurry.”
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MONEY FLOW: How Rifaat and Europort link to Isolas
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