SMASH
FACT: Spain causing border queues
IT’S official. The infamous Gibraltar border queues are being deliberately created by Spain, according to new statistical proof. The recently launched Frontier Monitoring Programme records the number of cars that cross from the Rock to La Linea in one minute. The flow rate should technically remain constant, irrespective of the number of cars waiting to cross. However, data collected on a single day this week shows a massive drop from 7.8 cars entering Spain per minute at 2pm, to 1.5 per minute at 6pm. Just one hour later at 3pm, the flow rate had slowed down to 2.9 cars per minute, which is when the queues started to build up. By 6pm it was 1.5 cars coinciding with people leaving work-places to return home.
Dramatic But by 7pm, the rate increased dramatically back to 12.7 per minute. Acting Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia commented: “The drop in cars crossing the border from 12.7 cars per minute to 1.5 is undeniable proof of the way in which delays are being generated. “The flow rate is clearly deliberately reduced by the authorities, waiting times of three hours are intolerable in an internal border of the European Union. “The brunt of this hardship is borne by EU nationals, thousands of whom live in Spain but work in Gibraltar. Needless to say, residents of Gibraltar and tourists are also being afContinues on Page 16
the spiking
The Olive Press launches a campaign against drink-spiking, see page 2
olive press The original and only English-language investigative newspaper in Andalucía
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Vol. 8 Issue 192 www.theolivepress.es
July 24 - Aug 6 2014
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SNUFFLED!
Expat truffle farmer with links to Dragons Den is in hot water over claims of unpaid debts from Ronda to Valencia
HE claimed to have invented a ground-breaking truffle inoculation method that would ‘guarantee’ plantation owners a good yield of the expensive delicacy. And during a memorable visit to the Dragons Den BBC TV show in 2006, Dr Paul Thomas even snared €100,000 of investment from Yo! Sushi founder Simon Woodroffe. While it was later put on hold, he went on to sell his exciting invention via his company Mychorizal Systems across the world. Enter Wendy Smart, a horsebreeding life coach with direct
TRUFFLE TROUBLE: Smart at a ‘healthy plantation’ and (right) her Valencia farm EXCLUSIVE By Tom Powell marketing skills, among many other talents. The expat had arrived in Spain 15 years ago with high hopes of starting a truffle plantation to offer to investors. After creating a slick website and an enticing business plan, she enlisted dozens of optimistic investors in the Ronda area with promises of high returns,
under the name Europe Truffles. But nothing came to fruition. No estate was bought, nor a single tree planted. So when she suddenly left Ronda for Valencia four years ago, claiming ‘better truffle growing conditions’, she left behind a trail of concerned expats, not to mention workers up-in-arms over alleged unpaid debts. Here she enlisted Dr Thomas and his methods. But now those anxious inves-
Get the party started
The festival season starts on the crest of a wave with The Beach Boys in Marbella (tonight) while Paul Weller (left) wowed the Benicassim crowds and Steel Pulse rocked the Rock. See page 9.
tors have teamed up with a series of new shareholders in Valencia who also claim that their investment is anything but safe. Concerned about the state of her plantation, in Tirig, and the future of its oak trees, they cast doubts that they will ever see a return on their money. And worse, despite receiving up to €1 million in investment, Smart – the majority shareholder - is refusing to pay some ex-employees. Dr Thomas, also a substantial shareholder, admitted last night that he had been contacted frequently by worried investors. But the Sheffield-based scientist told the Olive Press: “I hear a lot of allegations, but I am always cautious. “We are still waiting for test results before making judgments, and I have also not yet visited the plantation.” When pressed on when exactly this would be, he added: “I haven’t got any plans to visit soon, but Wendy has asked me to come this year.”
Expat Roger Wallis, who originally worked with Smart over a decade ago in Ronda, claims that if he did actually visit, the scientist would no doubt be ‘horrified’. “The plantation does not look healthy and apparently a third of the crop is dying,” he claimed. The leader of a recently launched action group, Wallis invested almost €20,000 in 230 trees in an effort to help Smart, his then friend, in 2013. He also persuaded friends to invest, before discovering to his ‘horror’ that she had already received ‘nearly a million pounds in investment’, much of it sent to an offshore company in the Seychelles.
Untouchable “She owns over 65% of the shares in the company so therefore she is almost untouchable,” he told the Olive Press. “I have tried to shake up the shareholders simply to protect the trees because people stand to lose a lot of money.” For one person it is already See Page 2
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