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Voted top expat paper in Spain
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.
OPINION
SALT IN THE WOUND
BREXIT has complicated the life of tens of thousands of Britons who live in Spain. For those who had been here for years and had all their paperwork in order, Brexit brought the occasional practical hurdle – the odd bureaucratic hoop to jump through in order to swap the old green residency card issued to citizens from EU nations for the new biometric TIE card, for example. But then there are those who had to scramble to get themselves legalised, who had been slow to pick up on warnings to have everything in order and were then blindsided by the restrictions of a pandemic as Brexit approached. Many of these people turned to ‘experts’ in the form of gestors to help smooth the application process, paying large fees to navigate a system that seemed baffling, especially without a good command of Spanish.
Help
It is particularly appalling when we have to report on the strife faced by those who sought the help of these experts only to be spectacularly let down and find themselves in a legal limbo over their residency status or facing pending action in the courts. The situation that Lily Higgins finds herself in is even worse. Not only was she hauled off to the local police station to explain why her residency application included forged documents presented by the gestor she paid to represent her, but she has now been forced to return to the UK with nothing, her dream of retiring to sunny Spain in tatters. Now she learns that the gestor she holds responsible for her fate, far from facing justice for his malpractice, has instead been rewarded with a position of power by the local council. Brexit is to blame for a lot of things, but this has added salt to the wound.
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Cross to bear
SPAIN’S Catholic Church has refused to launch an independent inquiry into the shocking sexual abuse carried out within its ranks over the past 70 years. Unbelievably it maintains ‘there’s only a few cases,’ amounting to ‘0.8%’ of the priesthood. At the end of a week-long gathering of bishops in Madrid, it stated: “We are not prepared to undertake sociological or statistical investigations. Why is all the focus on the Catholic Church? There are cases in sports federations. Has FIFA or the Spanish Olympic Committee been asked for a general investigation?”
Claim
The Church also made the surprising claim that it was frontrunners on tackling the issue. “We are the first Episcopal Conference in the world to approve a collection of norms with which to deal with cases of sexual abuse against minors,” Church spokesman, Luis Argüello, declared after the convention, although he admitted that none of the victims had been given the space to air their grievances during the gathering. Spain is the only country in Europe, apart from Italy, to be downplaying the abuse. Portugal has just given the green light for a national investigative commission, and France recently presented the 2,500-page Suavé report, car-
While the Catholic Church in France and Spain seek to investigate wrongdoings, Spain’s clergy hides and wriggles over child sex abuse claims, writes Heather Galloway
ried out externally but funded by the Church, on murky practises taking place in its inner sanctum, citing at least 216,000 victims of between 2,900 and 3,200 paedophile priests since 1950. Other countries to have taken
The pen is mightier than the camera...
CARLOS Ruiz Zafon needs no introduction. Arguably the most recognised contemporary writer in Spain, he has an equally successful international reputation. Translated into over 50 languages, literary critics have often compared Zafon to none other than Miguel de Cervantes in style, popularity and literary impact. Carlos’s trilogy The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, combined with his most recent book The Labyrinth of the Spirits (El Laberinte de los Esperitos), are perennial best-sellers around the world. Zafon’s series arrived on the publishing scene with contemporaries Dan Brown and J.K. Rowling. Their popular genre shared countless tomes: tormented characters, often seeking knowledge centered around secrets to be found in books and archives. ‘Tales within tales’, giving way to ‘books within books’, with multiple subplots became a flourishing subgenre with the reading public. Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and Rowling’s Harry Potter would go on to become record-breaking hits at the cinema box-office. Curiously, Zafon rejected the many lucrative offers to turn his books into movies and he had some very strong opinions as to why.
Spain’s once-leading Author Carlos Ruiz Zafon, who died last year, refused to have his books turned into films, Jack Gaioni explains why
Pondered
Carlos had been consistent with his personal mission to encourage people to recover the pleasure of reading. In our flashy, crazed world of the internet, smart phones, video games and that before Carlos Ruiz Zafon became an international best seller, he began his career as a screenplay writer in the movie capital of the world - Los Angeles, California. He was an avid fan of the film noir genre and had notable success as a Hollywood screenwriter. He would be the first to admit this genre, marked by moods of pessimism, fatalism and menace was a major influence on his later written work. But Carlos saw a disconnect between storytelling as novel verses adapting that same story to a movie. Movies, he believed, are experienced by the audience in one 90 to 120 minute block of time but books may be picked up and put down, pondered and digested, multiple times before completion. Carlos believed that, by reading, content could be taken in at intervals dictated by the reader’s ‘rhythm of consumption’. He once famously said that unlike movies, ‘books have no beginnings or endings - only points of entry’. Since something is lost from the transition from books to movies, Carlos was emphatic in not wanting to spend the time remaking his stories into another media. He claimed that developing characters and interlocking plots so precariously, he feared his stories would ‘explode’ if he tinkered with them by adapting
digital streaming, Zafon believed the joy of reading was being forgotten. “Reading”, said Zafon, “is a primal force in which we, the readers, collaborate with the authors to create adventures, empathy and memories not unlike those of our real lives.” He believed ‘books are mirrors to the soul’ and by reading we develop stronger analytical skills by taking note of detail. It is perhaps ironic
FIGHT: Juan Cautrecosas (right) has been battling church abuse for years the plunge include Belgium, Ireland and Germany, with the US blazing the trail in 2002. But after the Episcopal Confer-
them to the big screen. Zsofon believed that by reading, one can better picture his books ‘shot by shot’, the way he designed them because that is central to the reading experience. Tragically, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, that prolific Spanish novelist who has been compared to Cervantes, succumbed to cancer last year and died in his prime at age 55. He will forever be remembered as an outlier in the world of storytelling. It is rumored that Zafon took the time to declare in his last will and testament that his books ‘never, never, never’ (his words) be made into movies.
ence’s jamboree, hopes were dashed for more transparency from Spain’s clergy, which hitched its wagon to the dictatorship during the Franco years and appears to still be clinging to a sense of impunity. “The ecclesiastical hierarchy of Spain should stop committing the sin of arrogance and assume the institution’s responsibilities. “It should treat the victims and survivors of paedophilia with respect and empathy, providing compensation and reparation for the sake of truth and justice. “These are values that they intend to continue to shun,” the director of the Foundation of Stolen Childhood (ANIR) Juan Cautrecosas told the Olive Press shortly after Argüello delivered the verdict. The facts and figures within Spain remain conveniently vague, though Cautrecosas is convinced that in reality they mirror those of France. “They are the same if not higher,” he says. “The figure of 0.8% is absolutely false.” So far, the Church in Spain has revealed that 220 cases have come under internal investigation between 2001 and April 2021 while the Jesuit Order has
gone one step further, producing a report admitting to the abuse of 81 minors by 65 Jesuit priests between 1927 and 2020. But the Spanish Church’s admissions have only served to infuriate the victims and the associations representing them. “It is shameful The church should stop and intolerable that they continue to deny committing the truth,” says Cautrecosas, the sin of arrogance whose own son suffered sexual abuse in an Opus Dei school in Bilbao in 2010 at the age of 12. The priest finally got sentenced to 11 years in 2018, which was incredibly reduced to two years by the Supreme Court, while the family paid dearly for seeking justice, with threats that drove them out of their home. But calls for more accountability have fallen on deaf ears, with the Church insisting that victims should approach its own Offices for the Protection of Minors that were set up in March 2020 on the orders of Pope Francis. According to Argüello, the Church will attend to anyone who comes to these offices, which can be found in each of Spain’s 70 dioceses. NO PROBLEM: But, as ANIR’s Cautrecoclaims sas has been quick to Luis Argüello point out: “It is vital to look for neutral organisations to investigate rather than those in which the damage was done,” adding that, to date, the Church’s Offices for the Protection of Minors have ‘had very little effect and lack rigour.’ Tellingly, Argüello insists that the offices have received few complaints since they opened a year and a half ago. In fact, according to the ANIR president, victims have found the press to be a more effective vehicle for getting their stories heard, with El País compiling a database of 945 victims and 363 cases to date. “Without the media, many victims wouldn’t have been able to come forward,” says Cautrecosas. “My son was 12 when he was abused. He still suffers from the after-effects of the abuse. It’s not like flu that you can take a paracetamol for. “When we spoke out, our lives were made impossible, as has been the case for many of the victims in our association.” Perhaps it’s not surprising the Spanish Church is dragging its feet on an independent investigation, given the damning indictment delivered to representatives of France’s Catholic hierarchy in Lourdes during the presentation of the Suavé report at the start of October. “You are an embarrassment to our humanity,” François Devaux, director of the victim’s association La Parol Libérée told them. What is clear is that the Spanish Church’s victims feel abused, first physically by a member of the priesthood, then emotionally by the apparent indifference of an institution that looks loathed to come out from behind its veil of silence.
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MISSING LETTERS
Sorry!
Dear Olive Press,
I’VE just had a bit of a laugh trying to do the OP Quick Crossword in the last issue of your very good paper. Unfortunately, the wrong down clues have been used with this issue’s across clues! It initially caused quite some confusion until I eventually realised that the joint clues offered just would not work together! Anyway, don’t worry too much as it has caused my wife and I to have a pretty good laugh once we’d realised the error - the first one we have ever spotted in the OP. We have been getting your paper virtually since you started and always enjoy your publication and always enjoy your crossword and sudoku - but this time it caused us much merriment!! We understand that mistakes will happen so there’s no problem - we just thought that we’d let you know - as we’re sure many other of your readers will also do - and to let you know that we’ve enjoyed the amusement it caused us and that we hope to continue enjoying your paper in the future - hopefully with the right clues for the crosswords!
J & S FJ. Mijas (Malaga) Editor’s note: Many apologies – in fact we inadvertently printed the wrong grid. Good to hear it’s our first mistake for 382 issues... well the only one you spotted at least! We’ve double checked this issue!
Are town halls On the Make in an effort to earn cash?
Yet another case Action needed
NEWS
WITH reference to your article On the Make asking whether town O halls are deliberately not sending legal notices to citizens. We purchased an apartment in Casares in 2011. By using a local lawyer we assumed all that we needed to do was done. It came rather as a shock that in September of this year we had an embargo on our Spanish bank accounts and didn’t know why. After investigating with the bank and speaking with our lawyer it became apparent that it was for purchase tax on the apartment that we were totally unaware of. This seemed incredible such a bill could be chased What for? some 10 years later, with no warning.
The town hall claimed that they had sent two let- YOU ask if town halls are deliberately not sending letters so they can earn ters to us in 2012, both of which we did not receive. In order to release the embargo we were forced to pay them over €7000 - including 10 years interest. We have never owed money to anyone before, and had we received the original letter that they claim they sent we would of course paid it straight away. We feel that in some way we have been rather harshly dealt with by Casares Town Hall, and even let down. some extra cash through fines. I have no idea - but I did get a letter threatening me with an embargo if I did not immediately pay €120 to Fuengirola council. It, of course, did not tell me what this demand was for. As I had to go into the office to pay anyway I decided to ask what it was for. Big mistake! I was sent to three different queues in my quest to find the reason, and all I got was a shrug of the shoulders. Some two hoyrs of queing later I was finally worn down and just joined the last queue - to pay up. I am now €120 poorer, and still have no idea why!
I AM sure the people of Rojales will remember the Gota Fria when the Segura River rose above the arches. It was carrying so
October 20th - November 2nd 2021 5 much rubbish that two machines were placed on top of the stone bridge to scoop the junk out into
lorries in an attempt to save the river from overflowing. A year later Rojales council was fined €5,000 for
AN Olive Press reader has claimed that foreigners are being targeted by Spanish town halls wanting to pocket extra cash. The expat, based in Madrid, believes that a penalty fine for non-payment of ground rent (IBI) on a property was ‘a set up’. It comes after the Olive Press recently reported on two cases in Andalucia, where expats lost their homes due to the incor-rect mailing of legal demands. In one case, Gurney Davey was forced to knock down his home after his house was ruled to have been built illegally in a court case that he knew noth-ing about. The Guadalhorce resident only found out about the judgement when a neighbour told him about a demolition notice which had been wrongly ad-dressed to them instead And last issue we reported how Victoria Jenkins and her son were thrown out of their home that had been ‘secretly’ sold from under them at auction over a paltry €4,000 debt to the local council. “For months and months all the legal notices were sent to an address that didn’t exist,” explained Jenkins. “By the not cleaning up the rubbish and allowing it to build up again. Now there is a massive build-up of reeds in the River Segura, which could again block the channel and to once more lead to flooding in the Vega Baja. With the current deplorable state of the river, now it is time the Confederacion Hidrografica del Segura (CHS) paid a visit to the PSOE council in Rojales and make them take action in clearing the river. They just need to leave enough vegetation for the wildlife. JB, Quesada Offer a number of different plans to suit all budgets Most competitive National funeral plan provider in the whole of Spain All funds are protected by an independent trust Covers the whole of Spain OFFICE HOURS: 10.00am-18.00pm europlans@comparefuneral.org tel: +34 911 436 813 www.comparefuneral.org
time I found out it was too late.” Meanwhile a hotelier in Ronda was left furious after having to pay a €900 fine when a IBI letter was inexplicably sent to her ex-partner’s office in Marbella - despite all her documentation being registered at the Ronda address. The British resident in Ma-drid meanwhile told the Olive Press how letters demanding the annual IBI on her property were sent to totally the wrong building. “Meanwhile I kept asking for the bills, and was told by Madrid town hall that they would come in the post. Eventually when I found out what had happened and complained, I
On the make Are town halls deliberately targeting expats for cash?
was told ‘these things happen sometimes’ but I still had to pay the penalty for late pay-ment.
Racket
“It stinks of a racket to deliberately make money and I have to wonder whether they are targeting those with foreign names around Spain as we are less capable of fighting back?”
Have you been deliberately targeted? Do you have a story about legal and official notices going to the wrong address? How has it affected you? Get in touch at newsdesk@theo-livepress.es.
Mijas Costa P LIVE RESS The ANDALUCÍA Your voice in Spain expat FREE Vol. 15 Issue 379 www.theolivepress.es October 6th - October 19th 2021
The box is open
A HOST of Costa gangsters, oligarchs and celebrities have been caught up in a giant offshore tax scandal. Former king Juan Carlos, football manager Pep Guardiola and singer Miguel Bose, are among the biggest Spanish names stung in the so-called Pandora Papers. But it is the Italian gangster Raffaele Amato, who was arrested in Malaga, model Claudia Schiffer, who has a home in Mallorca, and Julio Iglesias, who lives in Marbella, that will be of most interest locally. All of them have been exposed as having offshore accounts alongside at least five Spanish politicians in the giant trove of documents released this week. In total, around 600 Spaniards are now under scrutiny after being named in the Pandora Papers leak, which was compiled by over a dozen media groups around the globe. The papers also put the spotlight on Russian oligarchs and godfather Amato, who used offshore companies to amass wealth and assets around Malaga. A series of well-known expats, such as pop star Shakira and Nobel-Prize
Continues on Page 2
* O f f e r v a l i d f o r n e w c u s t o m e 952 147 834 r s o n l y . S u b j e c t t o c o n d i t i o n s . E n d s 3 1 / 1 2 / 1 9 . TM Tel: 952 147 834 See page 11 & 18 X + +THE SKY DOCTOR 4G UNLIMITED INTERNET IDEAL FOR STREAMING TV ALSO IPTV, SATELLITE TV tel: (0034) 952 763 840 info@theskydoctor.com www.theskydoctor.com ALL AREAS COVERED TheOlivePress-256x170-HOME02.indd 1 21/6/19 13:30
HEARTLESS Expat mum and teenage son lose home after courts send legal notices to wrong address despite earlier family court ruling
WHEN Victoria Jenkins’ partner Lee did a runner leaving her and their son on the Costa del Sol, she didn ’t think life could get any worse. EXCLUSIVE By Fiona Govan But the expat family have been evicted after their €320,000 home was sold at auction without their knowledge over an unpaid property tax. The Essex mum from Chelmsford had moved to Mijas with her partner when their child Samuel was fouryears-old. But when he left to go on a business trip to Indonesia some years back, she never heard from him again.Her nightmare got worse when it took an incredible three years of court appearances to win full custody of Samuel, now 14, with a judge finally ruling she could stay in the family home until her son turned 18 in 2026. “I gave up any hope of child support because Lee simply vanished into thin air, but although our home was in his name, it was paid off and I was assured we could stay in it until my son reached his 18th birthday,” she told The Oliv e Press. “I just got on with thi n g s and tried to bring she said. up my son as best I could,” Then in November 2020, there was a knock at the door and she was given an eviction notice. “It turns out that my ex had a €4,000 debt of unpaid ground tax with the town hall so they put a forced sale on it and someone bought it at auction for €25,000.”
Sold
Amazed that the house her husband paid €320,000 was sold off for so little, she immediately went to the court to find out how it happened without her knowledge. “I was told it was a done deal and that this final eviction notice was definitive and that my time to defend it had passed because I had ignored all the previous legal notices. “I took a private lawyer with me to the court to demand my case file and discovered that all the previous legal notices had been sent to the wrong address. “My lawyer said I could appeal because of this but a year later and still no one will listen to me. I keep being told that I am too late. But how can I be too late when I was formed in the first place?” never inShe was told that she must vacate the property by October 5 this week, but can launch an appeal in Madrid. That however will take many months and up to 14 weeks alone just to get a legal aid lawyer assigned to her case.“The judge said I was out of time and that the eviction must go ahead,” she said, sobbing. “I’m packing up our stuff and have no choice but for us to go and stay on a friend’ s sofa.” And so it came to pass when yesterday the previous court order allowing her to stay in the home was completely ignored with the duo being evicted. “Two court officials, two police officers, the two new owners, a locksmith and some other guy showed
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NAMED: Schiffer, Guardiola, Blair and Iglesias
HOMELESS: Victoria and Samuel and (above) the urbanisation they lived on
up, eight in total, all to make sure that we left the premises,” she added, clearly heartbroken. “I had my stuff packed up and met them at the gate and was told to go to court tomorrow to get the paperwork if I want to launch an appeal. It was horrible,” she added. She continued: “It’s a total scandal that our home worth €320,000 can be sold off for just €25,000 for the sake of a €4,000 debt without our even being informed. “But it’s actually inhumane that they are going to make my son homeless. “His father abandoned us but I thought that at least we have a roof over our heads but now that has been taken despite a court order promising us another five years. “I was never even given the chance to stand before a judge and argue my case. This is not justice. ”
The Olive Press was hoping to get some answers on the case before we went to press.
Opinion Page 6 Mijas Costa
X+ +THE SKY DOCTORALL AREAS COVERED 952 147 834 Tel: 952 147 834 See page 5 & 15 4G UNLIMITEDINTERNET IDEAL FOR STREAMING TV ALSO IPTV,SATELLITE TV * O f f e r v a l i TheOlivePress-256x170-HOME02.indd 1 d f o r n e w c u s t o m e r s o n l y . S u b j e c t t o c o n d i t i o n s . E TM n d s 3 1 / 1 2 / 1 9 . tel: (0034) 952 763 840info@theskydoctor.comwww.theskydoctor.com 21/6/19 13:30 Vol. 15 Issue 370 www.theolivepress.es June 2nd June 15th 2021
O P LIVE RESS The ANDALUCÍA FREE Your voice in Spain expat
AN expat is facing prison for fail-ing to demolish his home after he fell foul of a town hall’s ‘laissez faire’ planning rules.Gurney Davey, aged 67, only found out about the six-month sentence when a court document was delivered to a neighbour’s house. “I went straight to Tolox town hall with it. They told me I shouldn’t have received it yet,” he told the Olive Press.“They said they were going to be sending the notification to me once they had stamped it.
”The news came as a massive bolt from the blue for Davey, whose wife has just died of cancer, which he believes worsened from the stress of the case.He had never been told about the court case that followed on from a Guardia Civil denuncia for an ‘illegal build’.Davey’s two-bed home - built in 2004 - should never have been built according to the Malaga court.
NOT AGAIN British expat faces demolition of his 17 year home - and a spell in prison - in repeat of controversial Priors case
LegaliseIn 2016, and then again in 2017, Davey was ordered to knock down his house, but, in common with a neighbour, he waited for more details.While his Spanish neighbour, Irene Millan, 29, did eventually hear from the court again, she was given six months to ‘legalise’ her property - an option Davey was never given.However, his neighbour’s appar-ent good luck turned into a poi-soned chalice. Having spent €20,000 with the town hall to legalise the dwelling, the court finally refused to accept the new paperwork provided by the council. Instead, demolition was ordered - which went ahead last week.To add insult to injury Irene’s 54-year-old father, Manuel Millan, whose name was on the deeds, was also sentenced to six months jail and handed a fine of €6 a day for a year. Now Davey is terrified he is set to lose his home at any moment.It comes just two months since his wife Diana died from bowel cancer, at the age of 71, in April.“We thought we had done every-thing right at the time. We got legal advice and went through a lawyer in order to get permission to build the home.“Diana fought breast cancer for six years before bowel cancer - I am sure the stress brought it on.
” The couple, originally from Suffolk in the UK, spent € 1 50, 00 0 building their property. “It came as a package - a plot with a new home on it.”Davey admits he and his wife were perhaps naive to follow the advice of their lawyer. The lawyer,
from legal firm Manzanares, told them that planning permission would be applied for as an alma-cen - or ‘ warehouse’.This way it would come under the remit of Tolox town hall, which would give permission and later they could ‘legalise’ the property. The language of one legal letter, seen by the Olive Press, suggests this would be a mere formality. But the property never got legal-ised. In fact, the Tolox mayor of the time, Juan Vera, has since been jailed and fined for his part in a scheme to allow up to 350 prop-erties to be built on land classified as ‘rural’ .In most cases he had used the very same ‘lax’ procedure of ap-plying to build an ‘almacen’ to try to keep the prying eyes of the Junta authorities away.“We thought that was the way things worked in Spain,” said Davey, a retired builder. “We went to see a lawyer and got advice. It turns out that was not the smart thing to do.“Why would we deliberately try to build illegally? It makes no sense that we would sell up everything in the UK and risk it all.
”Now Davey’s first thoughts are to avoid serving the jail sentence. He said: “My lawyer is trying to get the sentence suspended.” Flatten
In the meantime he has been forced to ask the town hall for permission to knock his own property down. “I will do it myself. I will borrow a JCB from someone and flatten my home of the past 17 years. I will not let the town hall do it and charge me more money.
”He added: “I’ve no idea where to live afterwards. But the land is still mine - maybe I can live in a tent.” Tolox Ayuntamiento refused to comment, citing data protection laws.
Find out about Spain’s 10 capital cities
EXCLUSIVEBy Dilip Kuner
DEMOLITION: Expat Gurney Davey is being forced to knock down his own house and faces six months jail Opinion Page 6
See page 14
FLASHBACK: Two recent wrong address victims made our front page
John Iillis, Casares David Anderson, Fuengirola
OP QUICK CROSSWORD
OP SUDOKU
Across
7 Be overcomplimentary
(4)
8 Scion (8) 9 Like suits and boots (8) 10 Transmit (4) 11 On a lower storey (5) 12 The Stanley ---, an unusual very early car (7) 15 Straddling (7) 16 Military training centres (5) 18 Party enforcer (4) 20 Court statement (8) 21 Least dry (8) 22 Cole Porter’s “Anything ---” (4)
Down
1 Incivility (8) 2 Dance director (13) 3 Dunce (5) 4 Puts on (7) 5 Nowadays (4,3,3,3) 6 Showing signs of use
(4)
13 Business deductions
(8)
14 Taken for one’s own
(7)
17 Most isolated city in the world? (5) 19 Political hardliner (4)
