Olive Press Gibraltar Issue 196

P LIVE RESS The O

HOUSING BONANZA Sailing odyssey

THE property market in Gibraltar could be turned upside down after the Gibraltar Government gave the green light for affordable homeowners to sell their flats.

It will mean ordinary working class families that have owned a 30-year-old government flat for at least the last decade will be able to now sell their property on the lucrative private market.

With homes on the Rock going for over £4,000 per square metre, the rewards of the relaxing of lease conditions could make working people very wealthy overnight.

The government decision is a longterm manifesto commitment.

Flats on the Westside reclamation could now be sold at around four or five times their original price.

The government said in a statement that it was ‘fair’ that after 30 years ‘the resale restrictions should no longer apply’.

Affordable

Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said he was ‘proud’ of how his government had built so many affordable homes.

“This will allow families whose needs may have changed in that time to sell on the open market,” Picardo said. But he reminded homeowners of the flats he had built during the latest GSLP/Liberal period in government they would still have to wait some time before being able to sell their flats.

“The prevention of speculation on new affordable properties continues to work in the way that it was always intended to; to provide affordable homes for generations of Gibraltarian families,” he added.

Just in case homeowners are unsure whether they can sell up, they can contact public housing manager Land Property Services for full consent.

The move comes as the government set about building over a thousand new affordable homes over the coming years.

APRIL

How an Olive Press reporter’s joke tortilla caused a national outrage Page 6

A SALVO of artillery fire marked the arrival of the Gotheborg of Sweden, the world’s largest ocean-going wooden sailing ship, to Gibraltar.

Commander British Forces Gibraltar Tom Guy watched the two-minute gun salute with the Gotheborg Stopover Team and CEO of the Gibraltar Tourist Board Kevin Bossino from the balcony of the Tower. Guests had the chance to go aboard to check out the ship. More enthusiastic wannabe seafarers can even pay to work as a deckhand on trips to Jersey or Hamburg.

The ship is a unique replica of the 18th Century ship that ran aground just outside its home port of Gothenburg in 1745.

HOLY GRAIL!

Controversy and debate after Gibraltar’s ex-police chief McGrail is charged with sexual assault

GIBRALTAR’S former police chief has been accused of ‘sexual assault’ in a case described as ‘a fit up’.

Ian McGrail - who is subject of a big political public inquiry - has been charged with the attack on a policewoman in 2018.

In a remarkable level of support, 25 friends and relatives arrived to back him when he attended Gibraltar court on Friday.

One told the Olive Press: “It has raised a lot of eyebrows. It is so unlike him. There is a lot of debate about how and why this has all sud

By John Culatto

ing it was he who had actually ‘uncovered the data breach’. McVea, who himself recently retired from the force after 33 years, has returned to the Rock with a team of Northern Irish and Welsh officers on March 22.

Current Commissioner Richard Ullger said the investigation would be independent and transparent.

Chief Minister Fabian Picardo had finally ordered an inquiry into McGrail’s retirement in February last

At a preliminary hearing, McGrail’s lawyer Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC insisted: “His core allegations are he was put under inappropriate pressure in respect of the conduct of a

The human rights lawyer from London’s Doughty Street Chambers added he was ‘subsequently put under pressure by the same individuals to request early retirement against his

However, Sir Peter Caruana, KC, representing the government, countered the claims, denying he was put under The main hearing will begin on Sep-

tember 25 with Picardo admitting it ‘could be very damaging for Gibraltar’ in a TV interview for GBC

duct of any criminal investigation,” he insisted. He argued he ‘chose to retire because he knew that, having lost the confidence of the Governor and the Chief Minister, his position had become untenable’.

Judge Openshaw insisted that the inquiry would be conducted ‘quite independently’ from the Government. In subsequent hearings, Openshaw invited police officers and then the general public to bring any charge against McGrail before the inquiry. After McGrail’s arrest for the data breach, Openshaw postponed the fourth preliminary hearing set for March 23 until April 12.

He also set the main hearing of the inquiry for September 25 to October 20.

But Opposition leader Keith Azopardi said in a Gibraltar Chronicle opinion piece that ‘there is a public sense in some quarters that there is a desire to derail this inquiry’.

Damaging

He did not mention names in the vague accusation. Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said the inquiry ‘could be very damaging for Gibraltar’ in a TV interview last November.

“I look forward to all the truth coming out,” Picardo told GBC “I think people will realise that I acted entirely properly throughout.”

The Chief Minister is due to give evidence before the man inquiry when it starts in autumn this year.

GET THE FERIA FEVER Set a date with Spain’s biggest and best summer parties with our special guide on page 14

SPOTLIGHT: on McGrail as ‘sex assault’ accusation made

Tough Gig

SPAIN’s largest ever mafia trial was nearly derailed at the end of its first week after one defendant threatened his own lawyer.

One of the 157 accused of drug trafficking in the Campo de Gibraltar told his court-appointed lawyer he would ‘get him in the street.’

The threat, which was made in front of a host of prosecutors, was so intimidating the lawyer immediately resigned from the case and even required medical attention.

As a result, the judge suspended proceedings while a replacement counsel was sought.

Fortunately another defence lawyer agreed to fill in the gap and the trial was able to resume after an hour’s delay.

The mega-trial into the activities of the ‘Los Castañas’ gang, led by the Tejon brothers, is being held in Algeciras and is expected to last at least three months.

Monk to Malaga?

AN Irish gang boss extradited from Spain three years ago has been acquitted by a judge of murder.

Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch, 60, was this week found not guilty of the killing of rival Kinahan clan member, David Byrne. Byrne, who lived on and off in Spain, was gunned down during a boxing weigh-in at Dublin’s Regency Hotel in February, 2016.

Hutch was arrested in a joint operation between Irish and Spanish police in August, 2021 when he went out for a walk near his home where he was hiding out in Fuengirola.

The former crime lord had masterminded a bloody feud with the then Costa del Sol-based Kinahan clan, who now live in Dubai.

The vicious gang war led to at least 20 deaths, many on the streets of Andalucia, as well as

Gang boss ‘The Monk’ could be set for Spain return this week

By Alex Trelinski

in Mallorca.

Yet, only two men connected to the hotel ballroom shooting that day - Jason Bonney and Paul Murphy - were found guilty.

A smiling Hutch was mobbed when he left the Dublin court after Monday’s not guilty verdict but said nothing as he got into a taxi.

Target

Despite being a massive target of the Kinahans, he is still expected to leave for Spain this week - possibly returning to Fuengirola or going to Lanzarote, where he lived for over a

decade.

Two men died after four gangsters, dressed as policemen and one as a woman, tried to assassinate crime boss Daniel Kinahan at the fateful 2016 weigh-in. Kinahan, who organised the fight, was forced to escape through a fire escape of the hotel.

The son of gang boss Christy Kinahan, Daniel, who owned the MTK gym in Puerto Banus, was the main target of the shooting.

The attack was revenge for the murder of Hutch’s nephew, Gary Hutch in Spain.

Another violent attack days later saw Eddie Hutch Snr - the brother of Gerry - killed in his home by four gunmen. Kinahan associate ‘Fat Freddie’

PSYCHED OUT Drug cop ‘Stitched up’

COLLEAGUES of a decorated Guardia Civil detective boss facing charges of bribery have claimed he is being set up by vengeful drug trafficking gangs.

Lieutenant Colonel David Oliva - who led OCON Sur’s crack anti-drug unit in the Campo de Gibraltar - is accused of offering a fellow officer a job in exchange for spying on an internal investigation into his own conduct. Oliva is accused of attending a party thrown by the famous Castanos drug gang he was charged with fighting. Friends claim he is being framed by traffickers furious that he went after their cars, houses and other trappings.

A JUDGE has sent the Moroccan man accused of the terrorist attack that killed a priest in Algeciras to a psychiatric ward in Sevilla.

Yassine Kanjaa, 25, hacked the priest to death with a machete outside a church on January 25.

Police eventually arrested the man as he tried to flee the scene at Plaza Alta near Algeciras port.

Kanjaa had landed in Gibraltar a few years before he returned to Spain, the Rock’s police confirmed.

The Spanish National Court judge made the decision to send Kanjaa to a psychiatric ward on the advice of specialists.

We killed ‘Maradona’

A GANG known as ‘Los Suecos’ (The Swedes) have admitted their involvement in the brutal killing of two people on the Costa del Sol in 2018.

One of the incidents was the notorious shooting of David Avila, known by his nickname of ‘Maradona’, when he was leaving the first communion of his son.

The other took place three months later when Soufian Mohamed was gunned down outside his house in Estepona.

The admission was made by the prime suspect in the case, Ahmed Abdul Karim, to Malaga Provincial court.

Thompson was subsequently arrested and had his clothes confiscated for forensic testing. Judge Tara Burns said that video footage of the two gunmen did not match up to Hutch while audio material suggested he was not in the vicinity of the Regency.

Hutch’s two co-accused, Jason Bonney and Paul Murphy, were convicted of supplying a motor vehicle to a criminal organisation - in effect acting as getaway drivers.

Continuing

Despite Hutch being cleared and the lesser convictions for Bonney and Murphy, Ireland’s Irish Justice Minister, Simon Harris, said the investigation into the killing is still ‘live and continuing’.

The rest of the defendants in the case also accepted their involvement in the killings.

The four members of the gang who are accused of carrying out the killings are facing Spain’s equivalent of life imprisonment, while four accomplices could be jailed for 12 years.

FREE: Hutch leaving court after being cleared

VICTIM:David Avila was gunned down

IBIZA’s world renowned club, Amnesia, will be host ing a series of huge techno parties this summer.

Running from June 11 through to October 8, with a teaser party on April 28, Pyramid will show case some titans of the industry.

Among the big names will be the queen of techno, Charlotte de Witte and housey Chaos in the CBD, as well as Caribou, whose sets are accompanied by a live band. The line up covers all bases of electronic music, from house beats and hard hitting techno to in dietronica, acid and synthy psychedelics.

THANK YOU VERY MUNCH

ANIMALS at a Spanish zoo are chowing down thanks to a high end department store.

El Corte Inglés has agreed to continue supplying BIOPARC Fuengirola with surplus fruit and vegetables at no cost.

Over the past year, El Corte Inglés has

provided the conservation centre with over 16,000 kilos of food, which is used as part of the daily diets of the animals in the park.

The zoo collects food from the department chain’s stores on the Costa del Sol twice a week and prepares personalised menus for its collection of animals.

In total there are nearly 150 different diets which add up to a total of 100 kilos of food per day.

King Felipe and Queen Letizia will be at King Charles III’s coronation in break from tradition

Royal appointment

By Simon Hunter

ing the coronation of King Charles III in London on

They add to the steady stream of guest confirmations for the historic event that also includes royals from Belgium, Denmark and Sweden, among other countries.

The invitation of foreign monarchs to the coronation is a break with tradition. Among those reported to be attending include King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium and Crown Prince

Joining the cub

FIVE Iberian lynx cubs have been born at the El Acebuche breeding centre in Almonte (Huelva). They were born in two litters and are all in good health.

These are the first lynxes born this year at the centre, where seven cubs were born in 2022.

A total of 43 of western Europe’s largest cat were born in Spain last year (20 male and 23 female), most of them in Andalucia.

The Iberian lynx is classed as endangered. In 2002 there were only 94 lynxes but now there are more than 500.

Gran’s the word

Akshino and Crown Princess Kiko of Japan. Felipe and Letizia, who were also in attendance at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in September of last year, are planning to arrive in London the night before the coronation and stay in London for around 24 hours.

Exile

While there was speculation that Spain’s former king and queen, Juan Carlos and Sofia, could also attend the coronation, they are reportedly not among the 2,000 invitees.

Juan Carlos, the disgraced self-styled ‘emeritus king’ who has been living in self-imposed exile in Abu Dhabi since 2020,was due to meet in private with King Charles III this week in London. He is then scheduled to make only his second visit to Spain since a series of financial scandals forced him out of the country. The former king in tends to compete in the Spanish Cup sail ing regatta in Sanxenxo in Galicia, with the Bribon crew in the six-metre class before leaving for Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

SHE was slammed for being too old to be a mum when she had a baby via a surrogate mother. But the revelation that 68-year-old Ana Obregon is in fact going to be a grandmother has done little to calm the storm.

The celebrity has received significant criticism not least because surrogacy is illegal in Spain. But she has now revealed that the baby, Ana Sandra, is in fact the child of her son, Alejandro Lequio Obregon, who passed away three years ago from cancer. When Alejandro was diagnosed, doctors recommended that he freeze his sperm, as is common with many cancer patients that undergo chemotherapy. Before he passed away Alejandro expressed his desire to have children even if he wasn’t around to bring them up.

Obregon has now explained that the only thing that kept her going was the thought of one day bringing her grandchild into this world.

Obregon is legally the mother of her grandchild who was born to a surrogate of Cuban heritage in the US.

Leave those kids alone

COLOMBIAN warbler Shakira has made a plea for her two children to be left alone as the three of them begin a new life in Miami.

“My children, Milan and Sasha, have gone through a very difficult year, suffering relentless harassment and persecution with no respite by the paparazzi and several media outlets in Barcelona,’ she wrote on her social media accounts.

“Now that they are starting a new stage of their lives I earnestly call on the media, in the name of my children, to please respect their right to privacy,” she continued.

Shakira has been constantly in the headlines since her high-profile split 10 months ago with former Barcelona football player Gerard Pique.

Liberty

I

your needs and I’m here to help YOU Let’s talk!

Homing beacon

APPLICATIONS for housing on the Rock can now be made online after the government launched its eServices for the department recently.

Hacker stars

AN all-girls team of 12 to 18-year-olds from the Gibraltar Digital Skills Academy will take part in the CyberCenturion Grand Finals this week.

Young fanfare

GIBRALTAR’S Youth Service held its 60th anniversary celebrations last week that saw various local organisations and charities take part.

Paw of the law

THREE new police dogs, Ron, Jesse and Tina arrived on the Rock to help the Gibraltar Defence Police perform its law enforcement duties, the MoD said.

SALVAGERS of the OS 35 shipwreck are bracing for heavy winds and swells this week that could further break it up and cause more oil spills.

Port workers have removed the protective boom around the sunken ship lying just 700m off Catalan Bay before the wind whips up, potentially damaging it. The forecast storm comes a week after the last five-day spell of easterly winds that tore apart the last remaining section holding the OS 35 together.

During the savage storm, the bottom of the bulk carrier’s hull finally separated into two parts. It had been the only part still keeping the ship together.

As a result, the ship moved from its previous position and shed fuel oil that had been trapped in the pipes from the fuel tank to the engine.

Environmental crews have now nearly finished the cleanup of beaches and coastal areas after that storm.

CRYPTO PAIR NO SHOW

A PAIR of wanted crypto tycoons face arrest warrants after failing to turn up in court. The two operators of shamed crypto exchange Globix failed to show up at Gibraltar Supreme Court last week.

Gibraltarian Damien Carreras and his associate, Russian Pavel Sidirov, did not respond to the court or even send legal representation for an initial hearing. Their company went into liquidation last month amid accusations of fraud and theft and it being a possible ‘Ponzi scheme’.

Despite their no-show, there will be a further hearing on

Globix bosses face arrest warrant after failing to show up for court in Gibraltar

By Walter Finch

June 13, which they must attend or, according to Olive Press legal sources, face arrest warrants for contempt of court.

There are understood to be hundreds of victims around the Rock and in Spain, who may have lost as much as €70 million.

Gibraltar police told the Ol-

reservations: +34 951 74 47 77 / +34 627 12 14 43

clive@cotorestaurante.com

Tuesday to Saturday: 11am-12am Sunday: 11am-6pm Monday: Closed Ctra. de Ronda, A-397, Km. 44, 29679 Benahavís, Málaga

TUNNEL TRIALS

JUST a week after it opened, the runway tunnel on Kingsway was forced to close for about an hour.

A software glitch led to the barriers being closed, blocking vehicles going towards Devil’s Tower Road close. As there were no flights at the time the Ministry of Defence allowed the Royal Gibraltar Police to redirect traffic back along the runway. Neither the northbound traffic heading to the frontier nor the pedestrian subway were affected.

As soon as specialist technicians arrived on the scene, they were able to fix the problem.

Data hater

ive Press they are ‘aware of the Globix issue’ but since the case is still a civil matter no criminal charges have yet been brought. However, the court has already taken out injunctions and disclosure orders against the pair, who are believed to be in Barcelona, Palma and Alicante.

On top of demanding all documentation on the firm, the injunction blocks themand a mysterious ‘unknown person’ - from accessing the Globix funds.

In spite of effectively ceasing to trade in June last year and freezing hundreds of investors out of their funds on the platform, Globix only went offline on March 23 this year. This came nearly a full two weeks after the company went into liquidation on March 10 and while liquidators were attempting to gain access to the system themselves. They are tasked with unrav-

elling the whereabouts of the missing millions, which Carreras, 39, had claimed were in the hands of a mysterious Ukrainian IT firm. But officers of the court investigating the inner workings of the company soon dismissed this story as ‘unlikely’.

Millions

They determined that the missing millions, scattered across a large number of online ‘crypto wallets’, were completely possible to locate and accessible. They have discovered that millions in the wallets ‘were vanishing’ over a space of months that included when Globix was experiencing ‘payment processing issues.’

Just three weeks ago on March 23, €4 million mysteriously disappeared from one Globix wallet containing €14 million.

Rock squash

SQUASH players from Gibraltar did themselves proud on home soil by tackling much larger nations at the Europa Sports Park facilities.

The men and women’s squads both faced tough opposition in their group matches of the European Team Championships Division Three at Europa Point’s high quality sports hall.

Gibraltar Squash Association members helped organised the event, which they hope will improve the Rock’s standing in the sport.

Gibraltar’s men lost to both Italy and Jersey on the first two days of the event to place them last in Group A.

In the resulting play-off, Greece beat them on Thursday but the local side then roared to victory against Guernsey on Friday and Latvia on Saturday.

Gibraltar’s women lost all four Group A matches against Sweden, Italy, Croatia and Malta. Malta and Luxembourg beat them in the play-offs too.

POLICE in Gibraltar will get up-to-the-second access to the UK’s controversial new national police super database when it comes into service.

Royal Gibraltar Police (RGP) officers will be able to get information about people, vehicles and property from the UK’s Law Enforcement Data Service (LEDS). The new UK system will unify the Police National Computer (PNC) and Police National Database that have been in use for 50 years. Reports suggest officers will be able to see information about people from their own personal devices.

Access

“LEDS will allow officers to have immediate access to data on offenders, vehicles, drivers, fingerprints, DNA and information on any missing persons,” the RGP said. The local force said Gibraltar will not share any data with the UK as RGP officers will be restricted to ‘read only access’.

But civil rights groups like Privacy International have voiced their disapproval of the new super-database.

“Numerous agencies and organisations will have access to the information on LEDS, which can be utilised in a way negatively affecting individuals’ lives, employment, state benefits and immigration status,” Privacy International said on its website.

French connection

NEW DNA evidence has revealed that the famous prehistoric Gibraltar 1 skull is more closely related to Neanderthals in the French Mediterranean than those in nearby Western Europe.

A research paper by French archaeologist Dr Ludovik Slimak discovered the striking similarity its genome shared with that of a Neanderthal from Grotte Mandrin near Marseille.

A unique dining experience in a inspiring location boasting stunning views of the Andalusian landscape all the way down to the Mediterranean Sea

OUR HEARTS ARE BROKEN

Brit, 33, arrested in Marbella as Elliott Wright makes moving tribute to doorman who died breaking up a fight

A LEADING expat restaurant has temporarily closed as a tribute to a doorman who died at the weekend.

Olivia’s La Cala, owned by popular British TV celebrity Elliott Wright, shut for two days after popular employee Jose Pisani was killed during a fight.

The 55-years-old father-of-two, who had recently married, was said to have been punched and fell over banging his head when trying to break up the fracas on Saturday.

“This weekend we lost a much loved and valued member of our team,” a statement for the Mijas restaurant, read on social media.

“Our hearts are broken and we have closed today and tomorrow out of respect. We are supporting our staff and the family whilst awaiting news of further investigations.”

An Englishman, 33, whose initials were given as H.G.J.S was arrested yesterday over his involvement in the fight, a Guardia Civil spokesman told the Olive Press.

“He fled the scene and was arrested in Marbella. He has now been charged with mansalaughter,” she said.

It is believed that Pisani - a personal trainer and bodybuilder

By Alberto Lejarraga

from Venezuela - attempted to break up the row that started when two clients began to cause trouble after midnight.

Allegedly, a punch made Pisani ‘lose his balance’, hitting his head against the corner of a table as he fell.

Graffiti

According to sources, an ambulance took ‘up to an hour’ to arrive and he was rushed to Malaga’s Regional Hospital. He was immediately sent to the intensive care unit with a serious head trauma, but doctors were not able to save his life.

An autopsy will now be carried out to certify the exact cause of death, while a funeral took place in Marbella last night.

“We cannot reveal any more information as the results of the autopsy have still not been made available,” a police spokesman told the Olive Press.

Jose Rafael Pisani Pardo was born in Caracas and was ‘happy’ having married ‘the love of his life’, Romina Acuna in November in Las Vegas. He was previously married to

another woman, with whom he has two children.

“This is all very sad, he never started any trouble. He was a very good man with a great heart,” one of Pisani’s friends told a local website.

The fallout of the attack led to the restaurant being graffitied on Monday night.

It is not known who daubed the restaurant in red paint, but the words, including ‘asesino’ and ‘mafia irlandes’, were in Spanish.

A Guardia Civil spokesman insisted last night however: “He is not Irish, he is definitely En-

glish,” he told the Olive Press. By Tuesday midday, the graffiti had been mostly removed or covered with patches.

Fire

Elliot, a former star of TOWIE, The Only Way is Essex, has been a restaurateur for 20 years in Spain and owns a second restaurant in Villamartin, in Alicante.

It has been a tough few years for the restaurant, which was badly burned in a fire exactly two years ago, leading to it shutting for many months.

All the fun of the fair

THE Gibraltar Fair will once again run this summer at the Admiral Rooke site, the Self Determination for Gibraltar Group announced.

The group that organises National Day, SDGG, will host the fair from August 19-27, providing exciting activities for all the family. The summer fair has become an annual get-together for all things Gibraltarian, proving to be the perfect prelude to National Day on September 10.

FALLEN: Pisani with his new wife and (inset) the graffiti daubed on the restaurant

A campaigning, community newspaper, the Olive Press represents the huge expatriate community in Spain with an estimated readership, including the websites, of more than two million people a month.

Voted top expat paper in Spain OPINION

Publicly built, privately sold

THE government’s decision to allow homeowners to sell their former government built homes at private market prices has been controversial.

Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said it was ‘fair’ to allow these people who bought their flats in the 1990s to now sell them off.

He is also in the process of bulding nearly 1,500 more flats that will finally get the same freedom in a similar time period.

While some people might feel it is wrong to give people the chance to sell their publicly built homes, the system empowers ordinary working class families.

In fact, few governments across the world have come up with a better scheme to house people.

Some governments have preferred to rent flats to working people.

But Land Property Services that runs the estates said only about one person a year defaults on their mortgage.

The fairly stable work contracts on the Rock for the last few decades mean most people don’t have a problem paying for their homes.

Government programmes like the 50-50 scheme have further aided this property acquisition.

Finally, to give these hardworking Gibraltarians a chance to sell their well-kept homes on the open market is not only an investment for their own pockets.

The incentive also gives homeowners a chance to feel proud of the environment they live in and stop their estates from falling into disrepair.

The opposite trend can be seen in the GSD-built MidHarbour Views or the older Laguna and Glacis Estates.

Only a healthy investment in beautification has helped stop these estates becoming ghettos.

These reports provide evidence that private responsibility with the goal of finally getting something back from the properties could be the best way to keep the estates in good condition.

First-time buyers at Hassan Centenary Terraces will probably start to see these benefits when they start moving into the elegant towers overlooking Eastern Beach in the near future.

PUBLISHER / EDITOR

Jon Clarke, jon@theolivepress.es

Dilip Kuner dilip@theolivepress.es

Anthony Piovesan anthony@theolivepress.es

Jo Chipchase jo@theolivepress.es

John Culatto

ADMIN Sandra Aviles Diaz (+34) 951 273 575 admin@ theolivepress.es

TAXING TIME

Crypto earnings, new deal for working mums…What you need to know about your 2022 tax return

IT’S that time of year again - the period in which to do your tax return has started.

As usual with these processes, it is highly recommended to turn to the services of a gestor if your financial situation is a complicated one or if you don’t understand the language of the forms necessary.

There are, however, steps you can take yourself and things you need to know. Read on for all of the necessary information.

How to get your ‘borrador’ or tax form

From today, taxpayers can download the 2022 fiscal data held by the Agencia Tributaria (Tax Agency), a draft tax return known as the borrador. To do so, you will need to be signed up to the Cl@ve Pin system, or have an electronic certificate that proves your identity on the website. The draft will contain all of the information on the Tax Agency’s system related to your income, taxes already retained, assets, capital gains from property sales, and so on. This information can be modified by the taxpayer if something is missing or incorrect.

What happens next?

If the information is correct, you can confirm it online and the return will be filed. However, gestores warn that some 35% of these drafts contain errors, meaning it is important to carefully check for mistakes or omissions. If the final figure is negative, that means the Tax Agency has to pay you money. If it is a positive number, you will have to pay that amount. The tax return contains a field where you can enter your bank account number for either of these transactions.

What are the important dates for this year?

From today, taxpayers can file their tax returns directly online. If you want to file over the phone, you can do so from May 5 to June 30. And for those who want to do so in one of the Tax Agency offices, the dates are June 1 to June 30. The final deadline is June 30.

How do I book an appointment?

You can get an appointment with the Agencia Tributaria via the website or by calling the following phone numbers: 91 535 73 26, 901 12 12 24, 91 553 00 71 or 901 22 33 44.

What has changed for the 2022 tax return?

The government changed the limits for pension contributions last year. They currently stand at €1,500 for a personal pension plan, and €8,500 for company plans. These amounts correspond to the deductions that can be applied via your tax return. What’s more, working mothers can retroactively benefit from a larger deduction for the years 2020 and 2021 on their 2022 tax return. And women with children under the age of three and who are not working are now eligible for a €100 monthly benefit that previously was only available for working mums. This year’s return also contains for the first time a section where taxpayers can register their losses or gains from cryptocurrencies.

When should I file a joint tax return with my spouse?

If both you and your partner have a reasonable income, it is usually better to file separate returns. If your partner has no income at all or it is very low, it may be in your interest to file a joint return. In this case, all tax information of your family members must be included.

Does everyone have to fill out a tax return?

Not necessarily. Usually, they are only needed if the taxpayer has earned more than €22,000 over the year in question. If you have been claiming the government’s guaranteed minimum income scheme (ingreso minimo vital), you must also file a return.

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LADIES MAN

IMAGINE for a moment an individual who witnessed his family burned at the stake for their beliefs.

Then, rather than seek revenge, have the fortitude to dedicate his life to a culture of tolerance, learning and a study of the human soul.

That person would later shape some of the world’s most influential psychologists and philosophers… a man who assumed the moniker as perhaps ‘the world’s most influential advocate for humanistic learning’.

What follows is the relatively unknown backstory of a Spanish scholar named Luis Vives. Vives was born in Valencia, in 1493, during the dark chapter known as the Spanish Inquisition.

Most of his extended family were executed (burned at the stake) as ‘crypto-jews’ or jews who were suspected of having a secret adherence to Judaism rather than Christianity.

Orphaned, he attended the University of Valencia - a prestigious Medieval school that emphasized dialectic reasoning, metaphysics, debate, and diplomacy.

In his studies he discovered the works of Aristotle and the intellectual movement that began to dominate the educational thrust of the earliest European universities.

After graduation he left Spain - never to return - first studying in Paris (1509-1512), followed by a professorship at the University of Leuven, Belgium.

From there, he often traveled to England where he established strong ties to Oxford University and the court of Henry VIII and fellow Spaniard, Cather-

IF there’s one thing I’ve learned in my 23 years living in Spain, the locals take their food very seriously. So perhaps I shouldn’t have pranked them on Twitter on April Fools’ Day this year… for the reaction was, well let’s just say, nothing short of spectacular. It all started as we were readying the house for our Semana Santa trip to the mountains of Leon (a good remote place to hide, as it turned out, from pitchfork-wielding Spaniards).

I hate wasting food, so I decided to chuck my son’s leftover dinner (peas and chopped-up sausages) into an omelette, along with some chunks of Spanish

ine of Aragon.

He later became the personal tutor to their only surviving child Princess Mary, teaching her Latin, French, Spanish, Greek and the philosophy of the ancient Greeks.

Impressed by his tutelage, Catherine commissioned The Education of a Christian Woman which was one of the first books advocating education for women of all classes.

It became the most authoritative pronouncement to date for universal education for women and his writings brought him close to British Humanists such as Sir Thomas More. However, he would fall out of favor with Henry VIII by siding with fellow countrywoman Catherine over the matter of divorce.

Vives returned to the University of Leuven where he commiserated with friend Erasmus - the infamous Dutch philosopher considered the greatest scholar of the ‘Northern Renaissance’. Over the centuries Vives’s works have been viewed as the gold standard on the principles of education for women, the study of the soul and its interaction with the body and its ethics and emotions.

Collectively, Vives and Erasmus combined these elements into what has been called ‘Aris-

Remember Jamie! If you’re going to joke about a national dish as beloved as a Spanish tortilla (potato omelette), you’d better be ready for some serious blowback, explains Simon Hunter

Luis Vives was the world’s first Renaissance Man and championed education for women in the 16th century, writes Jack Gaioni

MARVELLOUS

SWIRLING a glass of flinty French rose, he looked every bit the suave English gentleman you’d expect of Hugh Grant. Holding court with a group of friends on a warm early summer evening, hardly anyone batted an eyelid. It was early June, after all, and Marbella was at its very finest; the scent of orange blossom in the air, the bougainvillaea in full bloom, candles on every table. There was so much else for the throngs of tourists to be taking in.

At the request of the restaurant owner I took a quick snap (left) of the Hollywood star on my iPhone, but declined to interrupt his convivial terrace bonhomie.

Grant’s regular trips to Marbella have sparked rumours over the years that he owns a house in the resort, in par-

ticular, in the luxury hillside enclave of La Zagaleta. But, when I was actually introduced to him recently in London, the Notting Hill star told me it was ‘merely a good marketing tool for local estate agents’. He certainly loves the place, he explained, but mostly he’s down, these days, on business or to film.

It perfectly summed up the resort, which has rightfully earned the reputation of being southern Spain’s playground for the rich and famous.

Full of tycoons, movers and shakers and, increasingly, tech billionaires, Marbella manages to remain Europe’s top location for a spot of business, alongside

Photos by Jon Clarke

TIMELESS GLAMOUR: Grace Kelly and Hugh Grant, while yoga class on the beach today

From previous page

An all-year-round resort

pleasure.

A town of over 150,000 year-round residents, it is almost uniquely a resort that never hibernates. Indeed, as most locals will nowadays tell you, the best months are from October to May, when the tourist numbers remain manageable, while all the top restaurants are still open and the sports clubs buzzing. Meanwhile, infrastructure-wise it counts on dozens of excellent private schools, two cinemas showing VO movies and just about every shop you could desire for from Corte Ingles to the Apple store and Gucci to Specsavers.

Since the 1950s, Marbella has been the glamorous dream escape for movie stars, sportsmen and captains of industry. Photos of the glamorous destination fill glossy travel magazines around the world and it’s probably the most aspirational place to live in Europe, bar perhaps San Tropez, Mallorca or Ibiza.

An exclusive resort, it has long attracted celebrity visitors such Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant and Sean Connery, while hundreds of sportsmen like Novak Djokovic and Eden Hazard own houses here, and you’ll frequently find boxers, including Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, in the gyms, or Harry Kane and Gareth Bale on the fairways. The pandemic has only made things more pronounced, creating the opportunity for tens of thousands of digital nomads and entrepreneurs to decamp down here from northern Europe and further afield.

With the likes of Dragons Den’s Theo Paphitis and tycoon Alan Sugar already owning here and crooner Julio Iglesias with a giant estate in the hills, don’t expect any villas these days to be going for a song.

Since the resort’s five-star hotels were filled to bursting during the two years of Covid, dot.com millionaires can snap them up at asking price before siesta time. Prices have continued to soar this year to incredible heights and Marbella was one of the first places in Spain to return back to the levels of 2006 before the crisis kicked in. Prices have nearly doubled in a decade and asking prices rose by 20% last year alone, while at €4,121 per

metre squared it is the among the most expensive property in Spain. There are simply not enough properties for sale,

plots to build are far and few between and listings are becoming incredibly scarce to come by. Demand far outstrips supply.

“Marbella is almost bulletproof from a slowdown or crash,” explained estate agent Adam Neale, of Terra Meridiana. “It is almost unique in Europe.” But what is certainly different about Marbella than other nearby resorts like Estepona or Mijas (or further

VERDANT: One of half a dozen subtropical escapes in Marbella

afield in Javea or Ibiza, say) is its amount of history and culture on offer, when you know where to find it.

And let’s not forget to mention the superb walks in its nearby hills - it sits next to a National Park, these days, don’t you know - while it easily has the best concentration of restaurants in southern Spain.

History-wise there is certainly a fair amount to do from inspecting its Moorish walls in the casco historico, to visiting a Roman villa or Visigothic church on its outskirts.

Indeed, rewind the clock sev-

eral millennia, and you’ll find it’s always been a popular spot.

Marbella’s earliest origins are as a palaeolithic settlement. Humans hunted and gathered over the very same land that now boasts Michelin-starred restaurants.

The Phoenicians were here,

before Its next incarnation came as a Roman port. You can see the evidence at the

Continues on next page

GOING VINTAGE ON AN OLD TOWN SHOPPING TOUR

THE Old Town of Marbella, known as the Casco Historico, is an idyllic paradise of independent shops, bars, restaurants, churches and even museums.

The cobbled streets, whitewashed buildings, and the al fresco dining around Plaza del Altamirano, perfectly embody the traditional ambiance of the Spanish lifestyle.

Plaza de los Naranjos is its epicentre – an absolute must-see, particularly if you are visiting when the orange trees are full of wonderful azahar blossom or heavy with ripe oranges.

In addition to being the home of the architecturally stunning town hall of Marbella, the plaza has an abundance of bars and restaurants, with tables set out in the shade of the trees.

The whole aesthetic gives off the scent of romance and it’s worth just wandering around and getting lost in its maze of fabulous shops, including

Deja Vu, which has the finest vintage clothes and furniture on the coast.

Run by expats Richard and Amanda, who have been in Marbella for nearly three decades, they have the most uncanny knack of finding original and quality items.

If looking for interesting antiques, nearby you’ll find the Athenea Gallery, while just across the main road, a must visit is the incredible candle and scent shop, Alma Essentials. Recently set up by English businesswoman Emma Tremlett, it is not only the most delightfully smelling shop in the resort, but the prices are amazingly good value.

The mother-of-two, whose Spanish husband Jose grew up in Marbella and owns the 1960s built Hotel Finlandia, also now runs scent and candle-making workshops, from just 30 euros per person.

They are great fun and, given Emma knows everything there is to know about the resort, you are bound to pick up some nuggets on who's been in town or what’s new.

Whatever you do, always keep your eyes peeled upwards when in the old town and don’t ignore the charming architecture, and the fascinating mix of Moorish and Christian influences in many of the buildings.

The charming church, the Capilla de San Juan de Dios, is by no means the grandest in Marbella, but, with its simple Christian interior topped by a splendid Mudejar (Islamic style) ceiling, it perfectly encapsulates the meeting of the two cultures.

VARIETY: Modern Banus and the Sierra de las Nieves hills behind, while a girl group plays in the old town and (far left) a section of Arabic wall

ARTISAN: Emma at Alma Essentials and vintage style at Deja Vu

From previous page

VISIGOTH INVASION

Termas de Las Bovedas Roman baths, near San Pedro de Alcantara, which comes under Marbella, and at the Roman villa in Rio Verde.

The northern European Visigoths were frequent visitors to

the coast and left their mark in the form of the Vega del Mar Basilica, a necropolis, also to be found in San Pedro.

They, like the giant number of northern Europeans who live here today, would have been

attracted by the excellent warm temperate climate, which rarely goes below 8 degrees, nor over 30 degrees, thanks to the protection it gets from the nearby Sierra de las Nieves National Park and pointy La Concha mountain.

In contrast, the early Arabs, or Moors, who arrived in the 8th century found it a fair bit cooler than across the pond, spotting the town’s potential, calling it bien habitada, or ‘place of good living’.

They eventually built a walled city in the old town in the tenth century and even a large Alcazaba castle.

The walls, some of which survive today, were dotted with around a dozen towers, including the Torre del Puente Levadizo (meaning the ‘Drawbridge Tower’) and the Torre de la Puerta de Hierro (or ‘the Iron Door Tower’).

It doesn’t come close to competing with Cordoba or Sevilla for ornate Moorish architecture, but it came a close second to Ronda in terms of size and fell to the Christian Crusaders in the same year, 1485, just seven years before the Catholic Reconquest was complete. Marbella, to conclude, is a destination that has been a lot of different things to a lot of different people over the years, but the cosmopolitan atmosphere, world-class restaurants and perfect climate look set to entice the world’s elite for decades – if not millennia – to come.

English Summer Camp is coming!

WARREN: Charm personfied in an Old Town alleyway

OLD TO NEW: Ancient and modern styles of worship from Marbella old town to nearby church

TWITTER’S VIRAL TORTILLA

cheese.

The result looked rather unappetising (although as my Spanish wife will attest, it did taste pretty good).

As I watched it cooking, the cogs of my mischievous mind began to turn. I snapped a picture, and posted it on Twitter with the caption: ‘Made a lovely Spanish tortilla this morning, yum.’

When I hit publish, I had an unnerving feeling I was lighting a blue touchpaper and it was time to stand well back.

The reaction was almost immediate: ‘Gas-

COOKING UP A STORM: Our Simon’s tortilla caught the attention of Spanish media

tronomic terrorism’, read one response.

‘What an aberration!’ read another.

‘My dog’s vomit’ was a particularly graphic comment, while there was no shortage of Spanish Twitter users insisting I be deport-

DID YOU KNOW?

ed.

One pointed out that ‘wars have started for less’.

It was reminiscent of that other infamous culinary row, when Jamie Oliver - horror of horrors - put chorizo in a paella recipe back in 2016.

The British celebrity chef found out the hard way you don’t mess with a traditional Spanish dish like that one, and even re ceived death threats, ‘all because of a bit of sausage’, as he later told Graham Nor ton’s chat show.

HERE TO HELP!

A big welcome to the latest man to join the Olive Press family

THE Olive Press is always on the hunt for top talent and our latest employee hits the mark for his experience and professionalism.

Matt Jones not only brings his experience from a Who’s Who of the UK media - the Mail, Metro and Birmingham Evening News - but also over a decade in Spain working for the likes of Spectrum FM and Costa Blanca News

An extremely popular and well known local expat, he brings his friendly, sunny personality, not just to the Olive Press sales team, but also to our clients. While some newspapers in Spain go for a time-share style hard sell - which can be very aggressive - Matt and his fellow team are always happy to listen to their potential clients and make genuine friends among many of them.

Our clients are not just numbers to us, they are real people who deserve to be treated with real respect. We are the genuine community newspaper, after all. This is something that defines the approach of Matt’s new commercial colleagues, Sam, Tina and Charlie.

Sam Adams has been with us for many years and is genuinely the smiling face of the Olive Press

When he is not out and about grafting and chatting to clients, the father-of-one brings his sense of humour and infectious laugh to the office.

As does Tina Brace, who is very well known around her home turf of Sabinillas and nearby Estepona. A loyal and hard-working woman, she is extremely kind to friends and family.

Not so often in the office, but larger than life, is Charlie Bamber - the Godfather of the team. Another, never without a smile, Charlie handles sales along the Costa Blanca and Mallorca with aplomb, bringing in some of our biggest contracts. The reason? He takes the time to get to know his customers, finds out what they want and arranges the advertising campaigns they need.

All in all, the Olive Press is very proud of its highly professional team - and there is room for more if you want to join the Olive Press family.

totelian Christianity’.

Along with personal, life-long associations with many of the great thinkers of his time, Vives directly influenced many of the great scholars in the centuries that followed.

Most influential philosophers (Rousseau, Sartre etc.) and psychologists (Freud, Jung, etc.) made references to his works and his beliefs on the soul and the human psyche, plus emotions, memory and learning are key tenets in how modern psychology is perceived today. Indeed, Luis Vives, who died in 1540, is often highlighted as ‘the father of modern psychology and the grandfather of psychoanalysis’.

● Princess Mary, Vives’s precocious pupil while in Eng- land, would later become known as Bloody Mary or Mary Tudor. She ruled as Queen of England from 1553 to 1558. In a complicated turn of events, Mary would also rule as Queen of Spain with her marriage to King Phillip II.

● There are monuments to Luis Vives in many centres of learning throughout Eu- rope. Statues can be found in Bruges, Brussels, Paris, Madrid, Heidelberg, Rotterdam and perhaps most meaningful, in the library courtyard at the University of Valencia.

To ensure I defused my own personal on slaught as soon as possible, as is tradi tion, at 12pm I put out another tweet mak ing clear that this was an April Fools’ joke. However, not only did that message get very little traction, I had clearly overesti mated Spaniards’ awareness of the day, despite it being celebrated not just in the UK and the US, but in Italy, Poland, Germany and even Turkey.

Mistake

In Spain and Latin America, of course, the time for pranks is December 28, the Day of the Holy Innocents.

Not only is this the day for practical jokes to be played out between friends and family, but a time when fake news stories make their way into the press and foreign journalists have to be particularly careful not to be duped.

One of the most recurrent comments I received was that I had made a big mistake by making the joke on April 1 and not December 28. I responded by saying the idea was to troll as much of Spain as possible. And with nearly three million views for the original tweet, and thousands of comments and retweets, I think it’s fair to say that it went pretty well.

Follow me on Twitter @simoninmadrid for more recipes.

If you have the drive, personality and sales experience - and particularly if you speak Spanish (ED: note well, team) - drop us a line at admin@theolivepress.es

The top five most read stories on www.theolivepress.es in the past two weeks are:

1- Four Costa del Sol towns are among the 50 most expensive in Spain to buy property

2- Ryanair win lawsuit in their ongoing war with online travel agents

3- Explainer: What will the government’s planned housing law mean for tenants and landlords?

4- New UK driving licence deal with Spain excludes the Channel Islands and Isle of Man

5- British woman seriously injured after hotel balcony fall in Benidorm

Get in touch today at sales@theolivepress.es or call us at 00 34 951273575 for more info

Flamenco fervour

FLAMENCO dancing and music are being protected by a new law.

Andalucia’s regional parliament has passed legislation seven months in the pipeline to protect and conserve the artform, as well as its promotion as a regional cultural asset. The law also legally defines concepts such as flamenco or peña, which are the places where the music and dance are usually performed, as well as incorporating the study of flamenco into school curriculums.

Flamenco peñas themselves have welcomed the law, and are said to be hopeful that financing will soon follow as part of a strategic plan.

ANCIENT TRIPPERS

samples

Sheeran in town

ED SHEERAN shared new songs from his upcoming album with a tiny audience at an intimate gig in Madrid.

The English singer-songwriter chose the Círculo de Bellas Artes in the Spanish capital to play eight tracks from - (Subtract), accompanied by just a guitar and piano.

RESEARCHERS have found that civilizations on Menorca were using hallucinogenic drugs as far back as 3,000 years ago. The findings are based on analysis of hair from a burial site on the Balearic island.

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports, and concluded that this could be the earliest direct evidence in Europe of people using such substances, which were derived from plants and bushes. Scientists believe that the

KING Felipe will be in Ronda today (Wednesday) to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the Real Maestranza de Caballería de Ronda (RMR).

The RMR is an institution that was originally created in 1573 as a cavalry training school by order of the current king’s forebear and namesake, King Felipe II. While previously the school focused on the defence of the realm, now its main pursuits

By Simon Hunter

drugs were used for ritualistic ceremonies. The substances detected in three hair samples included ephedrine, atropine and scopolamine. Ephedrine is a stimulant that can be extracted from shrubs and pines, and increases alertness, excitement and physical activity. Atropine and scopolamine are found in the nightshade plant family and can cause hallucinations and altered

Royal Ronda

are the promotion of culture and heritage. It also manages the town’s bullring and museum space and offers the use of its library.

The RMR has organised a range of activities for the king in order to mark the anniversary.

perceptions, and even delirium.

The hair was found at the ritual and funerary cave of Es Carritx on Menorca, a site that was discovered in 1995. It is considered to be one of the most important Late Bronze Age sites on the island. The cave is home to more than 200 graves and is thought to have served as a site for funerals and rituals for some 600 years, until

800 BC.

“Considering the potential toxicity of the alkaloids found in the hair, their handling, use and applications represented highly specialised knowledge,” the study states. “This knowledge was typically possessed by shamans, who were capable of controlling the side-effects of the plant drugs through an ecstasy that made diagnosis or divination possible.”

French connection

NEW DNA evidence has revealed that the famous prehistoric Gibraltar skull is more closely related to Neanderthals in the French Mediterranean than those in nearby Western Europe. A research paper by French archaeologist Dr Ludovik Slimak discovered the striking similarity its genome shared with that of a Neanderthal from Grotte Mandrin near Marseille.

Slimak’s research concluded that the Gibraltar Skull 1, nicknamed ‘Nana’, was part of a smaller group that was isolated from classic Neanderthals in southwestern Europe.

The Grammy-award winner is one of the world’s best-selling music artists and one of the most-followed artists on music-streaming app Spotify, and is more accustomed to playing to arenas and stadiums than the small crowd of 400 super-fans that saw him last night.

In fact, he admitted to the crowd that he felt ‘more nervous’ than usual playing to the tiny venue last Saturday. The new album is due to be released on May 5, and will be followed by a European and North American tour.

For now, there have been no dates announced for Spanish

Civilizations were using hallucinogens as far back as 3,000 years ago, according to the analysis of hair

THE University of Gibraltar is firming up ties with Morocco’s shipping industry to start working together on training opportunities.

The latest move follows the success of its Gibraltar Maritime Academy that has attracted Moroccan students to its full-time study programs.

Maritime Academy manager Aaron Lopez met with Moroccan maritime industry leaders in Rabat and Casablanca recently.

Lopez met with Mohamed Briouig,

MOROCCO SEA LINKS

Director of the Ministry of Transport and Logistics at the Higher Institute for Maritime Studies in Rabat.

He also spoke with Mohamed Karaouane, General Director of the Institute of Training in Transport and Logistics Trades (IFMTL) in Casablanca.

During the meetings, Lopez highlighted the technical training Gibraltar could offer Moroccan students

entering the shipping industry and discussed future partnerships and courses.

Gibraltar University offers Maritime and Coastguard Agency approved courses that include a BSc (Hons) Maritime Science degree programme.

Around 10,000 ships call at Gibraltar every year, with 20,000 crews changing from the British territory.

Crypto tax

RYANAIR has emerged victorious from the latest battle in its long running war with online travel agencies (OTAs).

The low-cost airline has frequently complained about the ‘illegal’ behaviour of wellknown companies such as Booking.com, eDreams, Gotogate, Kiwi and Opodo.

Charges

Ryanair insists that OTAs sell its tickets without authorisation, apply extra charges to customers, obstruct direct communications between Ryanair and customers, and block refunds by not providing correct customer information.

Spanish travel agency association ACAVE filed a lawsuit in September 2021 over the Irish airline’s attacks ‘on the reputations of its members’.

But a Barcelona court has stated that Ryanir’s accusations are ‘true, objective, and relevant.’

Cryptocurrency earnings become subject to Spanish income tax

By Alberto Lejarraga

THE Spanish Inland Revenue has launched an investigation to identify bitcoin-related assets to prevent tax evasion and avoidance.

The period for submitting the income tax return declaration (IRPF) opened on April 11. Taxpayers are required to give evidence of their earnings in 2022. And these include any profit obtained from cryptocurrency. In 2021, only 35,2000 IRPF declarations for that year’s tax period included crypto profit. These made a total of €759 million.

Not every taxpayer is aware of this requirement. According to a study carried out by the Spanish Association of Financial Users (Asufin), 4.4 million

Small change

THE days of sorting through near-useless one and two cent coins among your change could soon be over as the European Commission comes ever closer to scrapping them.

Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, has said that possible changes include eliminating them altogether and introducing rounding-up rules across the EU. The EC carried out a public survey which showed that 70% of respondents were in favour of the abolition of the coins and the introduction of uniform rounding-up rules.

Smell the coffee

COLOMBIAN cafe chain Juan

Valdez will be opening a flagship shop in Madrid as part of its plans to have over 100 outlets across Spain by 2027.

The coffee retailer will open its new store in Madrid’s 36-storey Torre Caleido skyscraper next month.

It already has four Juan Valdez Express stores in Madrid’s La Gavia, El Ferial, Príncipe Pío and Plenilunio shopping centres, primarily catering for take-away customers. However, the new flagship store will feature indoor and outdoor seating alongside a retail space and it will also offer a coffee-based cocktail menu during the evening.

BIG BIO PLANT

OIL company Cepsa has formed a joint venture to set up a large-scale biofuels plant.

Cepsa and Bio-Oils, which process vegetable oils, have announced that they will invest €1 billion at Cepsa’s La Rabita Energy Park in Huelva.

The facility is targeting the annual production of 500,000 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel for aviation, maritime and land transport.

people invest in cryptocurrency in Spain. However, over 40% of them believe they do not need to declare these earnings. The gains are calculated deducting the purchase value from the sale value and are taxed at the following tax rates:

Less than €6,000 - 19% income tax

Between €6,000 and €50,00021% income tax

Between €50,000 and €200,000 - 23% income tax

Over €200,000 - 26% income tax.

Losses can also be declared and may translate into paying 25% less annual tax during the following four years.

Those who have virtual currency but are not trading do not have to include them in the IRPF declaration form.

This comes at a time when the Olive Press is doing an ongoing investigation on crypto compa-

Singer success

OPENLY lesbian singer Chloe Martinez is hitting the big time after growing her fanbase on social media.

Minister for Culture John Cortes invited Martinez, who recently released her debut album To me, from me, to the City Hall to encourage her in furthering her career.

The conversation covered Chloe’s early years in singing, her performances with a local music academy, and her plans for the future.

“I’ve known Chloe since she started singing as a little girl and am very proud to see how she has progressed and how her talent is being recognised,” Cortes said.

“Chloe is an inspiration to other young people and an inspiration to me to continue to do all I can to promote and support Culture and the Performing Arts in Gibraltar.”

ny Globix. It is alleged that Globix bosses took out €11 million just before the company collapsed.

The use of biofuels can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 90% compared with conventional fossil-based fuels Cepsa described the project as ‘the largest second generation biofuels plant’ in southern Europe.

How to choose an ethical financial adviser in Spain?

FIDUCIARY Wealth has been shaping the wealth of the British expatriate community in Spain through unbiased tax-led wealth management advice since 2007.

CHOOSE A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL

Seek out a financial adviser with a UK level 4 qualification in financial advice or an equivalent qualification from the European Financial Planning Association (EFPA).

DO YOUR RESEARCH

When making your selection, carefully research all of the financial advisory firms you are considering. Looking online will help you gather information.

EXPERTISE

You should hire a financial adviser with extensive knowledge of cross border tax planning for British expats.

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

A financial adviser with a strong professional link to a prestigious, well-regarded law and accountancy firm/network is a safer bet.

COMMUNICATION IS KEY

The way a financial adviser communicates will tell you a lot of what you need to know, including any red flags. They should employ clear and easy to understand language, dealing in precise details rather than vague terms.

HONESTY IS PARAMOUNT

A crucial trait in any financial adviser is honesty. You should feel able to trust that your adviser is honest and that your interests are their key priority.

LISTENING SKILLS

Expect any good financial adviser to ask plenty of questions about yourself and your financial needs

and goals. They should be interested in your personal circumstances, rather than simply talking about the products and services that want to push or a single product they would like to sell you, such as a ‘Spanish Compliant Investment Bond.’

THOROUGH ANALYSIS OF YOUR NEEDS

Steer clear of any financial adviser that offers a report that is short on content and detail.

SALES PRESSURE TACTICS

Avoid a financial adviser who uses high-pressure sales tactics to force you to make a decision more quickly than you feel comfortable with.

SINGLE PRODUCT VERSUS WHOLE OF MARKET

Do not engage with firms that offer the same products to everyone - Spanish Compliant Bonds. A good adviser should provide best advice rather than one-size-fits-all remedies.

BE CLEAR ON PAYMENT

Avoid any nasty surprise charges by clearly establishing how much you will pay before embarking on a course of action. Always ensure all charges are disclosed upfront.

HOW IS YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR PAID?

Work with financial advisers that are being paid a salary. An adviser who is on commission is unable to offer impartial advice – as his objectivity is compromised. If getting paid is contingent on obtaining sales, you cannot expect a commission-only advisor to be working in your best interests. Before committing, ask your advisor to confirm in writing if they are commission-only renumerated or salaried.

We are in the Costa del Sol fully available for meetings throughout the week from Sotogrande to Nerja and inland Andalucia.

If you feel you would benefit from a second opinion please email enquiries@fwm.gi or call us on tel: +350 200 50982

Our financial advisers are fully licensed, qualified and regulated to provide financial advice in Spain and across the EU. www.fiduciarywealth.gi ● www.financialplanningspain.com

ALL THE FUN OF THE FERIAS

The feria is among the greatest of Andalucian traditions. Celebrated (and how!) in every town between April and October, make an effort to attend at least one . . . just allow for a couple of days of recovery time afterwards

STARTING as cattle markets (or occasionally, religious ceremonies), ferias have evolved into the cultural highlights of the year in the South of Spain. They tend to be week-long

events in the larger cities, and run from midweek to Sunday in the smaller towns. Expect food, drink, loud music and flamenco dancing until dawn, along with fairground rides, horse

Feria de Abril, Sevilla, April 23-29

THE season kicks off with the biggest, most famous and, many would argue, the best: Sevilla’s feria always begins two weeks after Easter Sunday. The pressure to create an event that’s at least as iconic as the last is huge, but there’s enough razzle-dazzle here to wow even the most jaded visitor. One word of warning, the majority of casetas are invite only, so dig out your contact book...but there are always the public casetas.

Feria del Caballo de Jerez, May 6-13

JEREZ horse fair is among the most traditional of the ferias.

The city is in the cradle of flamenco, and there is flamenco singing, dancing and guitar-playing year-round.

The feria is the chance to notch things up. Fewer people wear traditional dress when attending these events in touristy Malaga and the Costa del Sol, but almost everyone sports a spectacular costume (traje) in Jerez.

Aside from having fun and looking fabulous, the focus is on the horses (caballos). The finest of them from far and wide (some with riders, some pulling carriages) make mesmerising circuits of the fairground every day.

parades and, often, a bit of wrangling or a display of horsemanship. If you happen to be living or staying near the feria grounds, you can also expect little sleep, at least, not at night. The build-up starts weeks in advance, the events are spectacular, and the atmosphere is fantastic. Afterwards, everything goes quiet for a bit. Feria week is the perfect chance to experience Andalucian culture at its most exuberant and colourful best, so here are six of the top events to put in the diary.

Feria del Corpus de Granada, June 3-10

THOUGH less famous than Sevilla and Jerez, Granada’s version has everything an Andalucian feria needs. Its unique highlights include a recreation of one of the city’s famous monuments done in lights at the entrance to the fairground. And, unlike in Sevilla, where you need friends in high places to invite you in to enjoy the action in majority of the casetas (or large tents with drinks and entertainment), the casetas here are open to the public, free of charge.

Feria de Agosto de Malaga August 12-19

MALAGA’S feria runs for a marathon 10 days and nights, with events taking place in the historic city centre during the day, and at the fairground (located in the Cortijo de Torres district) at night. The usually international and touristy capital of the Costa del Sol reverts to fullon Spanish culture for the duration, with horses and carriages trotting around, and the sound of flamenco rhythms in the air. At night it is famously rocking and, said to be, one of the most intense in Spain, up with Pamplona’s.

Feria de Pedro

Romero de Ronda, August 28September 3

PERHAPS a little con troversial for many foreign tourists, Ron da’s feria is named for the bullfighter Pedro Romero.

The local population continues to embrace the theme and contin ue the Spanish tradition, with a series of bullfights known as the ‘Corrida Goyesca’. Away from the bull ring, the streets of the historic town come alive during feria week with singing and dancing and all-round family-friendly enter tainment.

Feria de San Lucas de Jaen

October 15-23

JAEN’S Feria de San Lucas is a chance to see deeper Spain. This is another of the more traditional fairs, with both male and female attendees dressed in fine flamenco wear, and it takes place against a stunning backdrop of hills and olives.

As in Malaga, the action takes place in the town during the day, and moves out of the centre to the fairground at night, where flamenco eventually gives way to the roar of fairground and reggaeton, for a real mix of the modern and traditional.

AI snoops

SPAIN’S Social Security system is using artificial intelligence to try to predict whether someone who is taking sick leave is ready to get back to work.

That’s according to an investigation carried out by Spanish online daily El Confidencial Spain’s National Institute of Social Security deployed two machine-learning algorithms in 2018 to assess the health of millions of people on sick leave.

The aim was to detect which recipients were defrauding the state.

The investigation discovered that the system is very opaque and that its algorithms are considered to be ‘poor’ and ‘unbalanced’. It also alleged to generate a high number of false positives, which could potentially be pushing people back into work before they are medically fit to do so.

A cut above

Pioneering lung transplant operation carried out by robot

By Alex Trelinski

A BARCELONA hospital has carried out a pioneering lung transplant operation with a robot involving a less invasive procedure for the patient.

The four-pronged robot called Da Vinci was used at the Vall d’Hebron hospital in a surgery that no longer required opening up the chest and separating ribs. Da Vinci cut through just a small area of the patient’s skin, fat and muscle to re-

ON STRIKE

THE Andalucian Medical Union has called for seven days worth of strikes until the end of May. Strikes by primary care doctors and pediatricians are proposed to take place between 8am and 8pm every Wednesday.

In Malaga alone, 1500 medical professionals are expected to take action

Unions have called the strikes because they claim the regional health authority has broken an agreement to limit the number of patients seen to 35 a day and, in the case of child patients, to 25. Currently the average doctor sees 60 patients daily.

FIRST CLASS

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Casillas award

SPAIN'S World Cup 2010 winning captain Iker Casillas has been awarded a Gold Medal for services to cardiovascular health at the annual congress of the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) in Barcelona.

The ex-keeper, 41, ended his playing career in 2020 after almost a year on the sidelines following a heart attack he suffered during a training session with his Porto teammates. He now works at raising the awareness of maintaining a healthy heart and spotting the signs of a heart attack.

move the damaged lung and inserted a new one through an eight-centimetre incision in the lower part of the sternum, just above the diaphragm.

Besides being safer than previous techniques, which needed a 30-centimetre cut, the patient's post-op treatment involves less pain as the smaller wound closes far more easily.

Vall d’Hebron’s Lung Transplant head, Albert Jauregui, said: “We believe it is a technique that will improve patients’ life quality, the post-surgery period and reduce pain. We hope this technique will eventually spread

to more centres.”

The procedure had only previously been used in lung cancer operations and was used on 65-year-old Xavier who needed a lung transplant after suffering from pulmonary fibrosis since 2007.

Pros

“I weighed up the pros and cons,” he told reporters. “I totally trusted the robot machines because they reduce human error,” added Xavier.

He backed up Albert Jauregui's analysis by saying that he woke up after February’s operation and felt no pain whatsoever.

“When the doctor told me I was having a heart attack, I couldn’t believe it. I do sports, live a healthy lifestyle, and was feeling good and strong, ” said Casillas.

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Life sometimes seems to be a series of ‘ups and downs’ and all of us are somehow expected to cope. At times like this when there are financial pressures, worries about the future and the spiralling cost of living crisis, there are additional stresses on us all that affect us directly, or through our families.

We sometimes reach a point where we need to speak to someone for professional help and assistance to get through life’s hurdles. For many, having someone to talk things through with, to share what may be troubling you or having someone to engage with in counselling, helps to overcome fears, apprehensions, worries and self-doubt.

This is especially so in Spain where English speaking qualified and trusted therapists are hard to come by.

Sadly, many people suffer from anxiety, stress, fears and a lack of confidence. For others, bereavement, family or work pressures can lead to problems. Change through relocation abroad can also add to mental health pressures and these life changes are never easy.

Counselling and therapy has changed the lives of many. Getting in touch is the first step.

Recognising that there is an issue is the first step on the road to recovery. Help is available through our confidential counselling service.

FIRST: Lung transplant by robot

Dead giveaway

AN Alicante man admitted defrauding authorities of over €119,000 by collecting his grandmother’s pension, despite her being dead for over 16 years.

Trust issues

ALMOST two thirds of Spaniards no longer trust social media to get political news, a new study has found. And over 70% believe it promotes extremism in society.

Lock In

A MAN out for a drink in a Valencia pub fell asleep and woke up to find himself locked in. Police had to wake up the pub owner to get him out.

TASTY TATTOO

Unusual candidate

THE PP’s latest mayoral candidate is a departure from their usual professed traditional values: the former gay porn star Antonio Moreno.

Six years on from his time known by his stage name Hector de Silva, Moreno is now standing for the mayorship of Carcelen, Albacete. He moved to the remote village with his partner after he hung up his movie set pass in 2017. The pretty, rural township of 652 souls comes complete

The PP stands ex gay porn star as mayoral candidate in rural Albacete village

By Walter Finch

with its own castle and is just 100km (60 miles) south east of Valencia.

The former gay porn star seamlessly moved into forest fire fighting after he retired and is now a livestock farmer.

"I was born in the city of Al-

bacete but when I arrived here I fell in love with this village and its natural environment, which is spectacular," the 38-year-old (pictured below) said. But the media attention that has come his way since the PP announced his candidacy has not surprised him.

“I knew that this could hap-

Painting with ploughs

AN artist has marked the 50th anniversary of Picasso’s death in a suitably surreal way by ploughing a giant portrait of the maestro in a field Dario Gambarin’s unconventional portrait spans over 25,000 square metres and is claimed (probably rightly) to be the largest depiction of Picasso in the world. Gambarin used a field in the Italian town of Castagnaro as his canvas and a tractor, plough and rotary harrow as his brushes..

pen since it's a part of my past, from six years ago.”

"I take my past as a porn actor normally because my family, who supported me, knew about it and I have always told them about it.

“It was a stage in my life that I don't regret because I learned a lot,” Moreno said.

“When I arrived in town, everyone knew about it and I've always talked about it as something normal,” he added.

He will face off against incumbent PSOE candidate and current 12-year mayor Maria Dolores Gomez

Piqueras on May 28.

A MAN from Sevilla has gone viral after having a tattoo of a sandwich inked onto his leg. And it’s not just any old sandwich - it is a picture of Andalucia’s famous Serranito.

The ‘work of art’ is much more than a simple pictureit is so detailed that it could be used as a recipe.

Bread, tenderloin, green pepper, serrano ham, tomato and aioli are all labeled in the correct order.

Queen of curses

THE elderly Spanish woman may have been talking to Queen Letizia, but that didn’t stop her from using some colourful language when she got a chance to meet the royal in Cordoba.

“I love you and your husband and your children very much!” the ‘lady’ shouted from a crowd, in reference to Letizia, King Felipe VI and their daughters, Leonor and Sofia.

“The rest of them can go f*ck themselves!” she continued.

‘Wow,’ was the reaction of the queen, who also proffered several thank yous to the lady as she slowly backed away.