priests: ‘There are thousands!’

A COMMISSION set up to investigate the Catholic Church finally admitted there are ‘thousands’ of victims of paedophile priests in Spain.

A spokesman for the church-organised probe confirmed that they didn’t have an exact figure yet, but it was ‘quite a few thousand victims’.

The leader of the probe Javier Cremades has been criticised for taking so long to admit a basic figure, in particular as he is a devout Catholic and member of shady religious group Opus Dei.

In contrast, El Pais newspaper already has 1,770 registered victims and 929 individuals accused from within the Catholic Church.

In France, a special independent commission has so far compiled 6,500 victims, while in Germany there are 3,677 cases and in Holland 3,712. The news comes as 721 sex offenders have had their sentences reduced due to a controversial new law introduced last year. reading: ‘We will not be taking on any more accounts’. When contacted by the Olive Press for comment, the alleged boss of Globix dismissed all the allegations against him and his company as ‘lies’.

The Only Yes Means Yes abuse law has also seen 74 offenders freed from prison early, it has emerged. It came due to an unforeseen loophole, which redefined each offence and changed their minimum sentences, with most lowered in the absence of aggravating circumstances.

While prime minister Pedro Sanchez is currently in the process of repealing the law, his Equality Minister Irene Montero blamed ‘sexist’ judges for wrongly applying it.

The Gibraltarian, who lists himself on LinkedIn as a ‘crypto mining broker’, said: “I’m not allowed to speak about that at the moment. Sorry.”

He added: “Basically someone is shit stirring and if you have any evidence send it to me. On top of that it’s still ‘secreto sumario’ at Alicante court so you should talk to the court.”

According to his CV he attended the Tambov University, in Russia, before setting up ‘a crypto mining farm in Russia in conjunction with a Russian team’.

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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

Crypto scam

THE famous adage suggested northern Europeans too often ‘left their brains at the airport’ before being turned over by the numerous timeshare scams in Spain.

And just as we spent over a decade warning readers to watch out for the timeshare crooks, we are once again telling them not to be taken in by the latest round of ‘big return’ investments.

The Globix cryptocurrency platform was sadly one of many suspect schemes that promised the earth, but in the end could not deliver.

Many of the victims of Globix we spoke to were lured in by seemingly easy money and an endless stream of winning trades.

But, like all investments, speak to experts, research the background of the organisers and do your due diligence. Remember: If it looks too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.

Splashing the cash

HOW can you tell when an election is coming in Spain?

Simple - the roads get repaired, museums are launched and rubbish gets cleaned up.

Politicians up for re-election have long saved their cash up over the four-year cycle to splash it out now in exchange for votes in the May 28 local and regional elections. In its broadest interpretation, this could be viewed as a form of corruption, perhaps unfairly so.

But two stories in today’s paper show that corruption remains at the very heart of much of Spanish political life. It might seem shocking that former minister Jorge Fernandez faces 15 years in prison for spying on a colleague, while Juan Fuentes, a member of Congress, is being investigated for demanding kick-backs.

But actually, after probing crime and corruption for 17 years, we find it no surprise at all.

For the Olive Press team (and long-time residents of Spain) it’s just a case of ‘same old, same old’. It is time for voters to remember to punish the crooks at the polls. Not be so easily schmoozed by a new series of white lines or a shiny new community centre.

PUBLISHER / EDITOR

Jon Clarke, jon@theolivepress.es

Dilip Kuner dilip@theolivepress.es

Anthony Piovesan anthony@theolivepress.es

Jo Chipchase jo@theolivepress.es

John Culatto