The
OLIVE PRESS
HORRIFIC: Millions of fish died
Demands for €80m flood aid A VEGA Baja mayor has demanded €80m in flood aid for the devastated Murcia region. Los Alcazares leader Mario Perez Cervera insisted a major flood retention project should be implemented urgently to prevent the sort of serious flooding that happened in September. He told the government in Madrid this week that it is also vital to preserve the Mar Menor, which was badly hit by the so-called Gota Fria. The week of heavy rain led to the deaths of millions of fish and the destruction of dozens of homes. He insisted future floods needed to Continues on Page 10
Right turn A DANGEROUS lurch to the right could see Spain’s anti-immigrant Vox party becoming the kingmakers in this weekend’s general election. The massive surge - off the back of the recent Catalan crisis and a fear of Islam - could see the party seizing 15% of the seats in Parliament. The expected gains will seriously damage centre-right Ciudadanos, which could lose over half its seats, while the ruling PSOE and left wing Podemos are also expected to suffer. Vox, which has pledged to ‘defend’ Spain from immigrants, is predicted to finish third in the country’s fourth general election in as many years. The latest polling suggests Vox, led by Santiago Abascal, will increase its 24 seats in Spain’s 350-seat parliament to 46.
Failed
Meanwhile Albert Rivera’s Ciudadanos will be reduced from 57 to 14. In the 40dB poll Vox is set to gain 14% of the vote, alongside the PP in second place with 21.2% and 91 seats and the PSOE coming first with 27.3% and 121 votes. The PSOE’s predicted victory would see the party with two less seats than in April’s last election, prompting another headache for its leader Pedro Sanchez as he tries to form a government. Opinion page 6
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VANISHED!
Duty of care claims after missing British great-grandfather was allowed to leave police station at 3am in clearly disoriented state EXCLUSIVE By Joshua Parfitt
POLICE on the Costa Blanca have been slammed after they allowed a confused and disorientated British great-grandfather to walk out of a police station into the dead of night alone. The family of pensioner Philip Pearce, 68, are demanding answers from Benidorm police over why he was released on September 10, at 3am. They now fear for his life after he has been missing for an alarming two months. And in a shocking email from the British Consulate, seen by the Olive Press this week, there are suggestions of a breach of duty of care. The official email reveals the pensioner had clearly told police he ‘did not remember where he was staying’ nor where he was from in England. Wallet The consulate email also stated Philip was carrying neither his passport nor his wallet when he was taken by a stranger to Benidorm’s Policia Nacional station in the Old Town just after midnight, as CCTV footage confirms. However, what is not clear is how and why he was allowed to leave the station three hours later. “The police are simply not answering our questions,” son Lee Pearce, 41, told the Olive Press last night.
DISAPPEARED: Philip Pearce enjoying a drink (above), while (above right) the last picture of the pensioner in Alicante Airport
“It’s absolutely gut-wrenching for us as a family, not knowing where he is and why he disappeared. “I just want him home so badly. I miss him so much.” Philip was known to be suffering from the early signs of dementia, but was ‘happy and smiling’ when he left for Alicante with a friend and travelling partner. He was having a good holiday until he left his Playa Levante hotel at 5.30pm on September 9 to buy cigarettes before he lost his bearings and was taken to police. Two months on, Lee told the Olive Press a request for ‘a ground search and sniffer dogs’ has gone unanswered, while the family are left searching for answers. “We just need closure on whether my dad is still alive or not,” Lee said. “But apart from claiming to have sent out some drones to look, the police don’t seem to be doing anything at all.” It comes as scores of British residents have spent weeks searching for signs of the grandfa-
ther-of-three. Owner of Alicante Transfers, David McQueen, said he has spent ‘four to five’ hours every day scouring abandoned buildings and traveller communities around the Costa Blanca. “I even sent my dog out with a GoPro camera to search in every bush and in every corner, but we’ve found nothing,” McQueen said. “I’ve got 130 taxi drivers who start at 4am and finish at 2am, but none of the hotels and establishments have seen a sign of Philip.” The family has spent weeks putting up posters and handing out flyers of his missing father around Benidorm with contact details. A spokeswoman for the British Consulate told the Olive Press it ‘does not
comment on individual cases’ such as Philip’s. A Policia Nacional spokesman claimed ‘helicopters’ had been scrambled to search for Philip on various Benidorm hillsides. However, he failed to answer questions about the exact details of his release from the station or whether sniffer dogs and ground searches had been deployed or would be soon. Have you seen Philip? Get in touch at newsdesk@ theolivepress.es
You total doughnut! Find out what’s eating Paul Hollywood on Page 3
2
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WELCOME
We’re here to make a change
I
T has only taken 14 years, but the Olive Press finally has an edition on the Costa Blanca South and in Murcia. We hope you like our investigative, community newspaper, designed for expats of ALL nationalities across South Alicante and Murcia. It’s our fifth edition, having already established ourselves in Andalucia, Mallorca, Costa Blanca North and Gibraltar. With a dynamic mix of news stories, investigations, features, reviews and columns, we hope you see the difference between us and other English newspapers on the coast.
Daily Record
Some of you will have been following us for years, via our website and Facebook page, which has over 20,000 followers, many on the Costa Blanca. Our website www.theolivepress.es gets around 40,000 to 50,000 visitors a day and is higher ranked globally than the Daily Record in Scotland and the Liverpool Echo in the UK. Indeed, we are - officially - in the Top 1000 best websites in the UK and Spain, and for the record the 12,000th most important website in the world.
A Welcome
November 7th - November 20th 2019
Our history so far LAUNCH
2006
Website
2007
ON HIS MANOR: Jon (right) with Costa Blanca regular Elliot Wright
From Olive Press publisher Jon Clarke
Our team
Our product
Our history
Our lifeblood is not slick sales people and rock bottom ‘stackem-high sell-em-cheap’ deals. It’s simply good, solid editorial content. At least 50% of the paper. We employ a team of over a dozen NCTJ-trained journalists and writers around Spain, capable of covering all the issues and events that matter. In the last four weeks alone we have been in Barcelona for the Catalan riots, watched former dictator Franco pulled from his grave in Madrid and visited Spain’s hottest new theme park in Toledo. But be it corruption, the environment, politics, your neighbours or simply your pets… we vow to cover it all. You are our eyes and ears and we expect you to contact us if you see anything untoward, or something that needs tackling. Within reason, of course.
We ensure a ratio of 50% advertising to 50% editorial, which means we can guarantee a better presentation of adverts than our rivals... not to mention a much longer shelf-life for our product. We can complement this with articles about your businesses, written by our team of journalists, which we can also publish online with permanent do-follow links for no extra charge. In addition, when we say we are printing 10,000 copies of the paper in this region, it is exactly that… and we are happy to show you our printing bill to prove it. In addition, we are using a respected UK company Self Select Media to distribute the majority of our papers along the coast. The company, which recently launched in Spain, is the UK’s leading distribution company of newspapers and offers 100% guaranteed GPS proof of delivery.
I set up the Olive Press in Spain in 2006 after seeing a huge gap in the market when it came to local media. Having worked for many years as a journalist in London (at the Daily Mail, Telegraph and Sunday Mirror), I could see that expats were sick of the cheap and tawdry downmarket local press that existed here. There were far too many rags only serving the purposes of their owners, with all too frequently racist editorials. Quite simply, the huge expat population of Spain was NOT being represented. Nobody was exploring their problems, fighting their corner, listening to their plight. Be it radio, newspaper or TV, that is what good local media does. I’m not saying we work miracles, but good journalists can probe the authorities and ask awkward questions. Our successes include a two-year campaign into danger drug Nolotil, the end of a 2,000-home golf course scheme by a Natural Park and the location of a trio of Britain’s Most Wanted criminals, including the fastest-ever arrest after a UK Crimestoppers appeal. We have highlighted the lies of politicians, exposed conmen and fraudsters and won awards for our environmental campaigning.
In 2006 the Olive Press launched it’s first issue in Andalucia In 2007 the Olive Press launched it’s website theolivepress.es
Dont hesitate to contact me at Jon@theolivepress.es
2009
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Mijas is a suprisingly authentic village with a buzzing coastline, discovers Laurence Dollimore
I
F you’re looking for a typical Andalucian town to charm your socks off then further than white-washed Mijas. look no The classic hilltop town, just a stone’s throw from the Costa del Sol, is quintessentially Spanish and packed full of surprises. Discovered by the globe’s more bohemian artists and writers in the 1950s and 60s, it was immortalised in Ronald Fraser’s 1973 book, The Pueblo, and continues to cast a spell on visitors today. A recent €4.7 million renovation which saw the main square transformed beyond recognition has helped (and for that you the EU, which coughed up 70% ofcan thank the funding). If you are visiting on a clear day, don’t forget to enjoy the jaw-dropping views of from the cliff-edge view point on thethe coast of the pueblo - although you mightoutskirts have to wait for snappy happy Instagram ‘influencers’ to end their posing session before you can Continues overleaf
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FIRST Minister Fabian Picardo has given a warm welcome to the Olive Press’ launch in Gibraltar. The father-of-two saluted the paper’s original reporting and insisted his government would give its full support to aid our growth in the enclave. “I am delighted to cooperate and to ensure you receive all the help you need to inform those who choose the Olive Press for their news. “Welcome to the media stable in Gibraltar.”
Politicians call for British Royal Navy gunships to be permanently stationed in Gibraltar during defiant National Day speeches
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Blown away
DEFIANT calls for British Navy battleships to be stationed again By Tom Powell Gibraltar have been made duringin a got the biggest cheer, raucous National Day rally. when he insisted the Royal Navy should - once A group of 11 British politicians de- again - have battleships livered rip-roaring speeches focuspermanentsing on recent tensions with Spain ly stationed in Gibraltar. and backing Gibraltar’s right to self- “The people of Gibraltar are a part of the Great British family and I would determination. like to see a battleship here to appreThe Casemates crowd – a sea of red hend any Spanish and white – echoed the patriotic ship to illegally sentiments as Chief Minister Fabian enter British waters,” he said. Picardo delivered the final address, Democratic Unionist MP Ian Paisley added: “These are centering around a salute to PARTY MODE: Gibraltarians the waters, this is our our international celebrate National Day with ‘evacuation generation’ of 75 years country, these are inflatable barbary macaque our people and we must support ago. them.” Linking it to the current refugee cri“We will never surrender this rock!” “National Day will never ever be cent years due to its sis engulfing Europe, he vowed environmental diminished. In fact, it will only get impact – took place. help as much as possible under to he roared in a rousing address. bigger. We stand together, red white the After waving a letter Then, as the crowds gazed up at plea that ‘sharing is caring’. of ‘best wishes’ and free!” he bellowed. the from the Queen, red and white speckled sky, Tina But it was Conservative MP for finally vowed to the Chief Minister Following the speeches, the tradi- Turner’s Romford, Andrew Rosindell, who increase National tional releasing Simply the Best blasted of the balloons Day celebrations in years to come. which has caused controversy in – through the sound system, signalling re- the start of an almighty party.
The Rock’s leader was talking alongside his lawyer wife Justine ahead of his key speech at National Day, one of the ‘most significant ever’. He told the Olive Press: “It is particularly auspicious this year with the day commemorating the 75th anniversary of great evacuation of the Rock, as well as coming in the week the Queen becomes the UK’s longest serving monarch.” A highlight of his week was watching Kings of Leon at the Gibraltar Music Festival. “Not at the front as I would have got crushed,” he joked. “But I was blown away when I saw everyone’s hands in the air for Sex on Fire, the best rock song of the last decade.” As for a date for his first reelection contest, rumoured to be on November 20, he said: “The only person who knows is my wife.”
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HOUSE RULES
ANXIOUS expats breathed a sigh of relief this week after Parliament voted to wrestle back control of the Brexit process in yet another humiliation for Theresa May. The fresh blow for the British Prime Minister has put the future of million expats in Europe firmly intoa the hands of MPs, who are expected to vote against a hard Brexit. It comes after thousands of expats joined a million marchers at a mas-
What drove this expat to cut off his member? Page 7
Celebrating the end of the Spanish Civil War Page 14
Costa Blanca home is voted best in Europe Page 20
Olive Press reviews Madrid’s hot new hotel Page 26
Border battle as nuisance neighbour forced to cut down intrusive cypress trees
EXCLUSIVE By Joshua Parfitt
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Continues on Page 4
AN expat is celebrating after his nuisance neighbour was told to trim a row of ‘intrusive’ trees, following an Olive Press probe. American expat Gordon Capps, 59, is overjoyed after police confirmed they had ordered his Portuguese neighbour to cut the line of cypress trees to just 1.5 metres in height. Capps had sought our help after the ‘disturbed’ 30-something neighbour planted a dozen trees alongside his garden fence, threatening to block his stunning views of the Sierra de Bernia y Ferrer. The 59-year-old film worker said the move was the ‘last straw’ in a bizarre ongoing feud with the neighbour, who he claims recently approa- CONCERNED: Capps points at home of his ‘threatening’ ched him with a rifle on his and armed neighbour who worked as a prop master shoulder. everything about it, except Benissa last March with his “It feels like he’s putting up 12 for CSI Las Vegas, told the that one thing.” French wife Catherine, a retimiddle fingers at us,” Gordon, Olive Press. “We love this place, we love Capps, from Los Angeles, red yoga teacher. bought his stunning villa in But things quickly began to
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sive anti-Brexit protest in London at the weekend. “It was great to be there making history I hope,” said Sue Wilson of Bremain in Spain. “It is not the first time we have ted with our feet, but it was our vobiggest ever march contingent,” she added. “It was a sign of commitment that so
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go awry with his neighbours, who he insists refused to be friendly ‘from the outset’. Capps, who trained as a paramedic, claims the neighbour’s four dogs barked continually and their owner hid inside the house whenever approached. Despite calling in the Guardia Civil to investigate and contacting the mayor of Benissa for help, he said the neighbour refused to negotiate a compromise. A letter to the town hall, seen by the Olive Press, pleaded for help, insisting the man was deliberately threatening them and that he carried a gun.
Gun
As well as asking the town hall to check if he had a licence for the rifle, the September 2018 missive asked if local police could speak to him about his dogs. Capps claimed he was ‘worried for his life’ and that the neighbour appeared to have ‘mental health issues’. Another neighbour, Spaniard Jaime Serra Ortola, 43, has also denounced the neighbour for ‘death threats’ against him and his dog. “I’ve denounced him countless times and the police have twice been round. It’s fair to say he is unhinged,” he told the Olive Press. The feud began when Capps put up a low bamboo fence to create some privacy from the neighbour who spied on him while swimming, and then reacted furiously, screaming ‘this is war!’ Capps now fears the trees will not only block his view, but the roots could destroy his pool. The Olive Press was unable to speak to the neighbour, despite various visits.
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Expat bar owners protest over draconian sound limiters stopping music quieter than a
Ring any bells? vacuum cleaner Rocker’s villa going for a song on Mallorca
Olive Press launch coincides with Palma boat show
I
t’s the most exciting launch to hit the island in a decade! The first edition of the Mallorca Olive Press is now on the loose… and totally free! Already voted the best expat paper in Spain, we now promise to deliver the news that really matters in Mallorca. Available in the four corners of the island, we also vow to deliver a blend of irresistible, entertaining and informative features… as well as campaigning on key issues and problems. Aimed at the huge foreign market in Mallorca, the readers will be a healthy mix of Scandinavian, Dutch and Germans… not to mention the British and Irish, of course.
Pride
By Laurence Dollimore
Page 4
AROUND 100 island bar owners and entertainers are expected to stage a silent protest today after being forced to install new ‘THEY’RE KILLING US’: Singer Steffi (right) and bar owners €3,000 sound limiters. fear for the future marched down to Calvia town It comes after Calvia Council hall to petition the mayor, oped nodules, making them unimposed draconian new rules, where they were met by Guarable to perform. in effect from May 1, in a bid to dia Civil, police and a TV crew. “It’s affecting our work and ‘reduce noise pollution’. They plan to return at 3.30pm health,” she added, “It could But British and Spanish busiworks today (Thursday), when the ness owners say the new laws fine and I have never had a prevent us singing.” councillors discuss the new are ‘killing’ the party hotspot complaint,” said owner of During a meeting of 100 busiThe OP’s roundup of Spain’s limiters, in the hope they can ness owners and performers, and are ‘prejudicing’ live music Stepps, Dave Woodward, 59. most corrupt politicians change their minds. and karaoke venues. Meanwhile, British singer Steffi attended by the Olive Press, the If unsuccessful, all venues The new limit is - incredibly Lorena, 25, claims the limits group blasted the council for Page 6 around Calvia will be ordered the level of an air conditioning are affecting the livelihoods of ‘giving in’ to tourists who come to install the limiters through unit at 100 feet and less than a performers. “It’s impossible to to the party areas for a quiet the same engineering company vacuum cleaner. sing within the new limits,” the holiday. by May 1. “This could put us out of busiowner of Santa Ponsa’s Retro “The council are protecting the Once installed, the device auwrong people,” one exclaimed, ness, it’s unreal,” Fennigan’s bar told the Olive Press. tomatically turns down music bar owner Mick Cormican, 55, “We opened in February and I “They are protecting two Brits if it goes over 62 decibels, detold the Olive Press. was forced to fork out €3,000 who come for a quiet holiday scribed as ‘restaurant conversa“A car going by is louder than on a new limiter and if we have and complain about the noise, tion or background music’ by the limit, it’s particularly prejua loud crowd or they start clap- it’s a disgrace!” industrialnoisecontrol.com. dicial to live music and karaoke ping the music goes down and One bar owner, on the island for Those going over the limit will 15 years, claimed the council is Editor Jon Clarke reviews Spain’s bars as they simply cannot peryou have to strain to be heard. face hefty fines, with some alalleged best restaurant form within the sound limit.” “It’s got to a point where it is being manipulated by hotels legedly already being fined A collective of 20 business ownactually damaging performers, and clubs who want to drive Page 28 €6,000. business away from the bars. ers and entertainers yesterday it’s not worth it.” “I already have a limiter that Some local singers have devel- “The new rules are twisting the spirit of EU rules, and instead of helping us, they are punishing us,” he said. “We will be forced to keep noise levels lower than in the indusDE MALLORCA trial areas… the rules are impossible to comply with and we fear police are likely to fine anyone who fights back!” He alleged that clubs sell tickets MORE from stands without the correct revenue with licenses but that the authorities German clients! look the other way. Put your ads in “The council knows that the sale Tel: 951 979 221 | sales@oaklandfurniturespain.com stands from the clubs break the EL AVISO rules as they use secondary linewspaper! censes known as ‘Licencia complementaria’ when the primary license operating the business is CONTACT US closed,” he added. 971 619 234 See our adverts inside 661 901 290 Ave de Gabriel Roca 4, Palma Opinion Page 6 Info@el-aviso.es
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Jon has written about Spain for the UK media for two decades, as well as appearing in various documentaries, including a recent Netflix one on missing Maddie McCann. He lives in Ronda with his wife and two children.
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Pride
And, all the while, alongside articles promoting the very best of Spain. I take great pride in launching our fifth paper here on the Costa Blanca South and Murcia, two areas I look forward to getting to know. As my client on the Costa del Sol, Elliot Wright of TOWIE, has told me for years, the people up here are more down to earth and friendly. His family have had a restaurant, Eduardo’s, here for years so he should know. I look forward to learning about all the best places to eat, visit and stay, while keep my journalists busy with plenty of things to write about. Remember a local paper is only as good as its readers.
First supplement
e Lions EL AVISO Threpub
After operating for a decade in Andalucia and Gibraltar, our team of professional journalists pride themselves on understanding the needs of our discerning readership. We also promise to ensure that our editorial takes up, at least, half of the paper and we will not jam it full of adverts, particularly of a sexual nature. Finally, we would like to thank everyone for making us feel so welcome from the moment we arrived. We now clearly understand why Mallorca is leading the way in Spain for property and tourism and why so many celebrities and dignitaries visit the island and make it their home. The incredible scenery, great local food, cosmopolitan feel, accompanied by the warmth of the locals makes it truly unique. It’s safe to say, we will be sticking around!
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Ronaldo back in the red CRISTIANO Ronaldo and his girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez have stolen the show at the MTV EMA awards in Sevilla. The pair dazzled, stepping out in contrasting colours, with the footballer donning a red suit and white trainers, while his better half sported a blue dress that revealed one leg. Spanish model Rodriguez is adjusting to family life with Ronaldo and his children Cristiano Jr., nine, two-yearold twins Eva and Mateo, and Alana, age 22 months. The former Real Madrid star, who now plays for Juventus, recently said of their relationship: “She has helped me so much.” He added: “I’m in love with her and we’ll be married one day, for sure. It’s my mum’s dream as well.” His 25-year-old girlfriend recently admitted that’s ‘not easy’ being in a relationship with someone as famous as the Portuguese star.
NEWS
A little sprinkle of Hollywood
November 7th - November 20th 2019
3
But grumpy Bake Off star threatens to fill in Olive Press’ cake hole for asking a question GREAT British Bake Off host, Paul Hollywood has spent some of his dough on a Halloween visit to Spain. The greying star - who made €10million last year - has been spotted running a rule over a number of local bakeries on the Costa Blanca, where his dad lives. Fresh from finishing another Channel Four series of the baking show, the 53-year old was spotted chewing over baguettes, bloomers and pastries in two cafe/bakeries in Quesada and Benijofar. At one, Redz, he has been a regular for years, coming over a number of times a year to see his dad
fans.” He is also a regu- TOUGH COOKIE: Hollywood (inset) lar at Benijofar’s wouldn’t smile for the Olive Press, but celebrated Ham- he does like Hamilton’s display (above) iltons, which is John, a former butcher from the one of the most popular expat Press this week. Wirral. bakeries on the Costa Blanca Cheshire-born Hollywood has “He’s here every day of his holisouth. judged on the Great British day with his dad,” said one of the Boss Martin Ronald Dean, a forBake Off since 2010, forming an waiters. mer croupier, who set up the bakeasy-going on-screen relation“Our boss Samantha has got ery and cafe seven years ago, said ship with Mary Berry, that the some pics, but she can’t share the TV star was a very private Guardian newspaper described them as he doesn’t like selfies or man of little words. as the show’s ‘secret weapon’. going on social media,” he added. “He doesn’t say much, but he did However, off the show life has “He basically has a full English say he really liked our display of been far more complicated. breakfast and keeps himself to cakes and buns,” he told the Olive Apart from a long and acrimohimself, never engaging with his nious divorce from his wife of 19 years Alexandra, he has just broken up from his girlfriend of two years Summer, 24. The split came after he tried to get her to sign a legal agreement not to talk to the press earlier this The Olive Press has been reporting for 14 years in Spain. year. And in all that time we have met and bumped into hundreds of celebrities from David Beckham to Alexei Sayle and Hugh It went down like a collapsed pie Grant to that lot from TOWIE. in the oven and she moved her Yet not one of them behaved in the despicable way Bake Off clothes and various other items star Paul Hollywood - worth over €10m - did last week. from their shared home in Kent Indeed, every time we have stopped to say hello to someone last weekend. famous, asked them about the weather or their holiday or life It was perhaps not surprising in Spain, whatever, they smiled and at least declined to comment then, that when the Olive Press politely. politely asked him for a quote Hooligan Hollywood in contrast acted like a gangster swaggering for a brand new issue of the painto his local bar to give us a countdown to leave ‘or else’. per on the Costa Blanca south, he One might call it comical. Others might say he needs to learn couldn’t have been blunter. FULL ENGLISH: At Redz some manners. “You’ve got ten seconds to get each day It just goes to show all the dough in the world doesn’t buy class. out of here or else,” he threatened, after pulling up in a Jaguar at a HE’S lived in Spain for the past six years, prime minister is anymore. I haven’t got a local cafe in his dad’s playing in front of thousands of Real Ma- clue,” he admitted. urbanisation of Montedrid fans at the Bernabeu. Bale, who earns £93,000 a day, said he bello, near Benijofar. So perhaps he might be excused for not was mostly just interested in golf. Despite merely asking knowing who the current British Prime “I follow the golf, that’s about it. I can tell him what he liked about Minister is. you who’s number one in the world.” the area - and what he In a shocking interview with the Tele- The Cardiff-born striker, who has an thought of the local graph, the Welsh footie ace said he apartment in Marbella, and is often seen bread and pastries - he thought Boris Johnson was still the mayor teeing off at nearby Finca Cortesin golf continued: “You lot are of London. course, has been linked with a move from all the same, get lost. He added he knows almost nothing about Real Madrid all year. “I told you stop talking Brexit. It came after he was subject of harsh pubjust get out and leave,” “I look in terms of stuff financially, be- lic criticism from Galacticos boss Zinedine he added, in the worst cause [Brexit] affects me in a certain Zidane, while rumours have swirled about manners ever witnessed way for investments or money, because a rift between him and his Real teamby this newspaper in things change, but I don’t read most of the mates. The winger was close to a move to 14 years publishing in nonsense. I genuinely don’t know 99 per China in the summer before Real called Spain. cent of Brexit. I don’t even know who the the deal off due to financial concerns. EXCLUSIVE By Jon Clarke and Simon Wade
OPINION
You total doughnut!
Simply Baleful
JOLLY: Jolie in Spain
Blown away not blown up SMILING Angelina Jolie put on an Oscar-winning show of calmness as she enjoyed a day out shopping in Spain. The 44-year-old was all smiles in the Canary Islands, despite having been evacuated from a film set following a bomb scare. An unexploded device found in sand on the set forced the American star to flee the set in Fuerteventura, where she was filming upcoming Marvel film The Eternals last week. The Maleficent star was accompanied by three of her children as she was spotted breezing through the streets of the island, famous for its winds.
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NEWS IN BRIEF Tapas tour SOME 11 bars are taking part in Rojales’ 13th tapas tour, from November 15 17, with tapas and a drink for €2.50 with a free bus between bars.
Road repairs REPAIRS have begun on roads damaged in the September floods, expected to be completed byDecember at a cost of €1.16 million.
Pupil hacked A 17-YEAR-OLD boy was knifed in the back by another pupil during class at a Torrevieja secondary school.
0% loans THE Valencian Institute of Finance and Afin SGR has launched a 0% loan to help finance businesses in the wake of the September floods, with firms able to borrow up to 80%.
Reporters Simon Wade and Joshua Parfitt
Your reporters, here to help on the Costa Blanca Contact them with any stories or news on 951 273 575 or email newsdesk@theolivepress.es (Personal contacts on page 6)
WE’VE only just launched on the Costa Blanca south - and we’re already about to get famous. Just days before this week’s first edition came out, Olive Press reporter Simon Wade got involved in the filming of a new TV show. Wade, based in Formentera, had just popped in to see the team at Casa Manuel Estate Agent, in Benijofar, to ask if they wanted to collaborate in the launch, when he was confronted by a TV camera crew. It turned out they were in the middle of filming another episode of ‘Sun, Sea and Selling Houses’, for Channel Four. After chatting with the Brighton production team, Ricochet, Wade was talked into actually appearing in a scene chatting with staff Sophie and Charlotte and owner Manuel, himself. Wade said, “I only went in to chat about a feature I’m writing, and now I’m appearing on national TV - not what I was expecting when I got up this morning.” Casas Manuel have already featured in three series of the popular property programme, along with Almeria estate agents, Spanish Property Choice. Shows being filmed at the moment are due to be broadcast next year.
Home at last Speedy Gonzalez
This time next year
THERE are almost one million Spanish millionaires and the amount has risen five-fold in less than a decade. An incredible 979,000 Spaniards meet the definition, a number that rose by 33,000 people in 2018 alone. Spain is now 10th in the world rankings for excess wealth, according to bank Credit Suisse’s Global Wealth Report 2019. It discovered that Spain has seen an increase of millionaires by 470% since 2010. The number of Spanish millionaires will grow by around 42% over the next five years. However it has emerged that 92% of the current number have less than €5 million.
November 7th - November 20th 2019
A FELL runner sprinted for over 20 minutes with a defibrillator to save an expat suffering a suspected heart attack on a Costa Blanca mountaintop. The experienced runner raced to the peak of Tossal del Moro, in Gata de Gorgos, followed by a local policeman to administer the potentially life-saving electric pulse to the Belgian walker. The man, who was out walking with a group, was then airlifted to safety by helicopter to Benidorm Hospital. The runner is a technician at Gata’s department of sport.
SURPRISE: Simon (right) pictured with director Steven Coward (centre) and his colleagues from TV production company, Ricochet
Airport blaze PASSENGERS at Alicante airport were lucky not get burnt with delayed flights as a fire ignited at a nearby rubbish dump. The blaze, next to the airport, was quickly put out by three fire engines, one from the airport. Luckily the airfield was not affected and planes were able to take off and land. It is unsure how the fire started, but a bundle of clothes in a landfill site is thought to be the main source of the fire.
Let’s help Greta! By Charlie Smith
SHE’S galvanized children across the world with her impassioned speeches on climate change. Kids in 4,000 cities staged mass walkouts to protest against adults and politicians polluting the planet. But now celebrity activist Greta Thunberg is facing her biggest challenge yet as she bids to cross the Atlantic for a critical climate summit, just announced for Spain. The 16-year-old Swede, who
PLEASE SAVE OUR PUPPIES
AN urgent appeal has gone out to save 20 dogs as a Costa Blanca charity faces losing it’s home. Pet charity, APAH, of Pilar de Horadada, is pleading with animal lovers to help house the dogs, many of which are puppies. If they are not given homes soon, they will be forced to take them to the municipal dog pound, where it is likely they will be put down. It comes after a court ruled that the charity must leave the rented property after a four year dispute. “We need to find people that are willing to foster dogs and give them a good home,” pleaded president Yvonne Colby, who founded the charity in 2000. “Our solicitors spect four years trying to reason with the owner, and then the banks, but it’s now deemed unsuitable for animals”. If you can help please call Yvonne or Natasha urgently on 616 210 850 or 630 422 563
Teen activist needs YOUR help to make it across the Atlantic to Spain for key climate summit was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, is currently stuck in Texas, as she aims to make it to the Madrid conference over land and sea. Famed for her low carbon footprint, she is looking for help from expats across America and Europe as she
refuses to fly or drive, instead preferring greener transport like trains and boats. But her green footprint has left her in trouble after the location for the UN COP25 climate sum- STRANDED: Environmental mit was switched at campaigner Thunberg needs a the last minute from lift to Madrid by boat and train South America to plement the 2015 Paris agreeSpain. Her plans to head to Chile ment, will take place from have had to be shelved, with December 2-13, leaving Greta the showdown now moved to with a little over three weeks Madrid, after a series of mas- to make it to Madrid. sive protests scared off organ- She already has an offer from Spain’s Minister for the Enviisers in Santiago. But after Thunberg made her ronment, Teresa Ribera, who way to New York City by boat said: “We would love to help in August, en route to South you to cross the Atlantic. America, she found herself “It would be great to have you stuck 5,700km from the here in Madrid.” After she had made it all the Spanish capital. “It turns out I’ve traveled way to LA, Thunberg is now halfway around the world, heading back towards Amerthe wrong way,” the teen ica’s east coast, having made wrote on her Twitter ac- stops in South Dakota and count, which has three mil- British Columbia. Thunberg will be one of lion followers. “Now I need to find a way 25,000 people to attend to cross the Atlantic,” she Spain’s first ever climate sumwrote, this week. “If anyone mit, which will cost around could help me find transport €90 million to hold. It comes as Spain’s governI would be so grateful.” The Olive Press has stepped ment may be locked in political in to offer her a lift in an elec- crisis again, as the latest polls tric car from any of the ports suggest that no party will seshe can make it to on the cure an overall majority in the Iberian Peninsula, that could November 10 general election. include Cadiz, Lisbon or A Can you help Greta? Contact Coruna. The summit that aims to im- newsdesk@theolivepress.es
www.theolivepress.es EXCLUSIVE By Joshua Parfitt
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November 7th - November 20th 2019
Profits and losses Director of disgraced Costa Blanca wealth management firm rakes in €1million for her businesses while trio of British claimants battle financial ruin, cancer and depression over €1million between them. ferred ₤325,000 (€375,000 One of the victims, Mark Da- approx) from a property sale to vison, tragically died, aged 59, CWM on the basis the firm was in July this year after CWM’s investing it in a villa in Monte September 2017 collapse left Pego. him with just €22,000 from But court papers revealed initial investments of more than ₤200,000 went directly to the ₤800,000 (approx €900,000). bank account of the wife of a Davison was former CWM diagnosed with employee - Eddepression just die Walker Ferrari 458 weeks after the while ₤100,000 collapse, bewent elsewhere. Speciale, fore turning to The money neva Bentley alcohol abuse er went to buy and developing the property, Continental and a type-2 diabetes, leaving Benjaaccording to a min scrambling Porsche video shot just to purchase a before his death. property with His body, covmoney left over ered with lesions and sores, had from the sale of his London lain undiscovered for up to a house he’d lived in for 65 years. week in the mid-summer heat “We just wanted some money at his home in Sanet. to tick over and live a quiet life,” “Mark died as a result of what Benjamin, who worked as an had been done to him,” Timo- engineer in the health industry, thy Benjamin, a fellow claim- said. But I was scammed and ant, told the Olive Press. now I can’t afford to go back “By the end he didn’t want the to England, while my partner’s daylight to appear.” unfit to work after a massive Benjamin, 67, likewise felt stroke andI’m battling type four ‘ashamed’ after he lost his colon cancer,” added the former €250,000 private pension, re- chairman of the City of London invested by CWM into ‘risky’ Crime Prevention Association. investments, via QROPS. The third claimant, named by In his official testimony he told court papers as Sally, is unthe court how he had trans- derstood to have given CWM
a €70,000 loan that was never repaid. While Darren Kirby failed to turn up in court, former financial director Alan Gorringe, who is also accused, insisted the victims were ‘financially groomed’. In testimony, he confirmed that Jody and Darren lived together and Jody received €12,000 a month from the company. In a Channel 4 lifestyle programme How the Other Half Live on her fashion business, in 2016, she boasted of being worth €13million while showing off her floorto-ceiling shoe collection with limited edition Jimmy Choos. According to former staff members she travelled twice to New York fashion week and bought Louis Vitton handbags at €5,000 a time. The pair had staff at one of her properties in Benidoleig, currently on the market for €760,000, and a leasing deal for CWM yielded a Ferrari 458 Speciale, a Bentley Continental and a Porsche Panamera, among others. However, in
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SPAIN’S prime minister has accused Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont of causing ‘confusion’ after signing a declaration of independence. Mariano Rajoy demanded he clarify if he had really declared independence following Tuesday’s nail biting address to the Catalan parliament. If so, Rajoy insisted he could trigger Article 155 of Spain’s constitution to allow Madrid to take direct control of Catalunya. “There is an urgent need to put an end to the situation that Catalunya is going through - to Continues on Page 7
Who’s paying us? EXCLUSIVE
CONFUSION reigns over who should foot the bill for Mallorca hotels hit by the collapse of airline Monarch. Balearic hotels are facing a €10million bill over the collapse that saw the emergency repatriation of over 110,000 back to the UK, many from Palma. Administrator KPMG told the Olive Press ‘the debt owed by Monarch to hoteliers will rank
They’ve been getting stoned for centuries. Now UNESCO is interested in Mallorca walls. SEE PAGE 6
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PENSION OUTRAGE
Expats lose millions in life savings through failed investment scheme EXCLUSIVE By Joe Duggan
HUNDREDS of British expats are battling to retrieve their pensions after losing up to as an unsecured claim’ against £20 million in a failed pension investment OFF TO OZ: Boss Kirby the defunct airline. and (above) team at “They will have to file a claim to scheme. the joint administrators for all Spanish-based finan- March charity bash the money they are owed,” said cial advisory firm Continental Wealth Mana spokesman. “It has not been determined agement (CWM) folded Many of them had (yet) how much money will be last month obliterat- transferred their private UK Untitled-1.pdf pensions available to creditors.” 1 16/06/2017 ing many heartbroken through15:36 the company, Brits’ life savings.
SEE PAGE 20
It is believed at least 300 of CWM’s 900 clients have had their pots One deciCosta-del-Sol- pension based expat told the mated, with victims to end up back in BritOlive Press he sunk shocked to later dis- ain on benefits.” £59,000 through cover the value of their “I have nothing but CWM, only realising he investments had plum- praise for Tony Barnett had lost £39,000 when meted dramatically. [Trafalgar MD] and his pension trustees However, a source Stewart Davies [Moclose to the case insent a statement. mentum chef execu“I couldn’t believe it. I sisted: ‘There are still tive]. They have been have lost thousands of many customers who magnificent in trypounds,” revealed the are happy with their ing to recoup people’s victim, asking to re- pension portfolio.’ A n d a l u c i a - b a s e d money.” main anonymous. The Olive Press un“The adviser kept tell- tax specialist Angie derstands ing me, ‘This is guaran- Brooks, a leading ex- possible it is highly legal action teed, it can’t go below a pert on pension lib- may be taken by some eration schemes and certain level’.” His money, and that of the founder of Pension parties against CWM, others across Spain and Life, has now launched France, was put into a fight to help get vichigh-risk ‘professional tims’ money back. investor only’ assets, it She is working alongside pension trustees has been claimed. Trafalgar International and Momentum Pen- based out of headquarters in Alicante, and its sions. “People are terribly executives. distressed,” Granada- Both the office in Javea based Brooks told the and the website have Olive Press. “They have recently shut. lost large amounts of When the Olive Press their retirement sav- spoke to boss Kirby he ‘definitively’ ings.” denied She added: “Some of responsibility over the these people are going crash. “I have lost my world,” he said. A close associate of Kirby’s told the Olive Press former CWM staff were all ‘very upset’. “It is still quite raw for them, and they are working out what to do next,” he said. whose boss Darren Kirby has now allegedly moved to Australia.
Three Lions
pub her court declaration earlier this month, Smart claimed she said she knew ‘nothing about the business’ despite being officially sole director, according to Spain’s mercantile register. She added that she had never studied either economics or finance and was trained as a fashion designer, fitness instructor and makeup artist. She said she knew ‘nothing’ about the transactions and claimed her ex-partner Kirby ‘controlled all the money’ and that financial transfers were executed by Gorringe. She said Kirby, who SPECIALIZING IN: CRIMINAL LAW CIVIL LAW BANKING (FLOOR CLAUSE) FAMILY LAW
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A WELL-KNOWN expat fashion designer has been accused of receiving up to €1million from an unlicensed Costa Blanca financial advisory company. Companies in Jody Smart’s name were given the money by defunct Continental Wealth Management (CWM) in the two years’ before its high-profile collapse left hundreds of investors an estimated €20million out of pocket, it can be revealed. A total of €999,435 was paid to her fashion label Jody Bell SL and property holding company Mercurio Conpro SL between 2015 and 2017, according to bank statements shown to the Olive Press. Brit Jody, 43, was also paid a €144,000 salary - despite telling a court that she ‘did not know what it meant to be a sole director of company’ and was only involved in ‘marketing and PR’. In a series of shocking declarations given to Denia’s Court of Instruction No.3 it has emerged that the company could ill afford to pay these huge sums ‘without falling into losses’. Worse, it comes as it emerges that dozens of victims left penniless by the Denia-based firm are suing Smart and her former partner Darren Kirby. In the first case to reach the courts, three British claimants are seeking criminal charges for aggravated fraud, fake accounting and belonging to a criminal organisation. The complaints concern bungled house transactions, unpaid loans and failed pension investments that lost the claimants
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FACE THE MUSIC
SPAIN’S PP party has set out audacious plans for a power grab to take back control from Valencia and the other autonomous regions. Leader Pablo Casado announced his commitment to strengthen the central government’s role in the run up to the national elections in a fortnight. He insisted that such a move would prevent corruption and lead to a drop in taxes. EXCLUSIVE By Joshua Parfitt It comes as the party attempts to see off the threat from an insurgent Vox Party, whose leader has described the THE beleaguered boss of autonomous parliaments as the ‘cana failed wealth management company which cer of Spain’. Under the plan, the PP wants to increa- allegedly lost expats more than €20 se resources for regional government million has ignored a summons to delegations and paralyse any further court. Darren Kirby, of Alicante-based transfer of power to the regions. Continental Wealth Management (CWM), failed to turn up at Denia court on March 26. Supremacy According to Olive Press sources Casado insisted the move would he see was due to turn up, alongside Spain being administered ‘more effecformer business partners, who did turn up. tively’. The case involves a trio of investors, The election hopeful stated that party would carry out a sweeping his who lost substantial amounts of re- money when the company view of how the regional authorities folded in operate looking at ‘efficiency and equi- 2017. Kirby allegedly fled to Australia ty.’ foSpain’s quasi-federal political system llowing the collapse, finally returning to Alicante last year. of ‘autonomous states’ was added to “Darren has been sent a the constitution in 1978. Prime MinisBurofax ter Pedro Sanchez, whose party drafted which he didn’t sign for, so the court will now have to pursue him in other the constitution, strongly opposed the ways,” a source said. plan, insisting the PSOE would defend ‘tooth and nail’ the principal of regio- “A judge is dealing with this and it’s under legal review,” he added. nal self-government. “We understand he is currently in
Judge set to take further steps after expat boss of suspect investment company fails to turn up at court
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Fight Given the whole extradition process can take up to 60 days, it means he may have to run his entire election campaign for the Catalan European Democratic Party from Belgium. His party wants him to fight for continued leadership of the regional parliament in the December 21 elections. Puigdemont denied he had fled to Brussels to avoid justice but that he left because the Spanish government was preparing a ‘wave of oppression and violence’ against separatists. “I’m absolutely convinced that the state was preparing a harsh wave of repression for which we would have all been held responsible,” he said yesterday. “The Spanish state is committing a brutal repression… if we don’t battle repression together, the Spanish state may win this fight.” In a show of support to the deposed president, around 200 Catalan pro-independence mayors travelled to Brussels on Tuesday to stage a rally.
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What do Fatboy Slim, director Paul Haggis, John Travolta, Dean Norris and Pilou Asbaek have in common? They’ve all had links to the Balearics this week
CATALUNYA’S beleaguered leader has vowed to fight on from abroad. It came after Carles Puigdemont handed himself in to Belgian police when a European arrest warrant was issued. He and four other politicians are accused on charges of rebellion, sedition, misuse of public funds, disobedience and breach of trust. A judge in Belgium now has up to two weeks to decide if they will extradite the group to Spain.
Expats who lost millions rage at ‘unauthorised’ deals involving ‘worrying’ signing of blank sheets EXCLUSIVE By Joe Duggan
Pension peril
BRITISH expats who lost up to €20 million in a failed pension advisory firm believe their signatures may have been photocopied onto investment documents. Around 300 Brits, most living in Spain, are battling to retrieve their funds after Alicante-based firm Continental Wealth Management (CWM) folded in September, as first reported in the Olive Press a month ago. Boss Darren Kirby left for Australia following the closure of the company’s main Javea offices. Victims, who are spread across Spain, as well as in Ibiza, Mallorca, Portugal, France and Turkey, fear illegal practices after being asked to sign blank dealing instructions. Their pension pots were then invested in high-risk assets which promised to pay out large commissions. One 69-year-old pensioner told the Olive Press he lost €210,000 after transferring €470,000 despite stating he had a ‘low to medium aversion BOSS: Kirby now in Australia to risk’ attitude to investment. “I was asked, ‘Can you sign this he said. blank form. We will fill in the “They should have been looking Untitled-1.pdf 1 16/06/2017 15:36 details.’ I did that trusting they out for me but they were just would act in my best interests,” feathering their own nests. To
me they knew what they were doing.” He added: “I believe some of the investments were made without my knowledge. I think that is the case because I do not recall signing sheets for all the investments I had.” An email, seen by the Olive Press, shows CWM asking a client to sign and return a blank dealing instruction. Another British expat, 55, who is trying to recover around €200,000, said some pensioners ‘have lost everything’. “My paper work that I sent has been altered, my risk level was changed from ‘medium’ to ‘high’ and my dealing instructions have been photocopied repeatedly for buying and selling assets I didn’t authorise,” he said. “I still have some money left and I am still young enough to get compensation, but my fund
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SEE PAGE 10
SPAIN’S prime minister has accused Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont of causing ‘confusion’ after signing a declaration of independence. Mariano Rajoy demanded he clarify if he had really declared independence following Tuesday’s nail biting address to the Catalan parliament. If so, Rajoy insisted he could trigger Article 155 of Spain’s constitution to allow Madrid to take direct control of Catalunya. “There is an urgent need to put an end to the situation that Catalunya is going through - to
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Who’s paying us? EXCLUSIVE
Expats lose millions in life savings through
CONFUSION reigns over who failed should foot the bill for Mallorca investment national and Momentum Penhotels hit by the collapse of airsions. scheme line Monarch. “People are terribly disBalearic hotels are facing a tressed,” Granada-based EXCLUSIVE €10million bill over the colBrooks told the Olive Press. By Joe Duggan lapse that saw the emergency “They have lost large amounts repatriation of over 110,000 of their retirement savings.” back to the UK, many from HUNDREDS of British expats She added: “Some of these are battling to retrieve their Palma. people are going to end up Administrator KPMG told the pensions after losing up to back in Britain on benefits.” Olive Press ‘the debt owed by £20 million in a failed pension “I have nothing but praise for OFF TO OZ: Boss Kirby and Monarch to hoteliers will rank investment scheme. (above) team at March Tony Barnett [Trafalgar MD] as an unsecured claim’ against Spanish-based financial advicharity bash and Stewart Davies [Momensory firm Continental Wealth One the defunct airline. Marbella-based expat remain tum anonymous. It is believed at least 300 of have chef executive]. They “They will have to file a claim to Management (CWM) folded told the Olive Press been magnificent he sunk “The adviser kept telling the joint administrators for all last month obliterating many £59,000 through CWM, me, CWM’s 900 clients have had ing to recoup people’s in tryonly ‘This is guaranteed, it money.” their the money they are owed,” said heartbroken Brits’ life savings. realising he had lost £39,000 below a certain level’.” can’t go with pension pots decimated, The Olive Press understands it Many of them had transferred when a spokesman. victims shocked to later his pension trustees sent His money, and that of others discover the value “It has not been determined their private UK pensions a statement. across Spain and France, was vestments had of their in(yet) how much money will be through the company, whose “I couldn’t believe plummeted it. I have put into high-risk ‘professionboss Darren Untitled-1.pdf Kirby has now1al- 16/06/2017 dramatically. available to creditors.” lost thousands 15:36 of pounds,” legedly moved to Australia. revealed the victim, asking to al investor only’ assets, it has However, a source close to been claimed. the case insisted: ‘There are still many customers who are is highly happy with their pension port- may be possible legal action taken by some parties folio.’ against CWM, based out of Andalucia-based tax specialist headquarters SPECIALIZING IN: Angie Brooks, a leading expert its executives. in Alicante, and C on pension liberation schemes Both CRIMINAL LAW the office in Javea and and the founder of Pension the website M Life, has now launched a fight The group have recently shut. CIVIL LAW to help get victims’ money ebrating were pictured celat a charity ball as reBANKING (FLOOR CLAUSE) Y back. cently She is working alongside pen- When as March this year. CM FAMILY LAW sion trustees Trafalgar Inter- to bossthe Olive Press spoke Kirby he ‘definitively’ denied responsibility over the MY crash. “I have lost my world,” CY he said. A close associate of Kirby’s CMY said former CWM staff were all ‘very upset’. K “It is still quite raw for them, and they are working out what to do next,” he said.
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A PALMA thief is facing 18 months in jail for stealingCY a leg of ham. Prosecutors are requesting CMY the lengthy term for taking the eight kilogram leg of 'CinK co Jotas' ¡ jamon from a shop in the capital. The Iberico ham is valued at €685, and has yet to be recovered.
rying’. “This negates the very essence of the service they are meant to offer,” said Flores. “It is a blank cheque to invest wherever, whenever. “If standard practice, this is very worrying. has gone down by half and I “Signing blank documents need compensation to get it would be seen back on track. as irregular in a “But some people court of law. The have lost everyproblem with thing and don’t these firms is that have enough to they were all inlive on. One rePENSION vesting in highly tired victim only risky investments has €50,000 left OUTRAGE without the clifrom €480,000.” ents knowing.” Andalucia-based He claimed that lawyer Antonio losses sustained Flores, whose by investors firm Lawbird would hopefully are representbe recoverable ing some CWM as the investments that failed victims, said signing blank into perform, or went bust, were vestment sheets was ‘very worlinked to life insurance policies. Pension trustees Momentum and Trafalgar are now attempting to recoup CMW clients’ losses. The Olive Press has so far been unable to discover if CWM was registered to provide investment advice with Spain’s official financial regulator CNMV.
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Carles
Confusion reigns SPAIN’S prime accused Catalan minister has leader Carles Puigdemont of causing ‘confusion’ after signing of independence. a declaration Mariano Rajoy demanded he clarify if he had really independence followingdeclared day’s nail biting address Tuesto the Catalan parliament. If so, Rajoy insisted trigger Article 155 he could constitution to allow of Spain’s Madrid to take direct control of Catalunya. “There is an urgent need to put an end to the Catalunya is goingsituation that through - to Continues on Page
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They’ve been getting stoned for centuries. Now UNESCO is interested in Mallorca walls. SEE PAGE 6
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PENSION OUTRAGE SEE PAGE 10
SEE PAGE 20
Expats lose millions in life savings
whose boss Darren It is believed Kir- 300 at by has now allegedly of CWM’s least moved to Australia. clients have had 900 their One Costa-del-Sol- pension pots decibased expat told the mated, with victims Olive Press he sunk shocked to later dis- to end up back £59,000 through cover the value of their ain on benefits.”in BritCWM, only realising he investments had plum- “I have nothing but had lost £39,000 praise for Tony when meted dramatically. his pension Barnett trustees However, a source [Trafalgar MD] sent a statement. and close to the Stewart “I couldn’t believe sisted: ‘There case in- mentum Davies [Moare still chef execuhave lost thousandsit. I many customers who tive]. They have pounds,” revealed of are happy with their magnificent in been the pension victim, asking trying to recoup main anonymous.to re- A n d a l uportfolio.’ people’s c i a - b a s e d money.” “The adviser tax specialist Angie The Olive Press uning me, ‘This iskept tell- Brooks, guarana leading ex- derstands it is highly teed, it can’t go below a pert on pension lib- possible legal action certain level’.” eration schemes and may be taken by some His money, the founder of Pension parties against CWM, others acrossand that of Life, has now launched and France, was Spain UK 1 16/06/2017 heartbroken put into a fight to help get pensions through15:36 Brits’ life savings. the company, high-risk ‘professional tims’ money back. vicinvestor only’ assets, She it side is working alonghas been claimed. pension trustees Trafalgar International and Momentum based out of headquarPen- ters sions. in Alicante, and “People are its terribly executives. distressed,” Both the based Brooks Granada- and the office in Javea told the website have Olive Press. “They recently shut. have When lost large amounts of spoke the Olive Press their retirement to boss Kirby he sav- ‘definitively’ ings.” denied She added: responsibility over of these people “Some are going crash. “I have lost the my world,” he said. A close associate of Kirby’s told the Olive Press former CWM staff were all ‘very upset’. “It is still Find out more on raw for them, andquite page XX they are 20 working out what to do next,” he said. Ave de
CONFUSION reigns through failed should foot the bill over who for Mallorca investment hotels hit by the collapse of airline Monarch. scheme Balearic hotels are facing a €10million bill over EXCLUSIVE the collapse that saw the By Joe Duggan emergency repatriation of back to the UK,over 110,000 many from HUNDREDS Palma. Administrator KPMG ish expats are of Britbattling Olive Press ‘the debt told the to retrieve Monarch to hoteliers owed by sions after their penlosing up to will rank as an unsecured claim’ against £20 million in a failed the defunct airline. pension investment OFF TO OZ: Boss “They will have to Kirby file a claim to scheme. and (above) team the joint administrators at for all Spanish-based finan- March the money they are charity bash owed,” said cial advisory firm a spokesman. tinental Wealth Con“It has not been determined agement (CWM) Man- Many of them (yet) how much money folded transferred had available to creditors.” will be last month their priobliterat- vate Untitled-1.pdf ing many
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HOW WE TOLD IT: Our 2017 reports England.” The Olive Press exclusively revealed former member of staff. how CWM abruptly folded in 2017, “It was a prestigious place but one day they just shut the door,” losing hundreds of expats’ life she sa- said, asking not to be named. vings in the process. Victims had raised fears about The firm, which was based out of the asked to sign blank dealing being Marriott Hotel, in Denia, had ‘eight instructo ten’ telesales staff and clients sca- tions and their pensions being invested in high-risk assets which paid ttered around Europe, revealed a large commissions. One pensioner based on the Costa Blanca told the Olive Press he lost €210,000 after transferring €470,000 despite stating he had a low to medium risk attitude. “I was asked, ‘Can you sign this blank form. We will fill in the details.’ I did that trusting they would act in my best interests,” he said. “They should have been looking out for me and they were just feathering their own nests. To me they knew what they were doing.” Lawyer Antonio Flores, whose firm Lawbird is representing a number of victims, said signing blank investment sheets was ‘very worrying’. See pages 26-29 “This negates the very essence of financial advisory services,”said FloFind out more on page XX 8
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NO SHOW: Darren Kirby
res. “It is a blank cheque to invest wherever, whenever. “It is very worrying as they were investing clients’ money in highly risky investments as well as dubious funds just because they paid the higher commissions.” He added that losses sustained by investors should however, be recoverable as the investments that failed to perform, or went bust, were linked to life insurance policies. When the Olive Press finally hold of Kirby in October 2017, got denied all responsibility. “I have he lost my world,” he said. Are you a victim or former staff member? Do you know more about the case? Contact the Olive Press at newsdesk@theolivepress.es
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HE average property two consecutive years price in Spain has grown for Prices rise for two The national average for the first time in a decade. consecutive years, house price rose from 3.9% to 8.4%, according between while mortgage However, he added to various sources. ‘at the very least, the Along the Mediterranean values continue to Spanish property continued data suggests that the coasts and on grow Mortgage most foreigners buy, to grow last year.’ the average price hike the islands, where Balearic Islands. lending to home buyers cording to Tinsa, Spain’s has been 4.06%, acmeanwhile was up January to 19,390 new leading property appraisal “Prices have been rising 6.1% in But the figures have loans, according to most company. Spanish Notaries. the Association of during the long six mostly not yet made up for the big drops but nothing like they did in theyears since the recovery began, The year recession, with average boom years, and nowhere the exception of the enough to claw back the ground near an increase ofnew loan made in January had a value of lost in the respected analyst Mark €135,616, 0.9% in a year. As long Stucklin, of Spanish bust,” explained residential acquisitions as mortgage lending Property Insight. the last few years, the continues to increase, as it has done for for Spanish property market is set to grow.
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FEATURE
www.theolivepress.es 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 one million people a month.
OPINION Duty of care
WHAT happened at the police station in Benidorm at around 3am on September 10? Police procedures are understandably top-secret and confidential – they concern public safety. But when a family has been demanding answers for two months about the disappearance of an elderly grandfather, the police need to regain some trust. All requests for information from the authorities over missing Philip Pearce have so far been batted away. And this despite some damning concerns from the British consulate. His son Lee revealed how he broke down on the floor of the police station from sheer desperation. This story must not end here. We need answers and information about what work has been undertaken to find Philip. And what stage it is at. The family needs closure, but as long as they face a wall of silence there will be no moving on.
Vox comes knocking PREDICTIONS that Vox could become the kingmakers if this weekend’s elections prove again to be inconclusive are worrying for expats and Spaniards alike. The far-right nationalists have pledged to retake Gibraltar and ban political parties that support Catalan independence. Its leader, Santiago Abascal, is anti-Islam and has called for a reconquista - a rollback of five or more centuries when Jews and Muslims were expelled from Spain. Vox want to ‘Make Spain Great Again,’ according to a poster they used during the April election campaign. And unlike the American president, whose slogans the party mimic, its members back up their words with action. In 2016, their current leader unfurled a giant Spanish flag on the rock of Gibraltar, an act he was willing to be arrested for. With a coalition between the bickering centre-left PSOE and leftwing Podemos still looking unlikely, the PP and Ciudadanos may be tempted to break the impasse and make bedfellows with the far-right xenophobes. But they would be foolish to do so, as it could sent Spain into a dangerous spiral of populism and lead to the expelling of expats and many other decent hard-working immigrants.
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Franco exhu from his Vallmed ey of the Fallen grav after agonisi e 44-year wai ng t
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How we nailed a corruptUntitledChampagne SOM 1 BRE: Franco’s 16/06/2017 socialist MP 1.pdfPage 15:36 family carri mem 18 orial before it was taken
es his body by helicopter out of the
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By Jacque Talbot
SPAIN is rejoicing as one of the been exhumed from the grave world’s cruelest dictators victims. has he shared with his Civil War Finally the relatives conflict have been of those killed in the Franco’s death. offered some solace, 44 country’s bloodiest years after General The facist leader Fallen alongsid had been buried in Madrid’s Valley of year regime. e some of the 500,000 who died under his the 36-
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Millions around Spain rejoiced after the remains of evil dictator Franco were finally removed from his controversial burial spot. The Olive Press sent Heather Galloway to witness the historic day
N the event, it was an ignominious affair with even Franco’s staunchest supporters in short supply. What had been billed as a momentous occasion - something of a seminal turning point in Spain’s traumatic history - turned out to be a distinct anti-climax. With more of a whimper than a bang, the former dictator’s remains were finally unearthed from their burial place under the basilica at the Valley of the Fallen, and taken somewhat unceremoniously by helicopter to their new location, also near Madrid. Without any of the pomp and circum stance of his first send-off almost 44 years ago, Francisco Franco was reintered at Mingorrubio-el Pardo cemetery next to his wife, Carmen Polo. The low-key transfer took place in front of just a handful of supporters and family and with only two members of the Franco clan allowed to see his actual exhumation. The family had fought tooth and nail with Pedro Sanchez’s socialist government for years to keep their grandfather’s embalmed body in the basilica next to his far-right Falangist hero, Jose Antonio Prima de Rivera. But therein lay the problem - their bodies lay in the vicinity of some 30,000 victims of the Spanish Civil War (many actually killed by Franco’s troops), for whom the monument was actually built. So here I was alongside hundreds of journalists and a handful of Franco diehards gathered at the entrance to the monument, built 40 kilometres north of Madrid, as watched the two family members arrive for the exhumation being carried out several kilometres away beneath the towering 150-metre high cross. After being searched for recording devices, they stood within the screened-off area around Franco’s tomb along with Spain’s Minister of Justice Dolores Delgado, a forensic scientist and several other officials to record the historic event. Alongside me, there was some considerable indignation and rage. “The fact they have closed the basilica for two weeks and not allowed the faithful in to pray is an attack on Christianity and religious freedom,” Estefania Aguirre, 34, told me, adding that she was a personal friend of the Valley’s
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Benedictine Prior, Santiago Cantera, who ers and a crane had been on standby since Ocfought along with the family against exhuming tober 11 and trundled into action at 10.30 am Franco’s remains. on the morning of October 24 to lift the 1,500 “I think the whole exhumation has breached kilos of granite that covered the tomb. Church and State relations and we’re going to Once the flagstone was removed, there was see more and more attacks against religious reportedly a layer of lead and cement to get liberty in Spain.” through before the coffin could be lifted out. Her Barcelona-born mother Laura Wachter Inside, Franco’s body was sealed in zinc, which was holding a banner next to her reading sim- would have preserved it perfectly according to ply ‘Estado Dictatorial’, likening the actions to Dr Antonio Piga, one of the forensics who emthat of a dictatorship. balmed the dictator on his death. “This is North Korea,” she said repeatedly. “The tomb will be dry and the body in perfect “It’s very sad that Spaniards are being pitted condition,” he insisted. “Franco will be desicagainst one another when there are many cated like an Egyptian mummy; dry and hardmore important issues to tend ened but with all his organs.” to.” Curiously though, there was In another huddle, the most no Spanish flag draped on the vocal member, Pilar Gutierrez, “Franco will be coffin as it was borne away on who also happens to be a psythe shoulders of the family who desiccated like had by then been waiting over chologist, was entertaining the press with her views. two hours to receive it. an Egyptian “Some 8,000 people were No doubt it was a bitter mokilled for just being Catholic mummy; dry and ment; a year ago, they called during the war and this is what the exhumation ‘an act of retrohardened” this government wants to bring spective revenge without precback,” she railed. edent in the civilized world’. “You can only expect the worst Now, Europe’s last monument from the Socialists.” to a fascist dictator had finally morphed into Taking an equally strong line was a former something else. member of Spain’s army, who came sporting After a 15-minute flight to Mingorrubio, just 50 his green beret. kilometres away, the helicopter landed within “We are here to show our loyalty to our lead- the Royal Guard’s old firing range where 22 er,” Lorenzo Fernandez Navarro, 69, told me. family members were waiting to follow the Cau“When Franco died, I was a lieutenant in the dillo’s body in a cortege towards the cemetery. Sahara. We swore to respect and obey our Security was tight. The gathering had been leaders. And always means always, whether planned by the Franco Foundation ‘to pray for they are alive or dead. We have come here to the soul of Francisco Franco Bahamonde’ and comply with our oath that this government has lay flowers on his tomb but this was banned by insulted.” the Government the day before on the grounds Less vociferous, was his colleague Adolfo Co- it posed a risk to public order. loma, 66, who explained: “More than being Reduced then to include mainly family, the about one side or the other, the monument subsequent funeral was conducted in the cemstood for reconciliation. etery’s Pantheon by Prior Santiago Cantera, “We have managed to overcome the divisions and also intriguingly by Ramón Tejero, the son in Spain. To speak now about who killed more of Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero, who infapeople is bad news.” mously led 200 members of the Civil Guard in Judging by how long it took before Franco’s an attempted coup on February 23, 1981. body was raised heavenward by a military he- Spain’s national newspaper El País described licopter, excavating the Caudillo was no easy the exhumation as Pedro Sanchez’s ‘most feat. symbolic achievement’. Heavy machinery, including a forklift truck, roll- He has certainly managed to belittle the dictator’s legacy and close a chapter of Spain’s painful history, though as the authorities filed out of the valley, the Francoists berated their ‘evil’ actions with cries including: ‘You have not seen the end of this!’ The prophecy would seem to have little foundation given that the majority of Spaniards have shown themselves to be relatively diffident about Sanchez’s project. The statistics show that only 36% of the country agreed with the action, while an even smaller 28% were against. Clearly a full third of Spain would much rather get on with dealing with ‘more important’ matters. Either way, for those with Republican loved ones buried at the Valley of the Fallen - or in the thousands of other mass graves around Spain - it will be a day to savour for the rest of their lives. ‘FRANCO LIVES’: The dictator’s suppporters at his exhumation
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FEATURE
7
Here we go again
7 Olive Press online
November 7th - November 20th 2019 that’s the
Spain’s best English news website
Users
585.4K 1.2 M 1.5 M ON TOP: Olive Press website traffic for last four weeks
THE PAPER WITH THE REAL NUMBERS
Spaniards are heading to polling booths for the fourth time in four years as voters hope to bring an end to the country’s political stalemate. But who’s contesting it? What do they want? And what are their chances of success?
A
s Britain prepares for a snap general election, Spanish voters are getting ready to go to the ballot box themselves ahead of an election this Sunday. While Spaniards have cast their votes once already this year, no single party got a majority. The largest party, the left-leaning PSOE, called new elections after its coalition talks with left-wing upstart Podemos broke down. While the PSOE led by Pedro Sanchez is expected to emerge as election winners again, it is far from certain whether they will win enough votes to gain a majority. And with the Catalan riots causing waves across Spanish society and polarising opinions, a surprise could still be in store come Monday.
While the socialists are expected to emerge on top again, leader Pedro Sanchez looks unlikely to get the majority he was hoping for when he agreed to go back to the public in September. His backtracking, at least rhetorically, on his support for further Catalan autonomy has been attacked by Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias who has accused him of mimicking PP and Vox. Nonetheless, he remains popular with vast swathes of the electorate for increasing the minimum wage and rolling back some austerity measures.
I Spain’s centre-right party had taken a lurch to the right recently, in an attempt to claw votes back from farright Vox, which has eaten into its traditional base. During the recent Catalan riots against the imprisonment of pro-independence politicians, he called for the immediate suspension of Catalan autonomy on the pretext of restoring order to the region. While Pablo Casado’s party is expected to make some gains, it remains tainted in the minds of many Spaniards for implementing crushing austerity policies and a string of corruption scandals when it was last in government.
Dubbed as Spain’s answer to Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche party in France after it rocketed to third place in April’s elections, the centrists have been beset by a chain of damaging controversies ever since. Its eagerness to enter regional alliances with Vox saw Barcelona Pride ban the party from the city’s Pride parade in June and its tough stance on Catalan independence has seen it shed more left-leaning voters.
T’S not every day you knock a well known regional newspaper, a national newspaper and a popular consumer site into a cocked hat! But this week we find the Olive Press website ranking at 12,636th position in the world, according to Amazon’s Alexa.com. That is out of billions of websites and, in perspective, puts us above both the respected Liverpool Echo (13,156th), Scotland’s prestigious Daily Record (22,815th) and well known Mumsnet at 17,210th position. It also places www.theolivepress.es in the Top 1000 sites in Spain and the UK. By traffic numbers - around 40,000 to 50,000 visits a day - we are in 606th position in Britain and 910th in Spain. Meanwhile we rank at 813th in Ireland and 79th in Gibraltar, while 3% of our visitors come from America and 3% from Holland, Germany and France. Other local newspapers Sur in English and Euro Weekly News came in at a lowly 155,869 and 31,529th. The Mallorca Daily Bulletin ranks at 875,718, while the Costa Blanca News ranks at 2.9m, Costa-news at 1.23m, Alicantetoday at 2.51m and Typically Spanish at 1.5m
MILLIONS OF VISITORS This boils down to visitor numbers and pages viewed and we had 1.5 MILLION pages read over the last four weeks (see Google Analytics graph above), with 1.2 MILLION visits. Using the research of another respected site Similar Web we discovered that the Euro Weekly News is getting under a third of our traffic, while the Sur in English and the Costa Blanca News a fraction of that. Much of this is due to the sheer number of third-party sites linking into us over the last three months. The total is a healthy 1,057 sites, and this includes nine sites in the world’s Top 20, as well as many from global media groups, including the BBC, the New York Post and the Daily # Mail.
12,636
The left-wing anti-austerity party sent shockwaves through the Spanish political establishment back in 2016 when the new party stormed to third place. However, it has struggled to capitalise on its gains since. It is the only major party which supports granting a vote on independence to Catalunya and is hoping to distinguish itself from the PSOE with its ambitious social policies, including reducing the working week to 34 hours and imposing rent controls.
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The animal rights party PACMA, which wants to ban the sale of animals had its best showing yet in the April elections, gaining over 300,000 votes. The anti-war party also wants to ban bloodsports, such as bullfighting.
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The top five most read stories on www.theolivepress.es in the past two weeks are: - British father and son who vanished from Spain’s Costa del Sol likely ‘killed in botched drug deal’ as ransom call from Morocco revealed (29,598)
2 The Catalan pro-independence party has surged in popularity in Barcelona following the jailing of the organisers of Catalan’s illegal independence referendum. Its jump in support comes on the back of the collapse of Ciudadanos in the region, who are against self-determination.
# 910
Google Analytics is a transparent measuring tool and cannot be fiddled. Make sure that before you undertake any advertising campaign, you always ask for the last few months OFFICIAL visitor figures. Quite simply our 1.2 MILLION visitors a month, coupled with the 250,000 readers of our printed papers can guarantee your business gets the best exposure possible among the expat - as well as - key tourist market coming to Spain. We promise a keen and competitive price and that your business will be seen by millions of potential clients each month.
1 The far-right party’s hardline anti-independence stance on Catalunya has proved popular among the Spanish electorate following the October riots in Barcelona, with a recent poll putting the party in third place. Its leader Santiago Abascal recently described Catalan Independence as a ‘coup d’etat’ against the Spanish state. The party has also threatened to ban pro-independence parties and to take back Gibraltar from Britain if it gets its hands on the reigns of power.
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- Mystery man found dead in ditch on Costa del Sol ‘had no roots’ in Spain and was killed ‘just a few hours before’ being dumped (27,152)
3 4 5
- ‘Well-known’ restaurant owner in British tourist hotspot in Spain arrested for treating desperate staff like slaves with €2.80 per hour salaries and 14-hour days (26,369)
- Temperatures to soar on Spain’s Costa del Sol this holiday weekend starting from TOMORROW (23,375) - Number of British expats registering on Spain’s Costa del Sol SURGES as Brexit looms (20,443)
LETTERS
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Triple trouble
Weeks after his election victory, Picardo has tabled a motion for an abortion legalisation referendum
Better help Greta! SEE Page 4
A BELEAGUERED animal shelter has slammed a court order which euthanasia chemicals sometimes with German Pietsch ‘falsifying contained a slew of allegations as documents’. ‘unjust’. Bizarrely, she and another forIt comes after a judge ormer president allegedly dered committal hearsacrificed black pets ings against six forfirst. mer members of MarThe Olive Press was bella’s Triple A team the first paper to refor a ‘massive and veal in April 2016 unjustified’ sacrifice how a huge police of animals for years. operation saw the arMarbella’s court is rests of two expats probing whether and a vet at the the charity alsanctuary. lowed the slow An incredible 15 and agonising Guardia Civil offideaths of numercers were involved ous animals over in the dramatic at least a sixraid seizing comyear period from puters, documents 2011. and other eviIt claimed that dence. former President Bettina Pietsch allowed the anFraud imals, most Pietsch, Dutch Secof which were retary Jan Weima healthy, to be and a senior vet sacrificed with were arrested for incorrect levels animal cruelty and of anaesthetic. dog trafficking, A disproportionalong with 17 other STRANDED: Environmental ate number were campaigner Thunberg needs staff members. a lift to Madrid by boat and killed, most train judge has ‘without veter- ARRESTS: How the Olive The now dismissed the inary control’ Press reported the police charges against 14 and without the raids in 2016 of them, but the final right knowledge on the doses six face charges of SHE’S galvanized children across needed to prevent pain. animal abuse, EXCLUSIVE the world with her impassioned The investigation found that the grateful.” By Charlie Smith documentaspeeches on climate change. shelter acquired large amounts The Olive Press has stepped in of ry falsificaKids in 4,000 cities staged mass summit was switched to offer her a lift in an tion, miswalkouts to protest against minute from South at the last car from any of the ports electric America to she can appropriadults and politicians polluting Spain. make it to on the Iberian Penination of the planet. sula, that could include Cadiz, Her plans to head to funds, soBut now celebrity activist Greta had to be shelved, Chile have Lisbon or A Coruna. cial secuwith the Thunberg is facing her biggest showdown now moved rity fraud to Ma- The summit that aims to implechallenge yet as she bids to cross drid, after a series and more. of massive ment the 2015 Paris agreement, the Atlantic for a critical climate protests scared off organisers will In particular, in 2-13,take place from December summit, just announced for Santiago. many leaving Greta with a little animals Spain. were rehomed off But after Thunberg made her over three weeks to make it to The 16-year-old Swede, who was way to New York City the books. Madrid. In a Facebook nominated for the Nobel Peace in August, en route by boat She already has an offer to South from statement, Prize, is currently stuck in Texas, America, she found herself the Spain’s Minister for the charity as she aims to make it to the Ma- 5,700km from the Spanishstuck ment, Teresa Ribera, Environclaimed who said: capthe allegations are drid conference over land or sea. ital. “We would love to help you to part of a ‘malicious Famed for her low carbon foot- “It turns out I’ve traveled half- cross the Atlantic. campaign’ orchesprint, she is looking for help way around the world, “It would be great to have you trated ‘years befrom expats across America and way,” the teen wrotethe wrong here in Madrid.” fore’, and that it is Europe as she refuses to fly or Twitter account, which on her committed to provhas three drive, instead preferring greener million followers. ing the accused are Crisis transport like trains and boats. “Now I need to find a way to innocent. After she
LEAVERS: Trio YOU WHAT: Crossing in middle of campo?
Teen activist needs YOUR help to make it across the Atlantic to Spain for key climate summit
You total doughnut!
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October 25th - November 10th 2019 Vol. 3 Issue 66 www.theolivepress.es
SPAIN DIGS UP DICTATOR BURIED
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had made it all the way to LA, Thunberg is now heading back towards America’s east coast, having made stops in South Dakota and British Columbia. Thunberg will be one of 25,000 people to attend Spain’s first ever climate summit, which will cost around €90 million to hold. It comes as Spain’s government may be locked in political crisis again, as the latest polls suggest that no party will secure an overall majority in the November 10 general election.
cross the Atlantic,” she wrote, this week. “If anyone could help me find transport I would be so
WITH 30,000 OF HIS VICTIMS
WE DIG IT
Franco exhumed from his Valley of the Fallen grave after agonising 44-year wait
How are squatters evading the banks?
Page 7
out of the How we nailed a Franco’s family carries his body SOMBRE: 15:36 Champagne by helicopter 16/06/2017 1 corruptUntitled-1.pdf memorial before it was taken socialist MP Page 18
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By Jacque Talbot
cruelest dictators has SPAIN is rejoicing as one of the world’s shared with his Civil War been exhumed from the grave he victims. in the country’s bloodiest Finally the relatives of those killed 44 years after General conflict have been offered some solace, Franco’s death. in Madrid’s Valley of the The facist leader had been buried who died under his 36Fallen alongside some of the 500,000 year regime. Continues on Page 4
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Petrol bombs and bullets, Director of disgraced Costa Blanca an Olive Press dispatch wealth management firm rakes in €1million from Barcelona Page 6 for her
businesses while trio of British claimants battle financial ruin, cancer and depression
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A WELL-KNOWN expat fashion signer has been accused of receivingdeup to €1million from an unlicensed Costa Blanca financial advisory company. Companies in Jody Smart’s name were given the money by defunct Continental Wealth Management (CWM) in the two years’ before its high-profile collapse left hundreds of investors an estimated €20million out of pocket, it can be revealed. A total of €999,435 was paid to her fashion label Jody Bell SL and property holding company Mercurio Conpro SL between 2015 and 2017, according to bank statements shown to the Olive Press. Brit Jody, 43, was also paid a €144,000 salary - despite telling a court that she ‘did not know what it meant to be a sole director of company’ and was only involved in ‘marketing and PR’. In a series of shocking declarations given to Denia’s Court of Instruction No.3 it has emerged that the company could ill afford to pay these
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Judge set to take further boss of suspect steps after to turn up at investment companyexpat court fails
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Pension peril
CATALUNYA’S beleaguered leader has vowed to fight on from abroad. It came after Carles Puigdemont handed himself Belgian police when a in to European arrest warrant was issued. He and four other politicians are accused on charges of rebellion, sedition, misuse of public funds, disobedience and breach of trust. A judge in Belgium now EXCLUSIVE up to two weeks to decidehas By Joe Duggan if they will extradite the group to Spain. BRITISH expats who lost up to €20 million in a failed Fight sion advisory firm believe pensignatures may have been their tocopied onto investment phoGiven the whole extradition documents. process can take up days, it means he mayto 60 Around 300 Brits, most living have in Spain, to run his entire election are battling to retrieve their funds after Alicante-based campaign for the Catalan firm Continental Wealth European Democratic ManParty agement from Belgium. (CWM) folded tember, as first reportedin SepHis party wants him to in the fight Olive Press for continued leadership a month ago. the regional parliament of Boss Darren Kirby left for Austhe December 21 elections. in tralia following the closure the company’s main Javea of Puigdemont denied he offled to Brussels to avoid had fices. jus- Victims, tice but that he left because who are spread across Spain, the Spanish government was lorca, as well as in Ibiza, Malpreparing a ‘wave of oppresPortugal, France and Turkey, fear illegal practices sion and violence’ against after being asked to sign separatists. blank dealing instructions. “I’m absolutely convinced Their pension pots were that the state was preparing invested in high-risk then a harsh wave of repression which promised to pay outassets for which we would have large been held responsible,” all commissions. he One 69-year-old said yesterday. pensioner told the Olive Press “The Spanish state is he lost com- €210,000 mitting a brutal repression… after transferring €470,000 despite stating if we don’t battle repression he had a together, the Spanish state to risk’‘low to medium aversion BOSS: Kirby now in may win this fight.” attitude to investment. Australia “I was In a show of support to the blank asked, ‘Can you sign this he said. deposed president, around form. We will fill in the “They should have been looking details.’ I did Untitled-1.pdf 200 Catalan pro-indepenthat trusting they 1 16/06/2017 15:36 out for me would act in my best interests,” dence mayors travelled but they were to feathering their own nests.just Brussels on Tuesday to To stage a rally.
Expats who lost millions rage at ‘unauthorised’ deals involving ‘worrying’ signing of blank sheets
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A PALMA thief is facing months in jail for stealing18 a CY leg of ham. Prosecutors are requesting CMY the lengthy term for the eight kilogram leg oftaking K co Jotas' ¡ jamon from 'Cina shop in the capital. The Iberico ham is valued at €685, and has yet to be recovered.
FIND OUT WHY INSIDE
me they knew what they were doing.” rying’. He added: “I believe some “This negates the very essence of the investments were of the service they are meant without my knowledge. made to offer,” said Flores. “It is a that is the case because I I think blank cheque to invest wherever, recall signing sheets for do not all the whenever. investments I had.” “If standard practice, has gone down by half An email, seen by the this is very worrying. need compensation to and I Press, shows CWM asking Olive get it “Signing blank documents back on track. ent to sign and return a a cliblank would be seen “But some people dealing instruction. as irregular in a have lost everyAnother British expat, 55, who court of law. The thing and don’t is trying to recover problem have enough to €200,000, said some around with pensionthese firms is that live on. One reers ‘have lost everything’. they were all intired victim only “My paper work that PENSION vesting in highly has €50,000 left has been altered, my riskI sent level OUTRAGE risky investments from €480,000.” was changed from ‘medium’ to without the cliAndalucia-based ‘high’ and my dealing instrucents knowing.” lawyer Antonio tions have been photocopied He claimed that Flores, repeatedly for buying and whose selllosses sustained firm ing assets I didn’t authorise,” Lawbird by are investors he said. representwould hopefully ing some CWM “I still have some money be recoverable victims, said signing blank and I am still young enoughleft as the investments that vestment sheets was ‘very inget compensation, but my to worto perform, or went bust,failed fund were linked to life insurance policies. Pension trustees Momentum and Trafalgar are now attempting to recoup CMW clients’ losses. SPECIALIZING IN: The Olive Press has so far unable to discover if CWMbeen CRIMINAL LAW was registered to provide investment advice with Spain’s CIVIL LAW official financial regulator CNMV. BANKING (FLOOR CLAUSE)
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PENSION OUTRAGE
SPAIN’S prime minister accused Catalan has leader Carles Puigdemont sion’ after of causing ‘confusigning a declaration of independence. Mariano Rajoy demanded clarify if he he had really independence declared following day’s nail biting address TuesCatalan parliament. to the If so, Rajoy trigger Articleinsisted he could 155 of Spain’s constitution take direct to allow Madrid to “There is control of Catalunya. put an end an urgent need to Catalunya to the situation that is going through - to
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Expats lose millions in
life savings CONFUSION reigns over should foot through who failed hotels hit the bill for Mallorca by the collapse investment line Monarch. of airBalearic scheme €10millionhotels are facing lapse that bill over the col-a EXCLUSIVE repatriationsaw the emergency By Joe Duggan back to the of over 110,000 UK, many Palma. from HUNDREDS Administrator of BritKPMG ish expats Olive Press ‘the debt told the to retrieve are battling Monarch to hoteliers owed by sions their penas an unsecured will rank after claim’ against £20 millionlosing up to the defunct in a failed “They will airline. pension have to file investment OFF the joint administrators scheme. a claim to TO OZ: the money Spanish-based for all and (above) Boss Kirby they are owed,” a spokesman. cial advisory team at finansaid “It has not firm Con- March charity bash tinental been determined (yet) how agement Wealth Man(CWM) folded Many available tomuch money will be last month of them creditors.”
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whose boss Darren Kir- It is by has believed at moved tonow allegedly 300 of CWM’s least Australia. clients One Costa-del-Sol- pension have had 900 based expat their pots decitold the mated, Olive Press he sunk shocked with victims £59,000 through cover the to later dis- to end up CWM, only back value realising had lost he investments hadof their ain on benefits.”in Brit£39,000 his pension plum- “I have nothing when meted dramatically. praise for trustees However, sent a statement. but Tony Barnett a source [Trafalgar close to “I couldn’t the case MD] and sisted: ‘There have lost believe it. in- Stewart are still mentum Davies [Mopounds,” thousands ofI many customers chef revealed are happy victim, who tive]. They haveexecuasking to the pension with their magnificent main anonymous. been reing to recoup in tryA n d a l uportfolio.’ “The adviser cia-ba people’s ing me, ‘This kept tell- tax specialist s e d money.” is guaran- Brooks, teed, it can’t Angie The Olive go below pert on a leading ex- derstands Press uncertain level’.” a eration pension it is highly possible His money, obliterat- transferred schemes lib- may had legal action ing many Untitled-1.pdf their pri- others acrossand that of the founder and be taken vate 1 Brits’ life heartbroken 16/06/2017 of Pension UK Spain and Life, has by some parties against pensions France, savings. through15:36 the company, high-risk was put into a fight tonow launched CWM, help get investor ‘professional tims’ money vicback. has been only’ assets, it She is working claimed. side pension alongtrustees Trafalgar International and Momentum sions. Pen- based out of headquarters in Alicante, “People are terribly executives. distressed,” and its based Brooks Granada- Both the told the and the office in Javea Olive Press. website lost large “They have recently shut. have amounts their retirement of When the Olive ings.” Press sav- spoke to boss ‘definitively’ Kirby he She added: these people “Some of responsibility denied are going crash. “I over the world,” have lost my A closehe said. associate Kirby’s told of the Olive Press former staff were Find out more all ‘veryCWM set’. upon page XX “It is still 20 quite raw for them, Ave de Gabriel working and they are Roca 4, Palma next,” he out what to do said.
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It’s unbelievable! In the UK, squatting private property like a house or flat, is a criminal offence and the police throw them out immediately! Why doesn’t Spain pass the same law of common sense? They have after all experience from the land grab era when they found ample laws to take back the properties of (in those cases) legal owners. Paul Demopoulos, Mijas
Readers react to a bizarre zebra crossing found ‘in the middle of nowhere’ in rural Spain (Online, November 4) Ghostly gates
Driving around in Spain you often come across a pair of beautiful ornate gates that are attached to gate posts and nothing else. No walls or fence of any kind, just random gates, very strange. Kim Baron, Chiclana
Use it or lose it
Maybe there was money that needed spending before the end of the tax year or it’s something to do with the budget for next year. A city in the UK spent £1.4 million on rebuilding an existing roundabout purely so it was allocated the same amount of money in its budget for the following tax year. Basically, use it or lose it. I’m not sure if the authorities work the same way in Spain, but it could explain it. Marie Troake, Jerez
Questions abound
Why aren’t crossings in towns as well lit as this one? Maybe this is a ‘weathering’ test? Arthur Webster, Coin
Flood defence?
It’s a test for flooding. If it’s still there after heavy rain then there wasn’t any flooding. If it’s gone... Barrie Hemley, London
We need zebras
My own mother was killed by a drunk driver, so crossings are important. But it does look very strange. Angie Baker, Malaga
Law breaking for lavish lifestyle
Continues on Page 2
Specialists in Luxury Villas Holiday Rentals and Sales
Property
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WOAH: Emerging the rock, from stunning this home in Valencia is trademark Fran Silvestre, a Spanish architect who is continuing to make his mark in the architectural world. See Fran-tastic page VI
ROCK STEADY
T
HE average property price two consecutive years for thein Spain has grown The national for Prices first 3.9% to 8.4%, average house price time in a decade. rise for two Along the rose from between according to Mediterranean consecutive while mortgage various sources. most foreigners coasts and buy, the values continueyears, on cording to However, he Tinsa, Spain’saverage price hike the islands, where added ‘at the But the figures to grow Spanish property Balearic Islands. leading property has been 4.06%, very have mostly acduring the continued to least, the data suggests Mortgage long six year not yet made upappraisal company. “Prices have been rising grow that the but nothing for the big January to lending to home buyers last year.’ recession, with most years drops enough 19,390 like they meanwhile since the exception was up 6.1% to claw back did in the boom years,the recovery began, Spanish Notaries. new loans, according of the respected in to the Association analyst Markthe ground lost in and nowhere near The average new loan of the bust,” explained an increase made Stucklin, of Spanish Property residential of 0.9% in a year.in January had a value of €135,616, As long as Insight. the last acquisitions continues mortgage lending few years, the to increase, for Spanish property as it market is sethas done for to grow.
for)
FACE THE MUSIC
SPAIN’S PP party has set out cious plans for a power grab audaback to take control from Valencia and the other autonomou s regions. Leader Pablo Casado announced his commitment to strengthen the central government’s role in the run to the national up elections in a fortnight. He insisted that prevent corruptionsuch a move would and lead to a in taxes. drop It comes as the EXCLUSIVE off the threat party attempts to see By Joshua Parfitt Voted from an insurgent Party, whose leader REuse expat REduce paper has described Vox autonomous parliaments REcycle in Spain the THE beleaguered Voted as the ‘cancer of Spain’. Govt in expat wealth managementboss of a failed paper exile REuse Under the plan, in Spain company which REduce allegedly REcycle se resources forthe PP wants to increa- million lost expats more than €20 delegations and regional government court. has ignored a summons Confusion reigns to transfer of power paralyse any further Darren to the regions. Kirby, of Alicante-based Continental (CWM), failedWealth Management Supremacy court on March to turn up at Denia Who’s paying us? According to 26. Olive Press sources was due to turn he up, alongside business partners, former The election hopeful stated The case involves who did turn up. party would carry that a trio of investors, out a sweeping his who lost substantial view of how re- money Should amounts of the regional authorities Three Lions when the company pub have operate looking legged it 2017. folded in at ‘efficiency and ty.’ Three Lions equi- Kirby pub allegedly fled Spain’s quasi-federal HOW WE TOLD political system llowing the collapse,to Australia foIT: Our 2017 of ‘autonomous finally returreports ning to Alicante the constitution states’ was added to England.” last year. “Darren has in 1978. Prime ter Pedro Sanchez, The Olive Press been sent Minisexclusively revealed former member the constitution, whose party drafted which he didn’t sign for, soa Burofax how CWM abruptly of staff. folded in 2017, “It was a prestigious plan, insisting strongly opposed the will now have to pursue himthe court losing hundreds place but one ways,” a source day they just in other vings of ‘tooth and nail’the PSOE would defend said. shut the door,” in the process. expats’ life sa- said, asking “A judge the principal of she nal self-government. not to be named. The firm, which regio- it’s under is dealing with this Victims had was based and legal “We understand review,” he added. Marriott Hotel, in Denia, out of the asked to signraised fears about being to ten’ telesales had ‘eight blank dealing he is currently in ttered around staff and clients sca- tions and their pensions instrucvested in high-risk being inNO SHOW: Europe, revealed Darren Kirby assets which paid a large commissions. res. “It is a blank One pensioner cheque to invest ta Blanca told based on the Cos- wherever, whenever. lost €210,000 the Olive Press he “It is very worrying as €470,000 despiteafter transferring investing clients’ money they were risky investments in highly stating he had low to medium as well as dubious a funds just because they “I was asked, risk attitude. paid the hiblank form. We ‘Can you sign this gher commissions.” He added that will fill in ls.’ I did that losses sustained trusting they the detai- investors should by in my best interests,” would act however, be verable as the recohe said. “They should have been looking led to perform,investments that faifor me and they or went out their own nests.were just feathering linked to life insurance bust, were what they were To me they knew When the Olive Presspolicies. finally hold of Kirby Lawyer Antoniodoing.” in October 2017, got denied all responsibility. Flores, whose he Lawbird is representing firm “I have lost a number my world,” he said. of victims, said See pages 26-29 ment sheets wassigning blank investAre you a victim “This negates ‘very worrying’. or former staff the very essence member? Do financial advisory you services,”said of the case? Contact know more about Tel. (+34) 96 649 Flo- newsdesk@theolivepress.es the Olive Press 18 29 at info@hispaniahomes.es www.hispaniahomes.co.uk Casado insisted the move would Spain being administered see ‘more effectively’.
three British claimants are seeking crimafter CWM’s September 2017 collapse inal charges for aggravated fraud, fake left him with just €22,000 from accounting and belonging to a criminal initial investments of more than ₤800,000 organisation. The complaints concern bungled house (approx €900,000). transactions, unpaid loans and failed Davison was diagnosed with deprespension investments that lost the claim- sion just weeks after the collapse, before turning to alcohol abuse and developants over €1million between them. One of the victims, Mark Davison, trag- ing type-2 diabetes, according to a video shot just before his death. ically died, aged 59, in July this year His body, covered with lesions sores, had lain undiscovered for upand a week in the mid-summer heat at to his home in Sanet. “Mark died as a result of what had been In documents seen by the Olive done to him,” Timothy Benjamin, a Press, CWM was paid €3,391,873 of low claimant, told the Olive Press. felcommission for selling insurance “By the end he didn’t want the daylight bonds and investments by two Cyto appear.” prus-based financial firms, between Benjamin, 67, likewise felt ‘ashamed’ October 2015 and September after he lost his €250,000 private penA January 2019 statement 2017. from sion, reinvested by CWM into ‘risky’ Spain’s financial regulator revealed investments, via QROPS. insurance bonds were sold in In his official testimony he told breach of the law. the court how he had transferred ₤325,000 What is certain is that this (€375,000 approx) from a property funded a ‘lavish lifestyle’ for money sale to CWM on the basis the firm players Kirby and Smart, whoits key investing it in a villa in Monte Pego. was in a relationship together fromwere 2011 But court papers revealed ₤200,000 to March 2017, according to former went directly to the bank account staff members. of
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whose boss Darren It is believed Kir- 300 at by has now allegedly of CWM’s least moved to Australia. clients have had 900 their One Costa-del-Sol- pension pots decibased expat told the mated, with victims Olive Press he sunk shocked to later dis- to end up back £59,000 through cover the value of their ain on benefits.”in BritCWM, only realising he investments had plum- “I have nothing but had lost £39,000 praise for Tony when meted dramatically. his pension Barnett trustees However, a source [Trafalgar MD] sent a statement. and close to the Stewart “I couldn’t believe sisted: ‘There case in- mentum Davies [Moare still chef execuhave lost thousandsit. I many customers who tive]. They have pounds,” revealed of are happy with their magnificent in been the pension victim, asking trying to recoup main anonymous.to re- A n d a l uportfolio.’ people’s c i a - b a s e d money.” “The adviser tax specialist Angie The Olive Press uning me, ‘This iskept tell- Brooks, guarana leading ex- derstands it is highly teed, it can’t go below a pert on pension lib- possible legal action certain level’.” eration schemes and may be taken by some His money, the founder of Pension parties against CWM, others acrossand that of Life, has now launched and France, was Spain put into a fight to help get vichigh-risk ‘professional tims’ money back. investor only’ assets, She it side is working alonghas been claimed. pension trustees Trafalgar International and Momentum based out of headquarPen- ters sions. in Alicante, and “People are its terribly executives. distressed,” Both the office in Javea based Brooks Granadatold the and the website have Olive Press. “They recently shut. have When lost large amounts of spoke the Olive Press their retirement to boss Kirby he sav- ‘definitively’ ings.” denied She added: of responsibility over these people “Some are going crash. “I have lost the my world,” he said. A close associate of Kirby’s told the Olive Press former CWM staff were all ‘very upset’. “It is still raw for them, andquite they are working out what to do next,” he said. Ave de
huge sums ‘without falling into losses’. Worse, it comes as it emerges that dozens of victims left destitute and penniless by the Denia-based firm are suing Smart and her former partner Darren Kirby. In the first case to reach the courts,
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Wealth agement (CWM) Man- Many of them folded transferred had last month obliterattheir priUntitled-1.pdf vate ing many UK 1 16/06/2017 heartbroken pensions through15:36 Brits’ life savings. the company,
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Opinion
NOTORIOUS: Disgraced businesswoman Jody Smart accused in financial scandal
26th 2017
PENSION OUTRAGE
Expats lose millions in life savings
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Confusion reigns SPAIN’S prime accused Catalan minister has leader Carles Puigdemont of causing ‘confusion’ after signing of independence. a declaration Mariano Rajoy demanded he clarify if he had really independence followingdeclared day’s nail biting address Tuesto the Catalan parliament. If so, Rajoy insisted trigger Article 155 he could constitution to allow of Spain’s Madrid to take direct control of Catalunya. “There is an urgent need to put an end to the Catalunya is goingsituation that through - to
Who’s paying us?
CONFUSION reigns through failed should foot the bill over who for Mallorca investment hotels hit by the collapse of airline Monarch. scheme Balearic hotels are facing a €10million bill over EXCLUSIVE the collapse that saw the By Joe Duggan emergency repatriation of back to the UK,over 110,000 many from HUNDREDS Palma. Administrator KPMG ish expats are of Britbattling Olive Press ‘the debt told the to retrieve Monarch to hoteliers owed by sions after their penlosing up to will rank as an unsecured claim’ against £20 million in a failed the defunct airline. pension investment OFF TO OZ: Boss “They will have to Kirby file a claim to scheme. and (above) team the joint administrators at for all Spanish-based finan- March the money they are charity bash owed,” said cial advisory firm a spokesman. Continental
“It has not been determined (yet) how much money available to creditors.” will be
Malaga’s property bestmagazine
E IV US CL EX
Profits and losses
Rose Moore sees the EU, essentia with group watch rhoodIssue a neighbo I am from The pg 7). 325, and proud, hip (Leave dictators a marbell near ina Guadalm in rs neighbo 120 states, 28 sovereign reality is the opposite. There are 16, to thelybank, wayvoluntari g all (Laughinthe to become choseIssue which UK,the including pg 7). d. Steve Dunne believes that the UK would associate squat-to s with terrible haveonhad Webetter not going Not so. I’m terms. problem WTO fair beautithis invade to started have who ters and chapter weigh down your letters page by quoting three overinto takenlooks already havend ful area. the that Steve recomme but IThey verse, every six months houses ofwithin Trump That other knows. that he and any industry specifics another to getdeal EU-free UK should with anone. a trade to gettry tryingthey isweek for help. ask you I would Trump’s trade deals to know: youtowant you alllike tell with appoint had an that we as labels. As well for speaks Mahlerment Brent Finally, US-first have l who Naciona Policia the of sioner commis the force armed EU an of wary citizens UK of a number that and well very they know thatcloser toldanusever , these are ideas However union.them and d. they are and not EU policy. I am specific people by organize floated help! 40-plus years of procan’t police But the insidious at the worried more by the Mail, Telegraph, EEC/EU the against paganda Sun. What did Express, Times and, of course, TheGuadal Stein, so anwhy he wasmina he was asked Murdoch say when Sabine of: “When I go into ti-EU? Something along the lines . You letter your for Ed.10Thank The to the EU.” I go Sabine when I say: what they doyou No. into ent! ations investig our seen have will appointm an for ask to had implication is that he
Unbelievable
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When we first moved to Spain, approx 15 years ago, I remember these carousels at the Feria (The Elche Three, Issue 16, pg 30). I have a very vivid memory of a pony with a tiny foal trying desperately to keep up with her. I thought these had been banned as, thank goodness, I haven’t seen them at feria for over 10 years now. Lorraine Tompsett, Alicante
Chocaholic Nothing like a bit of English choccy (Trick or Treat, Issue 16, pg 32). Maureen Pearson, Granada
Double standards I am ashamed about how some Brits come to Spain and misbehave but there was an incident in Estepona port with 4 British men who were attacked by spanish (Online, October 22). The Brits were arrested. Luckily there was video and witnesses. One of the lads was beaten by a policeman. They were released but no apologies or arrest of said Spanish. Sandra Russel, Estepona
Has anything piqued your interest in this week’s Olive Press? Have your say on the matter by emailing letters@ theolivepress.es or message us on at www.facebook.com/OlivePressNewspaper or Twitter @olivepress
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From Front Page
Damage demand be redirected around local towns and into large ponds running parallel with the Mar Menor. These ponds would keep much of the potentially poisonous sediment out of the lagoon, which has been blamed for the discolouring of waters and the deaths of fish. Cervera secured a promise that that his proposals would be studied by Ministry of Environment staff. The
OLIVE PRESS COSTA BLANCA SOUTH
Your expat
voice in Spain
By Simon Wade EXPATS and Spaniards came together as an estimated 55,000 people marched on Cartagena town hall to raise concerns about a lack of protection for the Mar Menor and its coastal towns. The city saw coach loads of protestors descend from all over Spain to demand solutions to prevent further deaths and destruction from flooding. Seven people died throughout the region, along with hundreds of animals, as homes and businesses were washed away and thousands were left with next to nothing in September. But despite emergency funds provided by central government, the public are still dismayed at the perceived lack of action by local authorities.
GREEN
November 7th - November 20th 2019
Flooded in
Over 55,000 people including hundreds of expats - march for Mar Menor Areas around Europe’s largest saltwater lagoon suffered badly with three million fish washing up on its beaches (see pic right) as the gota fria devastated the Costa Blanca South. One speaker, Maria Duenas, summed up frustrations as she said: “If any politician feels that he or she is not up to the task, let him or her step aside and make way for someone
We’re still waiting
NUMEROUS victims of the recent devastating floods in Vega Baja have not received any emergency aid from the regional government. Floods swept through the area during the middle of September but many residents have said they are still waiting on the promised €1,500. At the time, a government press release stated that it had received 7,285 requests, and that payments would commence that very day.
ANGRY: Expats join protests who is determined to adopt urgent few decades. This week it was measures.” the turn of local fishermen, who The public bodies, responsible for protested outside Murcia Town maintaining rivers and waterways, Hall. The fishermen from the also came in for criticism, for not Guild of San Pedro de Pinatar, foreseeing the crisis. Murcia’s own who normally head out from Scientific Advisory Committee Lo Pagan, have been unable to has been consulting dozens of ex- fish since the floods destroyed perts since the flooding, as debate the area. It comes a week after continues over the origins of the another march ended outside catastrophic pollution of the Mar Murcia Town Hall. This march Menor. WWF believes the disaster was attended by British Los stemmed from ‘unbridled agri- Urritias resident, Jo Scott, who cultural and urban development’ shared a video of some 5,000 which has taken place over the last furious campaigners.
Half a million at flood risk ALMOST half a million people are residing in areas in Spain which pose a huge flood risk, according to an international study. The report in publication Nature identified the Costa Blanca region as vulnerable to coastal flooding. The Veja Baja region, as well as those living in the Ebro Delta, and Donana and Cadiz are among the areas that could be worst hit by flooding in 2050.
Sharing is caring For all your local advertising needs please contact our Sales Manager Charles Bamber 0034 661 452 180 charles@theolivepress.es
AN ASIAN car giant is letting a Spanish village share one of its newest electric models for free. Residents of remote Campisabalos will be able to drive the Hyundai KONA Electronico for a year through a mobile app. The village’s inhabitants will be able to make journeys of up to 24 hours at a time and 170km in the vehicle, voted Spain’s ‘Car of the Year.’ The Korean company chose the Guadalajara province village for the initiative because it is the least polluted town in Spain. The stunning spot, that sits between Madrid
and Soria in the Guadarrama mountains, has been ruled the third least polluted in the world, according to the World Health Organisation. Village mayor, Jose Maria de Pablo, said the scheme would help locals, who number just over 70, to visit the nearest pharmacy in a neighbouring town. “We have good air quality, precisely because there is nothing to do around here,” he added.
When will we ever learn? I’M sure many of you were shocked to read the last edition of The Olive Press, and the excellent front page story, continuing on page 2, on rogue financial advice right here on our doorstep. I remember over four years ago a Continental Wealth Management (CWM) client coming to me with concerns over his portfolio. At the time his CWN adviser was reassuring him that the losses they were seeing were not real losses, only ‘paper’ losses. As someone with nearly two decades of investment experience, I immediately knew that was not the case and encouraged this client to close their portfolio and take the losses, rather than potentially lose all of their holdings. I was fairly new to Spain at that point, having spent the last decade managing investment portfolios in the UK. I had moved to Spain for a somewhat slower pace to life and had taken training and exams in financial planning in addition to my investing experience. I very quickly realised that the practises used by financial advisers here in Spain were intended to profit the adviser, with very little thought for the client. It was then that I started writing articles in various other English newspapers, which are read by tens of thousands of you each week. All I can say is
965 641 163
www.chorusfinancial.es info@chorusfinancial.es
By Sam Kelly, Managing Partner, Chorus Financial. that I wish I had a higher profile at the time. Prior to the collapse of CWM I managed to get around a dozen clients out of their plans, but simply could not get my message out to enough people to make a real difference in time. Sadly, CWM were motivated by one thing: undisclosed commissions, which in their case ran to staggering amounts, as much as 20% per client. They were using complex financial products that were not intended to be used by non-professional investors, and that were almost guaranteed to fail from the outset. Rather than using diversified, regulated investment funds, that have hundreds, if not thousands of underlying assets, the entire risk of their client’s portfolios was dictated by the worst performing of just three or four assets. What alarms me most is that, despite what happened to CWM and their victims, almost all the remaining financial advice companies here continued on a commission-based model, with commissions ranging from as much as 7-12%. Companies who are happy to share their UK credentials and FCA regulation in their marketing continue to completely ignore the real FCA guidelines and rules, because the truth is,
Providing Multi-award winning advice for your pensions, investments & tax planning. once those companies operate outside Spain, none of the FCA rules on fees apply, and commissions become the driving force behind the recommendation. If you are offered any kind of plan with a tie-in, whether it’s for a pension or Spanish compliant bond, then it is almost certain that a commission is being paid. It is essential that you are fully aware of the fees you are committing to and that your adviser is capable of building a high-quality, low fee, fully diversified investment portfolio. I would always recommend getting a second opinion, as sadly we have seen hundreds of cases here in Spain where the financial adviser has been dishonest when it comes to disclosing all fees. Even those clients who think they’ve carried out the correct due diligence have found themselves tied into something potentially harmful. If you have any concerns about a current or newly recommended investment or pension, please do not hesitate to contact me on 0034 664 398 702 or s.kelly@chorusfinancial.es. I am always happy to look over any recommendation without charge or obligation.
965 641 163
www.chorusfinancial.es | info@chorusfinancial.es Investment contracts are intended as medium to long term investments, and all investments have some level of risk. Figures in our articles are examples of what can be achieved and cannot be guaranteed; the value of your investments can go down as well as up. Fees and charges can vary and will be fully explained to you before any advice can take place. This article should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation of any particular product.
Chorus Financial is a trading style of Tourbillon Limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Commission (Gibraltar), Licence Number FSC1118B, registered with the UK FCA reference 539348, registered with the Spanish DGS and CNMV Nº Registro Oficial 3214.
LA CULTURA
Do you have a what’s on? Send your informa newsdesk@theolive tion to press.es
11
November 7th - November 20th 2019
To be or not to be From Springsteen to Shakespeare, the surprising passions of the Spanish political leaders vying for your vote
SPAIN goes to the polls on November 10 for yet another General Election. But in a break from politics - who hasn’t had enough of the Brexit shambles in the UK after all - we checked out the main Spanish candidates’ cultural credentials to see what makes them tick. No one makes model buses like Boris Johnston but from secret Springsteen fans to Game of Thrones addicts, their passions may surprise you.
Pablo Iglesias
His education might have put him on a different side of the camera as the Podemos leader studied television at the Metropolis Professional School of Audiovisual Arts, short films at the Carlos III University School of Arts and speech and programme presentation at the RTVE. Wow! He was also the founder of the political theatre company Antigona and has acted in some of their works. Given his studies, it’s no wonder that TV hit Game of Thrones is a firm favourite in his casa. When not checking out the machinations of the Lannisters and Targeryens, he listens to godmother of soul, Aretha Franklin. He has also confessed to buying some of his clothes at discount hypermarket Alcampo.
Alberto Rivera
Books and films take up much of Snr Rivera’s time away from the political arena. His favourite read is The Human Factor by John Carlin which tells the story of how Nelson Mandela challenged apartheid in South Africa. It was also the basis of the film Invictus starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, which focused on how Mandela’s work brought a nation together to see the Springboks triumph in the 1995 Rugby World Cup final. Rivera’s favourite literary quote is from French writer Victor Hugo: “There is nothing more powerful than an idea that has reached its time.” No doubt he will be putting some of those ideas forward during the campaign.
Santiago Abascal
Passions of a different nature float the VOX leader’s boat. He is a true nature boy, enjoying hiking and mountaineering, and is a member of the Spanish Ornithological Society. Photography is a passion and friends say he has a talent for photographing wild animals and birds. He must also be a very patient man as another hobby is growing and trimming Bonsai trees - not the easiest of horticultural species to cultivate.
Pedro Sanchez
Alongside officiating at friends weddings, where he reads poems he has personally chosen for the happy couples, the currentPrime Minister has a wide range of interests. Speaking fluent English, he cites Shakespeare as one of his favourite playwrights. That’s in complete contrast to his musical choice as you’re likely to find indie bands Arcade Fire and Muse along with rocker Bruce Springsteen on the PM’s Ipod playlist. Spanish cinema is high on his list of ways to relax, as is chilling in front of the television. But even in his own living room Snr Sanchez is never far away from politics, with The West Wing and Game of Thrones among his favourite shows. Let’s hope he is not getting too many ideas from either of these cutthroat epics.
Pablo Casado
Less is known about PP leader Casados’s cultural leanings, but he confesses to being a keen chef. And apparently he is quite talented - although he admits he could never better his wife Isabel’s signature squid dish. Looking after himself, staying fit and eating healthily are his favourite things. Unsurprisingly his dishes are Medbased and include heaps of local fresh fish.
12
November 7th - November 20th 2019
Back to
With the anniversary of Amy Winehouse’s death this month, the Olive Press reveals how she composed three songs from Back to Black while holidaying in Alicante
F
EW knew that when the soulful, heart-wrenching vocals of Back to Black hit top-ten charts around the world in 2006, they would turn Amy Winehouse into the first British woman to win five Grammys, and blossom into the UK’s second best-selling album of the 21st century. But even less is known about the holiday in Alicante that birthed three of the 13-times Platinum album’s songs - and saw the purchase of her all-time ‘favourite’ guitar. Now, on the eve of the anniversary of her death on July 23 eight years ago, the Olive Press made a visit to the in-
WHO KNEW?: Winehouse penned a trio of hit songs on the Costa Blanca land town of Gata de Gorgos, where The list of legends who own handshe found the instrument. made Guitarras Bros instrument in“My father remembers meeting Amy cludes Ed Sheeran, Will Smith and pretty well,” Adam Broseta, 33, tells will.i.am. the Olive Press amid the fragrant saw- The Gipsy Kings, Tom Hanks, Richdust of the Guitarras Bros workshop in ard Gere and Jeremy Irons have also the workaday town. acquired instruments from the work“It was 2006 and he didn’t have a clue shop. who she was at the time, but she was In 2006, Amy was ‘just another singfriendly.” er’ in a long line of artists who have Far from being insular and blind to held a masterpiece of the Valencian the international music scene, the guitar-making tradition. 65-year-old family business is in fact But today the British singer-songwritfamous around the world. er appears appropriately at the top of the list of ‘artists’ who have bought from them on the company’s simple website. “To me, she’s the most important of everyone,” Adam explains in the workshop’s office space, surrounded by posters of many of the world’s musical greats. “She is a talented, an undeniable legend, and the amazing part A-LIST: Ed Sheeran (left) and Tom Hanks (right) show off their instruments made in Gata de Gorgos is we completely
LA CULTURA
13
November 7th - November 20th 2019
Blanca
GENIUS: Adam Broseta adds finishing touches to guitars for the stars in his Gata de Gorgos workshop
FREE SPIRIT: Amy in Alicante (left) while (right) she gets inspired with a CD and a cigarette forgot she owned one of our guitars.” to eat. In 2012, Adam received a phone call congratuThese songs laid the foundation for the Mark lating his business for its appearance in a Vanity Ronson-produced album that was sensationally Fair feature on Mitch Winehouse’s new biograreleased in October that year. phy: Amy, My Daughter. In email correspondence with Guitarras Bros, Racing to a petrol station, Adam purchased the last Mitch would much later confirm that of ‘more copy of the monthly magazine, and there it was. than 50 guitars’ in Amy’s possession, the one In the article appeared the words: “The guitar was from the Costa Blanca had became her ‘favousmall, Spanish, bought in Guitarras Bros, in the Alrite’. icante village of Gata de Gorgos.” After Back to Black’s stellar success, the trouIts purchase happened during bled singer’s tortuous relationship a brief holiday in 2006, after with Blake, who she married and Amy had split with lover Blake then divorced, was a period in Fielder-Civil, who had temporariFound with five which Amy Winehouse spiralled in ly returned to one of his ex-girland out of addictions to alcohol, times the legal heroin and crack cocaine. friends. As Amy went ‘back to black’, demonised singer, who wore drink-drive limit The into her infamous manic deher heart on her tattooed sleeves pression, she was persuaded to of alcohol in her and belted out searing emotion join her father for the holiday in beneath that infamous ‘beehive’, blood Alicante, where his second wife was tragically found dead on July Jane’s family owned a house in 23, 2011. the campo. She was found with five times the “The only problem was that she’d forgotten to legal drink-drive limit of alcohol in her blood. bring her guitar,” her father’s book continued. That holiday in Spain, however, marked a moBut after spending ‘hours’ intent on finding one ment of clarity in the tabloid storm of Amy’s life. in the nearby workshop in Gata de Gorgos, an In his official biography, Mitch recalls a period inspired Amy returned to the house and locked of sobriety in early 2011, writing: “I hadn’t seen herself in her room for hours. her focus like that since those days in Spain Emanating from those four walls Mitch heard when she’d locked herself away and written a the birth of You Know that I’m No Good, Love lot of Back to Black. “Creating music - her greatis a Losing Game and Wake Up Alone, with Amy est passion - seemed to be doing her more good so spellbound she refused to even come down than anything else we’d tried.” Perhaps it has something to do with the handmade masterpieces at Guitarras Bros: each one has its ‘own soul’ and is a work of art in itself, with centuries-old wood from as far as Madagascar seeing strummers fork out up to €12,000 a piece, with tailor-made rosettes and machine heads. Or perhaps it has something to do with the agreeable weather, or the tortilla de patatas that Amy loved, according to the Vanity Fair article. Either way, something magical happened between the walls of that house on the Costa Blanca - the loss of which the world is still coming to terms with these eight long years later. ROYAL APPROVAL: Fresh Prince Will Smith shows off instrument
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14
November 7th - November 20th 2019
PROPERTY
Walk in the park A HOUSE with allegedly Spain’s largest garden has gone up for sale. The €4 million mansion in Asturias has 10 hectares of parks and gardens, the same size as London’s O2 arena. The house and its gardens were the labour of love of Jose Rivera de Larraya, founder of Spanish food company Panrico.
The entrepreneur created his own green belt by buying up 58 connected farms over the years. Known locally as Panrico Gardens, the estate includes its own botanical gardens, lake and ornate fountains. Prospective buyers must be happy sharing as the 10-bedroom house’s gardens are currently open to the public.
Mortgage crash
Number of new mortgages plunges in third quarter due to new law THE number of new mortgages registered in Spain has taken a dramatic nosedive compared with the previous year. This August there was a 29.9% decrease on the same month in 2018. The data released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) reveal that the uptake in mortgages for the eighth month of the year was also
the worst since 2015. In total 20,385 new mortgages have made it onto the Land Registry in 2019 so far. Of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities, La Rioja experienced the most negative mortgage drop off, with a decrease of -61.5%. The regions with the next largest slumps were Extremadura (-53.8%), Na-
Star in the east
FOREIGN buyers are most in love with Alicante. An astonishing 41.81% of homes sold in the province were snapped up by foreigners, in the second quarter of 2019. It was followed, at some distance, by the Canary Islands where 28.91% of homes were bought by expats, Malaga (27.9%) and the Balearics (27.49%). The north west of Spain was the least popular area for foreign buyers. In all four provinces within the Galicia region, buyers from abroad accounted for less than 1% of property purchases. Barcelona remains more popular with foreign home buyers than Madrid, with 9.33% of houses in the Catalan capital sold to people from abroad, compared to just 5.92% in the Spanish capital.
varra (-52.9%), the Canary Islands (-49.7%), Balearic Islands (-42.5%), Madrid (-37.6%) and Andalucia (-34.4%). The poor mortgage data has been blamed on Spain’s new property law, which was implemented this summer. Article 20 of the Real Estate Credit Act was enacted by the Spanish Government in June, and according to the INE, ‘could have affected data published in August’.
Expats
The new law makes it more difficult for expats seeking a mortgage if they are not in the eurozone, specifically, if they derive their incomes in a currency other than the euro. This is because the borrower has the right to convert the mortgage into their own currency, under certain circumstances, at a later date. This means that some banks are only lending to euro earners and others are reducing their loan-to-values for British clients, in particular.
BUSINESS
A little help!
15
November 7th - November 20th 2019
IT’S not every day you can walk into a Tesco’s in… southern Spain. Well, now you can grab a massive range of the UK supermarket’s products with the exciting new launch of the Food Co. store in Murcia. The huge shop, in Puerto de Mazarron, is the largest British-style supermarket in the province. In a deal with the UK giant, Tesco-branded products have, at last, made it to the Costas. Tesco ready-made curries, bargain packs of tea and, naturally, sour cream and turkey stuffing were well received by the hundreds of shoppers who made it to the launch this week. There are 7,500 lines on offer, including many from Tesco’s ‘Finest’ range. These include plenty of cheeses, hams and beers. Open from Monday to Saturday from 9am to 9pm, more Food Co. stores are set to open around Spain next year.
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BREXIT has made a dent in the profits of Spanish bank Santander. The Spanish bank recorded a 35% drop in its net profits during the first nine months of the year, after its British subsidiary’s profits fell 19%. Spain’s largest bank recorded a net profit of €3,732 million between January and September, while its British arm earned €828 million. Difficulties in the UK were offset by a 19% increase in profits in Brazil, where the Spanish bank earned €2,249 million. The bank’s Brazillian arm remains its most profitable subsidiary.
Profit drop Spain’s biggest bank’s profits drop in first nine months of the year as Brexit bites into British arm’s profits. The company’s American division witnessed the biggest leap in profits, seeing them rise to €619 million, an increase of 27%. Profits were also up signifi-
cantly in Mexico, which saw a 14% rise to €659 million and in Portugal where profits surged 12% to €385 million. The company’s Spanish
Shelf stacking graduates ONE in three workers in Spain are stuck in a job unsuited to their level of education. A new study by the EU found that 36.3% of workers are working in roles below their level of education. The findings back up research by temping agency organisation, Asempleo, which found that 41% of women across Spain were overqualified for their jobs. The EU study also found that better than
average job growth in the Canary Islands, Murcia and Valencia has led to more people working in jobs they're overqualified for. People in the north of Spain are more likely to be working in jobs mismatched to their level of education than workers in the south. It is thought this is because more skilled workers are attracted to cities in the north, where there is a higher concentration of highskilled sectors.
wing remains its second most profitable division, seeing profits rise by 3% to €1.185 million. Ana Botin, the group’s president, said that the company had maintained ‘good trends’ despite a difficult business environment. She said: “We have achieved the figures thanks to the strength of our business model and our new regional organization structure announced in April.” Botin added that diversifying into both European and American markets had helped Santander distinguish itself from competitors. The bank has added six million customers in the last twelve months and already serves 144 million people worldwide.
Wheel good advice TM
902 123 282
* Fu l l y co m p re h e n s i ve o f fe r va l i d fo r n e w c u s to m e r s o n l y. G u a ra nte e s u b j e c t to cove r, re p a i r at a p p rove d g a ra g e, a n d co u r te s y ve h i c l e ava i l a b i l i t y. S u b j e c t to co n d i t i o n s. O f fe r e n d s 3 0 / 1 1 / 1 8 .
Property damage to your bike It’s autumn and the Spanish open roads beckon. Whether you ride a motorcycle, moped or motorized bike, there is nothing like letting your bike take you where you want to go. But before you suit up and head out, check that your motorcycle insurance includes standard coverage items such as property damage to the bike. Bike insurance policies from Línea Directa include total theft by third parties and any damage in the event of an accident resulting from a collision or impact. Compensation If the repair estimate exceeds 100% of the bike’s market value, then it will be considered a total write-off. In this case, compensation is calculated according to the bike’s age; during the first 12 months: value as new, from month 13 onwards: market value. Damage to the tyres are also covered, with 80% of their value as new if no liable third party vehicle is identified, and 100% if the other vehicle is identified. Standard equipment is also covered and compensated at replacement value. Repair costs, following an accident, are also covered 100% pro-
viding the insured submits the relevant invoices.
2/8/18 17:01
Ways to save money on your bike insurance Línea Directa recommends you shop around not only to find the best price but also the best coverage, by comparing detailed quotes. Don’t cancel your policy in the winter because you won’t save on premiums, and with many fair weather riding days throughout the year, you won’t be insured if you want to go for a ride. Keep a clean record to help keep your premiums as low as possible. Always secure your bike in a locked facility and install an anti-theft device. Tips for safe, claims-free biking Before each ride, check your bike’s tyres, brakes and oil and petrol levels. Wear an approved helmet and if it has been involved in an accident then buy a new one. Wear a jacket, pants, gloves and riding boots, fluorescent or reflective materials will make you more visible to other road users especially at night. Remain alert at all times, especially at intersections and blind corners. Always respect speed limits and adjust your riding to the road and surface conditions.
We hope the information provided in this article is of interest. If you would like to contact Linea Directa please call 952 147 834. More information about Linea Directa online at www.lineadirecta.com
Is DIY Expat Financial Planning a Good Idea? In recent years it has become something of a trend for the masses to distrust experts. Instead, many of us decide to go it alone when tackling life’s challenges because we all know Google can diagnose health symptoms and watching a short YouTube video can help you install a new shower!
But if you are considering your wealth management and retirement planning journey and are having reservations about hiring a professional to help you plan and manage your money, is this a sensible approach? What is involved in DIY expat financial planning and is it going to fit in with your expat lifestyle in Spain? Are you cut out for DIY wealth management? When it comes to financial planning, a ‘do-it-yourself’ approach brings with it a great many ongoing responsibilities. To fulfill the required tasks you will need to ensure that you not only have the necessary knowledge, expertise and practical skills but also the time, organisation and emotional resilience which are integral to the investment process. There are five key criteria essential to DIY financial planning:
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. You should love the investment process and be so passionate about investing strategies that financial pursuits already take up a large part of your leisure time. If your bedside reading consists of books on economic theory, if you enjoy an extended breakfast with the Financial
. You will need to be able to withstand market volatility without making rash decisions. Investment portfolios inevitably lose and gain value during times of economic instability and you must be able to withstand ups and downs in the value of your assets and investments without making knee jerk trades or heat-chasing purchases. . Can you keep your eyes on the long-game? It is easy for the self-investor to dip into their savings accounts, pensions and other assets without fully appreciating how this might affect future returns. Budgeting and time-horizon planning are key in this respect.
ty most investment platforms are little more than glorified algorithms that take some account of your risk tolerance and goals, following a short questionnaire, before grafting your funds into a pre-constructed portfolio. They are not personalised, cannot talk to you, cannot listen to you, and cannot help you stay disciplined during times of volatility. In contrast, a professional financial adviser will develop a relationship with you and will integrate your finances, tax considerations and estate plans while also taking account of all the unique cross-border concerns that go hand-in-hand with being an expat living in Spain. Lastly, a robo-adviser cannot know – or care – if you are having health issues, have a grandchild with special educational needs or are wondering about the financial implications of a divorce; a human adviser can make an invaluable difference at the times when you need expert, bespoke advice the most. Tried and tested expertise to advance your interests Blacktower Financial Management has more than three decades of experience advancing the financial interests of our clients. We can help you weather the financial uncertainties and ramifications of challenging times – such as Brexit – so that you can be secure in the knowledge that your money will continue to work for you. We believe that attempting to negotiate Brexit is likely to present too many challenges for the expat in Spain – both emotionally and practically – for DIY money management to be a prudent option. The expat financial advice sector remains integral to helping British people abroad reach their retirement investment goals, particularly in Spain, where a climate of innovation and opportunity has created real excitement and momentum.
Only if the above describes you to a tee would you be a likely candidate for DIY financial planning. Robo-advisers – Are they a good compromise? Robo-advisers might seem like the perfect halfway point between DIY investment and working with a human financial adviser. However, in reali-
Blacktower will be by your side both now and in the future, we are here to help you. To arrange a professional and impartial consultation please contact me info@blacktowerfm. com or call +34 952 816 443. Website: www.blacktowerfm.com. The above information was correct at the time of preparation and does not constitute investment advice and you should seek advice from a professional adviser before embarking on any financial planning activity.
BY Christina Brady Times and you consider attending an investing seminar to be a relaxing break, you might just be suited to managing your own wealth.
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. Another important qualifier for the DIY expat financial planner is the ability to comfortably make decisions about your financial future. This means that you must not feel overwhelmed by the process and the high stakes and that this responsibility does not cause you to lose sleep at night.
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. You will need to be time-rich and prefer to spend time reviewing your portfolios rather than playing golf or hanging out with grandchildren. It sounds harsh, but it’s true. Good investment decisions require research, planning and accuracy.
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www.theblacktowergroup.com
Advisers of your area
Richard Samuels
Keith Littlewood
Blacktower Financial Management Ltd is authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority and is registered with both the DGS and CNMV. Blacktower Financial Management (Int) Ltd is licensed in Gibraltar by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and is registered with both the DGS and CNMV in Spain
FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL
16
November 7th - November 20th 2019
Tourism holds firm
THE spectre of Brexit is not having a major effect on Brits enjoying the Spanish sun. President of the Costa Blanca tourist board Carlos Mazon has told the World Travel Market in London that British visitor numbers are holding firm despite the problems. “While the shadow of Brexit is threatening the province with its uncertainty, the figures have improved,” he said. “Benidorm is a fundamental catapult,” he added, explaining it accounted for 60% of tourism in the Valencian Community. Alicante Airport connects with 23 UK airports, more than any other country, receiving 5.9m passengers a year.
Cereal killer ALMOST two thirds of breakfast cereals sold in Spain contain so much sugar they shouldn’t be consumed by children. A shocking 63% of branded cereals exceed the EU’s recommended limit of 15g of sugar per 100g for children, a study by the European Commission has found. Some cereals had as much as 45g of sugar per 100g. It means that a 30g recommended serving would contain 13.5g of sugar, over half of the 24g of sugar that children should consume each day. A quarter of cereals studied were found to contain excess salt and another 44% contained too little fibre.
Gain from rain
CAMPERS can now buy insurance against the infamous rain in Spain. The innovative insurance allows punters to cancel their holiday 72 hours in advance – if it is expected to rain – and receive compensation. The scheme is only available through Campings.com, which has teamed up with fintech startup Setoo for the original insurance. “The weather is an especially important consideration for campers, who are more exposed to the elements than other holidaymakers,” said Jerome Mercier, chief executive of Campings.com. A rain insurance policy costs between 3% to 8% of the booking price, with the average cost being €15 per week. The insurance is available to customers for holidays in France, Italy and Spain. Setoo can also compensate customers who have booked a skiing holiday if there is no snow where they are about to travel.
Roca-
Date with destiny THE first bunch of dates has been ceremoniously cut from a date palm tree in Elche. Dozens of people, including the Greek consul, joined town hall bosses in La Hoya to witness the historic event, organised by the agricultural collective Dateelx. The municipality’s date palms, which are a UNESCO World Heritage site date back to the fifth century BC, when they are believed to have been planted by the Carthaginians. Those gathered at the cutting were even treated to a lunch, which used local dates as the star ingredient.
Spanish restaurants are the flavour of the world according to Trip Advisor, but there is a northsouth culinary divide
SPAIN has some of the world’s best restaurants, but not a single one of them is in the south. Three Spanish restaurants made it into the top 15 in Trip Advisor’s annual Travelers’ Choice Restaurants Awards 2019. El Celler de Can Roca in Catalunya is the best Spanish restaurant, according to Trip Advisor. The restaurant in Girona, which has three Miche-
lin stars, was voted the eighth best in the world by travellers. Restaurante Martin Berasategui near San Sebastian was voted the eleventh best eatery worldwide, making it the second best in Spain. Barcelona’s Disfrutar was voted 13th best globally. It means the ultra modern restaurant is the third best eatery in Spain. Voters snubbed Andalucian and Alicante restaurants, with not a single one of them mak-
17
-fellas
November 7th - November 20th 2019
Turn on the Tapas IT’S a luxury to have a Creative City of Gastronomy right on your doorstep. And a downright steal to sample the best of it for just €3. Foodies mustn’t miss UNESCO-rated Denia’s 15th Ruta de Tapas, where 40 restau-
rants are offering their most stunning tapa at that amazing price, with a drink included. The annual event began on October 24 and will run every day until November 17. Visitors can collect their culinary ‘passports’ from Denia’s Tourist Office or download
the ‘Rutappa’ app before arrival. Highlights include octopus in all-i-pebre with parsnip puré and crisped celeriac at Bodega Casa Benjamin - the oldest THE Murcia government has issued a six-month ultimatum tavern in Denia. to homeowners illegally letting out their properties to tourEqually mouth-watering is ists. the aubergine cannoli filled Owners are required to register properties with the region’s with smoke cod on a bed of Tourism Department, under a tough new law that aims to sweet-and-sour sauce and clamp down on illegal rentals. mango pearls at the Jamonal Decree 256/2019 comes into force on November 14 and de Ramonet. classifies a ‘holiday home’ as that which is rented out at least Meanwhile for the seafood twice a year or once a year for consecutive years. lovers, La Xerna del Mar is A Government spokesperson insisted these properties offer offering turbot and white ‘unfair competition’ to legal lets and homeowners who do prawns with aubergine on top pay their taxes. of toasted seaweed. Homeowners now need to apply for a license, before an inOr for those with an interspector visits the property to make sure it complies with the national palette, La Sabrosa requirements. Taquería is offering a crunchy This license number must be included in all adverts and taco with guacamole, cactus marketing and appear at the entrance to the rental. ice cream and lime - accomAll owners must have €300,000 accident insurance and panied by vermouth or wine. passport scans of guests must be sent to the police. Participants who fill up their passports with at least 15 tapas may THE Costa Blanca will be a ‘preferred destination’ for in- enter a lottery with ternational golf lovers next year. prizes including a The International Association of Golf Tour Operators, free meal for two at (IAGTO) has agreed to more closely work with the region the best-rated Ruta to promote its many courses. It comes after its boss Peter de Tapas restauWalton met with Alicante’s tourist boss Carlos Mazon in rant, as well as a London to agree the move. IAGTO was created in 1997 night at the Les and includes over 3,000 golf operators, courses, resorts Rotes hotel. and hotels in over 100 countries.
Homing in!
CREATION: The Roca brothers and one of their delicious dishes
ing it into the top rankings of best Spanish restaurants. Catalunya has the best chefs in Spain, with four restaurants located in the region making the top 10 list of best restaurants nationwide. And unsurprisingly the Catalan capital is the undisputed culinary capital of the country, with three of these four restaurants being situated in Barcelona. Lounge bar cum restaurant
Acces and Con Gracia, which specialises in contemporary updates of Catalan classics, were the Barcelona names joining Disfruta in the top 10. A total of 584 restaurants worldwide gained a place in the 2019 edition of the culinary rankings. Trip Advisor said the chosen restaurants had ‘consistently received high marks and praise from diners around the world.’
Costa del Golf
Vegan Spain no bull! SPAIN might be famous for cured meats and seafood dishes, but it seems Spaniards are increasingly opting to go meat free. Online food order company Deliveroo has reported a 134% increase in people within Spain ordering vegan options. The rise is being driven by people living in Spain’s biggest cities. Barcelona residents buy the most meat and dairy free dishes, followed by people in Madrid and Valencia. Deliveroo already has over 30 restaurants on the app which specialise in vegan food. The most popular is Teresa’s in Barcelona, followed by Fit Kitchen and La Trocadero - both also in the Catalan capital. Teresa’s roasted carrot and avocado salad is Deliveroo customers’ favourite dish.
FOOD,DRINK Battle gastro
18
November 7th - November 20th 2019
Despite the claims of Trip Advisor, Andalucia and Alicante are running neck and neck in the race to tempt travellers
Andalucia Aponiente
Messina
The Chef of the Sea, as this celebrity chef is known, is famous amongst other things for being the first to introduce plankton as an edible ingredient in dishes. He was also on the jury for the first edition of Top Chef in 2013. Hailing from Jerez, he studied in Sevilla and worked in France before starting his own restaurant. Aponiente quickly earned a reputation for its avant garde dishes featuring fish and seafood never previously seen in cuisine. With three Michelin stars and three Repsol Suns, in 2011 the Wall Street Journal named it one of the 10 best restaurants in Europe while the New York Times considered it one of the ‘10 restaurants in the world worth taking a plane for’. Set in an former windmill, it boasts a team of 70 professionals for just 30 diners. The marine-themed tasting menus astonish with their elaborate presentation. Choose from the menu Mar en calma at €195 or the menu Mar de fondo, €225.
Mauricio Giovanni is another Argentinian from Cordoba who started his Spanish career making pasta ‘like many Argentinian cooks do’. In 2003 he opened Messina in Marbella, along with his wife Pia Ninci whose name is an homage to his grandparents who were natives of the eponymous Sicilian town. The restaurant has long been a favourite among Marbella’s dining cognoscenti although it didn’t earn its first Michelin star until 2016. Giovanni’s a la carte and tasting menus are based on local products, particularly fish and shellfish. He combines avant-garde culinary techniques with a simple and elegant presentation. Thanks to Pia’s sommelier skills, Messina also has an impressive cellar numbering some 200 top wines.
Francisco Cossi Ochoa, s/n. El Puerto de Sta María, Cádiz Tel.: +34 956 851 870 - www.aponiente.com
Want an escape from the busy costas? A weekend in romantic Ronda will revive your senses. Ronda Romantic Apartments is the answer
Av. Severo Ochoa, 12. Marbella, Málaga Tel.: +34 952 864 895 restaurantemessina.com
Noor Chef Paco Morales met his wife Mariana in her native Cordoba, Argentina, and in 2016 they realised their life project: opening Noor in Spanish Cordoba. One year later they earned a Michelin star and a Repsol Sun. Noor’s interior is influenced by Andalucia’s Moorish expanding their activheritage, while dishes ities with a part reccombine modern cuipe/part history linary techniques book entitled with flavours Noor Restauand aromas rant, coming out in from the past. They November. Also in are now working on the works is a Noor new menus for next restaurant in Dubai, season themed on due to open in 2021. Only the Spanish discovery of America. Three menus will mix & Only One Za’abeelen will keep Arab, Jewish and Christian gas- an Andalusian-based menu in a tronomy and will star the Iberian more informal setting with dishpig. The power partners are also es to share. Pablo Ruiz Picasso, 8.Córdoba Tel.: +34 957 96 40 55 - www.noorrestaurante.es
Something for everyone at
HILL TOP GASTRO PUB
Taste the history Breakfast 08.00-13.00 – Lunch 13.00-18.00 Evening Meals 18.00-22.00 Thursday karaoke – Tuesday quiz night LIVE music most Saturdays (check Facebook) Pool and Terrace ALL SPORT biggest screen in Moraira, enclosed terrace Open 7 days week, early until late
www.hilltopgastropub.eu
For bookings and more info visit www.alcantarilla.co.uk or call 654 152 122
S
PAIN may have beaten its own tourist record with more than 82.6 million international visitors last year. But these days it’s Michelin stars, not beaches, that are pulling in the punters. The last 20 years has seen a revolution in Spanish gastronomy with an emerging generation of chefs at the forefront of culinary innovation that goes way beyond patatas brava, tortilla and paella. Young chefs are jumping on the locally-sourced bandwagon, rediscovering forgotten recipes and voicing their modernity through
Calle Móstoles, Moraira tel: 965 74 43 66
LU, Cocina y Alma Juan Luis Fernandez, also known as Juan Lu, was once the right-hand of Angel Leon at Aponiente, but left to follow his dream and opened his own place in Jerez. Last year LU became the first in town to be awarded a Michelin star. The distinctive interior was created by famous interior designer Gaspar Sobrino. It is a modern interpretation of Alice in Wonderland, with a white and blue colour scheme, ladders coming out of everywhere and tables made of marble. A maximum of 30 diners sit around a theatrical open kitchen at the centre of the dining room, where they can admire the artistry. The restaurant´s main concept is a French and Andalusian fusion, where Fernández adapts French cuisine to local Andalucian products - such as replacing the butter in a French dish with typical Andalusian manteca colora (red lard coloured with paprika and other spices). The tasting menus change daily, depending on the chef’s inspiration, and the result is always unique and very modern. It may have been a risk to open such an experimental restaurant in this traditional town a distance from the costas but it has paid off. Earlier in May, Fernández opened a restaurant in Marbella, Maison Lú. It is a more informal version of the Jerez restaurant and will offer a la carte instead of tasting menus. Zaragoza, 2. Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz Tel.: +34 695 408 481 www.lucocinayalma.es
& TRAVEL of the giants
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November 7th - November 20th 2019
ALICANTE Quique Dacosta Dacosta is one of the most notable leaders of Spain’s culinary Nouvelle Vague. His Denia restaurant was awarded three stars in the 2012/13 Michelin guide and came fourth in the 100 best restaurants in Europe rankings by OAD (Opinionated About Dining). In his 2018 menu, entitled La evolución y el origen (Evolution and Origin), the 47 year-old chef explored the oldest techniques of conserving food in the Mediterranean, when salt was a fundamental ingredient: ¨It is a simple and universal product, but that does not make it any less relevant,” he said. “After all, humanity has survived thanks to salt.” For this year’s menu, Autorretratos (Self Portraits), Dacosta shows how imagination can help us overcome everyday monotony.
with stellar gastronomy. The Olive Press dishes up its A v A list of the best restaurants on both costas
theatrical reinterpretation. Tradition, culture and region are now celebrated in haute cuisine menus and although technique keeps improving, ingredients are the new protagonists. In southern Spain, Andalucia and Alicante are the foodie hotspots at the heart of this culinary renaissance. Almeria, in eastern Andalucia, is 2019’s Spanish Capital of Gastronomy; Denia in Alicante was Unesco’s Creative City of Gastronomy in 2015. But it’s really no contest. If fine dining is your thing, you can’t go wrong either way.
Carrer Rascassa, 1 Urb. El Poblet, 03700 Dénia, Alicante - Tel.: +34 965 784 179 www.quiquedacosta.es
BonAmb Born in 1984, Alberto Ferruz already holds an impressive record for such a young chef, and he shows much more promise. Originally from the Zaragoza region, Ferruz has trained and worked in France and Spain where he collaborated with Quique Dacosta. The BonAmb has been awarded two Michelin stars and three Carretera Benitaxell, 100. Jávea, Alicante Tel.: +34 965 084 440 www.bonamb.com
Beat Valencia-born Jose Manuel Miguel worked in the Ritz in Madrid and Le Bristol in Paris before returning to his native soil. He is now the chef of Beat, located in the Cook Book Hotel in Calpe, and was recently awarded one Michelin star. He also scooped the Sapiña Prize for Innovation in April. The 41-year old chef has developed a very personal style, adapting highly refined and technical French cuisine to fresh, local products. His favourite bywords? “Tradition, technique, elegance and innovation.” Partida Marisol Park, 1. Calpe, Alicante Tel.: +34628277858 - www.thecookbookhotel.com
L´Escaleta
A family restaurant when it opened in 1980 in Cocentaina, it was called after the ladder you had to climb to get to it. Then it moved places and the second generation, chef Kiko Mayo and his cousin Alberto Redrado, took over. Since then, L’Escaleta has accumulated two Michelin stars
Manero Tapas Bar Delicatessen Sergio Serra and his business partner Carlos Bosch, already heading up Alicante’s El Portal restaurant, opened a tapas bar in the same city at the end of 2018. The place was decorated by fashionable interior designer Lazaro Rosa Violán with a Belle Epoque vibe. The bar offers a wide selection of seafood, ibérico hams, charcuterie, cheeses, vegetables, salads, classic and more innovative tapas and montadi-
tos. Sarra’s favourite ingredient is onion, which he loves using in different ways: ‘Raw, sauté, roasted, cooked at low heat...Onion is the starting point-basis of any cuisine. Everything starts with onion.’They get a brownie point for the affordable prices: you can get a complete three-course meal for €20.
Médico Manero Mollá, 7., Alicante. Tel.: +34 965 144 444 - www.barmanero.es
and three Repsol Suns. Mayo works with local products to produce tasting menus that change according to the season. He emphasises memory and a cuisine that goes back to forgotten recipes such as chicken crest. When asked to define his cuisine in an interview with Información, Mayo answered: “It is as difficult as defining yourself. I aim to create a cuisine that is simple, honest and humble in every sense.” In another interview with alicanteplaza, the chef declares that ‘a dish has to tell a story’. If you want to learn more about Mayo’s very philosophical view of gastronomy, watch the featur-length documentary on L´Escaleta, presented at the Berlin Film Festival this year - Y en cada lenteja un dios. Subida a la Estación del Norte, 205. Cocentaina, Alicante - Tel.: +34 965 592 100 www.lescaleta.com
Repsol Suns (only five other restaurants in Spain have that many). His style follows the up-and-coming trend of tradition, anthropology and innovation. “I am for an avant-garde cuisine that is 80% Mediterranean product, but I also recuperate old, forgotten recipes,” he said in a 2019 interview with Heraldo.
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November 7th - November 20th 2019
Coke capital
Spain and Britain’s favourite illegal drug is cocaine a new study finds - but which Spanish city is the capital of coke?
COCAINE is Spain and the UK’s favourite illegal drug, a new international study has revealed. Research published in the journal Addiction analysed the wastewater of 120 cities, across 37 countries, six of them in Spain. The drug habits of 60 million people were analysed between 2011 and 2017 in a study involving the Superior Council for Scientific Research (CSIC). And while Barcelona might be better known for being a European cultural capital, it’s also the European capital of coke, according to the researchers. Residents of the city snort more of the white stuff than those living in any other European city. They’re also among the top five consumers of drugs overall. Even more shocking is the revelation that the Catalan capital has seen an almost
100% increase in cocaine use since 2015. In terms of daily consumption that is equivalent to one gram per thousand people in 2017. It comes as other Spanish cities like Madrid - which has seen a decrease in cocaine use from 450 milligrams to about 300 - generally don’t use above 600 milligrams of coke per thousand people. Meanwhile, London, Zurich, Antwerp and Amsterdam join Barcelona in the top five for illegal drug consumption overall. Barcelona is also eighth for ecstasy use on the Continent, with the Netherlands first. Germany is top for users of methamphetamine, while Barca is 13th.
HEALTH
Get vaccinated
MORE than 1,700 health centres have today begun a Valencia-wide campaign urging the elderly to get their flu jabs. The Department of Health has prepared 800,000 vaccines – 50,000 more than last year – to protect against seasonal viruses. From the 800,000, a total of 500,000 jabs are for the general population, with 300,000 reserved for over-64s and which
provide a ‘higher level of protection’. José Antonio Lluch, head of the Health Promotion Service of the health department, said the aim this year was to reach 65% of over 64s in the Community. Last year, only 52% were vaccinated. Lluch stressed that viruses claimed 188 lives last year, with 1,000 severe cases of fever. The department will also send 80,000 text messages to persons vaccinated last year. For more information, please contact your local health department.
OAP: Old age paradise SPAIN is the best country to retire to in Europe, according to a new report. Blacktower Financial Management has revealed the best - and worst - European countries for retirees based on cost of living, crime rates, life expectancy, property prices and population age. The country scored highly in
Sunny Spain named best country in Europe to enjoy your golden years every section with its average paving the way for it land the top spot overall. Spain has beautiful surround-
A healthy retirement
ings, towns, cities, and of course lots of sunshine - which makes it a perfect setting for those approaching their final
IT turns out work is not all it’s cracked up to be. Retirement is the secret to preventing depression, scientists have found. Spaniards aged 65 to 75 suffer from depression at a 27% lower rate than those aged between 55 and 64. The study of 1,700 people found that over 65s exercise more, eat healthier and smoke less than their younger peers. Pensioners also reported drinking less and having better social lives. The researchers also bust the stereotype that pensioners place a greater burden on the heath service. They found that over 65s use health services just as much as those who are about to give up work.
years. Second in the rankings is Finland, somewhat suprisingly. The chilled Scandinavian atmosphere and gorgeous magic of the Northern Lights makes it a great choice for retirees.
Grey
Italy came in third place, a country known for its wines, olive oils and pasta - a winning combination for when you’re past the point of no return and have no problems in packing on some extra pounds. The UK featured in 17th place - despite the perception of grey skies and constant rain, the rolling hills of the north are a joy to see, whatever the weather, and the south-west has with it some gorgeous coastline, and opportunity to grab a board and make for the waves - hitting retirement age gives some people a new lease of life.
HEALTH
21
October 24th - November 6th 2019
22
November 7th - November 20th 2019
Jenny’s tips
COLUMNISTS
HEALTH APPOINTMENt By Jeremy Kenton
Farm Flash
Vaping precautions
By Susan Weeding
How to guarantee you’re not underinsured
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For help, advice and information, please contact one of my offices or visit my website www.jennifercunningham.net
In an insightful new column Jeremy Kenton explores the danger of vaping
Stylish stainless steel or polished piano black holders, Vaping products, often with coloured lights illuminating the vapour cloud, are recreating the elegant look of the cigarette holder of the 1930s. As if the horrors of the effects of smoking with lung cancer, damaged circulation, heart and lung disease are not enough, a new outbreak of smoking related problems appears. As millions of people turn to vaping as a safer alternative to smoking, the discovery of 500 fresh cases of a mysterious lung disease has cast doubt on its safety. Vaping is not smoking; it does not involve the process of burning a substance like tobacco. Vaping is using an electronic device to create a vapour mixture from a liquid, which is known as an e-juice or e-liquid. This vapor is inhaled into the lungs and the residual vapour is expelled by the person vaping. Already various issues have been seen with Harvard researchers seeing a link between popcorn lung and vaping last year. Popcorn lung is the common name for a disease called bronchiolitis obliterans, an incurable condition that causes damage to the smallest parts of your lungs, called the bronchioles and alveoli. Popcorn lung occurs when scar tissue builds up within these tiny passageways, making it hard to breathe and expel air. It is caused by the chemical fumes of diacetyl which was first seen in workers in popcorn factories. Oil accumulation in the small passage ways in the lungs is another issue attributable to vaping which is seen by many scientists as a possible cause of breathing difficulties in vapers. The true cause of the current outbreaks is still unknown but there is no doubt that better controls about the quality and safety standards of vaping liquids is required - only last week the Indian Government banned the use of Vaping products joining many far east and South American countries who have taken on board the warnings issued by the World Health Organisation in 2008.
The Elche Three A carousel pony savagely beaten begins his rehabilitation at the rescue centre
Well, here we have the next installment from the Easy Horse Care Rescue Centre in Rojales! Last week we castrated one of our 30-odd ponies, and it brought back vivid memories of his shocking rescue eight weeks ago. In August, we were called out by Seprona to assist in the rescue of three ponies from Crevillente. What people don’t realise is when you work with police, you’re not allowed to rehome or sell any animals placed into your care - they’ve been seized, and become evidence for unsolved cases. The reason is that police are increasingly trying to press for prosecution of abusive owners. Animal welfare is moving forwards rapidly in Spain, and Seprona believe the best message to send is to get people charged, fined and imprisoned. So of course, despite the financial burden, we said yes. The police always do their best to keep Rod out of violence. On countless rescues there’ve been ambulances on site, and even armed Policia Nacional, in case of violence. This time the Seprona agents went down and confronted the owners, who started ranting and raving. Rod followed the commotion on foot, but soon the agents called him to drive down and collect the ponies one by one. They were absolutely skeletal. The last one to come out was a brown-and-white pony with a very strange head collar, with nuts and bolts on top, pressing into the pony’s head. He also had really developed muscles on one shoulder, scars from cruel beatings and saddle sores on his back. To our horror, we realised he’d been a carousel pony. This is outlawed in the Valencian Community, but still legal across many parts of Spain. The nuts and bolts secured him to the carousel, where he’d spent his 19-20 years of life walking round and round and round with kids on his back. I know from experience that ponies will eventually drop down dead from this, especially during the hot summer months. Somehow, this old boy had survived. Amazingly enough, he actually had paperwork - a rarity and his name came up as Atilla! Little Atilla has been castrated now, and is doing really well putting on weight until he’s ready to be turned out with other ponies at the centre. I am so grateful to the police for calling us and helping us to provide some quality days in the Autumn of his life, which I’m sure has been full of hardship.
OP Puzzle solutions
Quick Crossword
Across: 7 Incommunicado, 9 Smarten, 10 Discs, 11 Lobe, 12 Slander, 15 Sherbet, 16 Acne, 19 Raise, 21 Colleen, 22 Pennsylvanian. Down: 1 Diesel, 2 Scramble, 3 Burn, 4 Giddyap, 5 Eats, 6 Mouser, 8 Mate, 12 Set, 13 Decrepit, 14 Abreast, 15 Stripy, 17 El Nino, 18 Flea, 20 Ions, 21 Calf.
SUDOKU
his week I received an updated report from Spain’s Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros (CCS) with fascinating information after last month’s devastating gota fría ruined houses up and down the Costa Blanca. The CCS has now opened over 59,000 claims due to the bad weather conditions between September 11-15, 2019. The estimated total cost at the moment is expected to be €379 million. However, they are anticipating to receive a total of between 63,000-65,000 claims, estimated to cost in excess of €422 million. So far, €6.7 million has already been paid, with 332 insurance experts and assessors working with the CCS. At the peak, the CCS were receiving 1,500 to 4,500 applications daily, but this has now slowed to between 500 and 700 daily requests. There is no deadline to apply for CCS claims, nor is there a limit to the total amount that the CCS will pay out overall for this situation. However, the CCS states that they will pay compensation as is due under existing insurance policies held by the policy holders affected. In other words, the CCS will pay as per the coverage of your policy. As you can see from these statistics, the CCS has been really pushed due to the vast volume. My company had a full-time consultant opening claims for many anxious clients - both my own clients and those of other insurers, who found their insurance companies very unhelpful in this situation - who is still helping as required. Please, when either taking out a new policy, or renewing your existing policy, check the insured value of the property and reassess your contents cover, which includes your kitchen. There are many who have discovered that they are under insured, particularly those who purchased their policies by price alone. It is always worth checking your contents cover, as we are regularly changing and updating our homes, and it is always a surprise when you work out what it would cost to replace everything.
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SPORT
23
November 7th - November 20th 2019
On a higher plane GRANADA’s unprecedented run may have taken a tumble in their last game but the side is making brilliant progress in La Liga this season. The newly-promoted club sit sixth in the league, high enough for a European spot, and are only two points off the top of the table. The Andalucian team have made serious strides this campaign despite their small stature but now face two tough fixtures, as they
La Liga rule book ripped up as Barca and Madrid do battle with Andalucia’s best
prepare to face Valencia and Atletico Madrid the following game.
The hope is that momentum isn’t lost after the southern side suffered a
Racism shame SHAMELESS Spanish football officials have demanded an English team apologise over racism allegations they made against an Andalucian club. Queens Park Rangers’ under-18 side were forced to walk off the pitch during a match against Sevilla team AD Nervion in August. It came after opposition players made monkey noises and taunted them, saying ‘n*****.’ The London-based club demanded an apology from the Spanish team. But now, in an extraordinary turn of events, the
Andalucian FA has ordered QPR to apologise to them for ‘undermining the good name’ of the region. QPR Chief Executive Lee Hoos said: “It’s a joke and it’s clear nobody cares.” “Had this incident occurred in England I have no doubts the issue would be dealt with swiftly. “Unfortunately, it seems some countries have a long way to go in this respect.” Hoos had previously asked UEFA to look into the incident, which occurred during a friendly match.
late blow in their last game against Real Sociedad, losing 2-1 at home. In September, Granada turned over current league-leaders Barcelona 2-0, and the team has gone from strength-to-strength ever since. Diego Martinez Penas, the manager, was appointed in 2018 and helped the side achieve promotion to Spain’s top league. This year, his side made their best ever start to a La Liga campaign. The end of October even saw the Nazaries sit top of La Liga for a period, and though they have dropped off slightly, fans should be expecting more than just survival this season. In 12 games, Granada have won six, lost four and drawn two games.
Sinful streamers OVER half of Spaniards have used illegal platforms to stream sports games. Some 56% of Spaniards acknowledged having used an illegal platform to watch sport, according to results found by Smart Protection, a company dedicated to combat online piracy and counterfeiting. Its investigation also revealed that while 36% have never streamed sports illegally, a large 74% knew someone who had and 32% knew more than one person who had. Interestingly, 60% of respondents agreed they should pay to watch a live match. However the report found that 36% of Spaniards resort to pirate transmissions because they can’t afford the subscription.
Airport thefts POLICE have arrested two people for allegedly stealing €800 from a cash register at a cafe in Alicante Airport, making it their 40th suspected crime.
FINAL WORDS
Wartime bunker A BUNKER has been discovered under Elche’s old central market, meaning a planned underground car park is now ‘deemed’.
Mobile scan PATIENTS are having MRI scans in the back of a lorry behind Denia hospital after private firm VIVO Diagnostico was contracted in to reduce long waiting lists for tests.
Bin of fire A 61-year-old man has been arrested for suspected arson of 24 rubbish bins containers in Alicante city centre.
OLIVE PRESS
The
NEWS IN BRIEF
FREE
COSTA BLANCA SUR / MURCIA Vol. 1 Issue 1 www.theolivepress.es
Your expat
voice in Spain
November 7th - November 20th, 2019
Come clean A cleaner went overboard with her job and disposed of sensitive documents by mistake
A GOVERNMENT official called in the Guardia Civil to investigate the ‘robbery’ of sensitive documents before a cleaner admitted to throwing them out to ‘make some space’. The municipal architect for Teulada-Moraira Town Hall reportedly gave the cleaner an ‘anxiety attack’ when she realised what she had chucked out. The cleaner reportedly had cleared shelves from a cupboard in the architect’s office in the department of Urban Development. The truth came out during a Questions and Answers ses-
GRILLED: The cleaner came clean when pressed at a plenary council meeting sion at the last plenary coun- Vila, Teulada-Moraira mayor. cil meeting, when opposition “An employee in the Urban department leader Raul Llobell pressed Development the cleaner why she didn’t ask thought the documents were old and went back to the days the architect first. “Were the documents bother- of the previous municipal aring you?” the opposition lead- chitect. “Since more space was needer asked. “Did you even read them? And ed, she mistakenly threw them do you have a professional ca- out. pacity to dispose of these doc- “But they were all scanned and wouldn’t have been lost.” uments?” He also inquired why the The semi-destroyed docucleaner hadn’t come clean two ments were reportedly in rubweeks previously when the ar- bish bags and were saved just chitect had called in the police. before being taken to landfill. “It was an error,” said Rosa
Parking mad WE all know Spanish drivers are notorious for parking in unlikely spaces. But one video has captured the moment a grey Audi was spotted parked ON TOP of another vehicle on a Benidorm street. “Oh my God, look at the state of that!” a man said on a video passed to the Olive Press. The incident is understood to have taken place on October 25, when the driver of the car reportedly ‘blacked out’ at the wheel.
Get the hump
A ZEBRA crossing ‘in the middle of nowhere’ has sparked outrage and confusion rural northern Spain. The freshly-painted crossing is complete with four flashing signs alerting drivers to non-existent pedestrians. “It’s in a mountainous area in Galicia where there’s no one around for kilometres,” wrote Robert Martinez, who posted the video online. “It’s a zebra crossing in the middle of nowhere.” The video sparked a raft
of sarcastic comments, with one writing ‘is this their justification for taking our money?’ Another wrote it could have been for ‘pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago’, while a number assumed it was for the ‘cows and sheep’. “This is what you call a ‘contract of brothers-inlaw’. Someone’s family member made a lot of money from this,” wrote one commentator.