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FEATURE
the olive press - June 12 - June 26, 2013
Jesus – the second coming!
OPINION Not a fair cop ALTHOUGH we all know that the Spanish economy is on its knees, it’s rather worrying to see the lengths the police will go to in order to fill the coffers. The incident in which two British holidaymakers were arrested over a mix up involving a €15 paella seems to indicate that the national police are one more name we can add to the list of corrupt institutions. Apart from the emotional trauma of spending hours in a prison cell and the disruption to their holiday, the couple were forced to shell out hundreds of euros in compensation... this despite insisting they had never even ordered the paella or assaulted the police in any way. It’s important to note that the alleged assault on the police could indeed have occurred and it’s possible that the holidaying Brits were at fault. But the evidence appears to point to the fact that Spanish police are simply using underhand tactics to make a bit of cash. If Spain wants to encourage tourism and help its flailing economy, incidents like this have to be stopped and a tighter grip needs to be employed on the local police.
Democracy up in smoke The fact that a fatcat US casino billionaire may have the power to force the Spanish government to do a U-turn on new anti-smoking laws is not only ridiculous but also alarming. If reintroducing smoking in certain public spaces could single-handedly kickstart the Spanish economy and end the country’s financial woes, then, of course, it might be understandable. But chances are all this law change would do is to put more money in the pockets of the billionaire bigwigs. And increase the risk of cancer. There seems to be little reason why Sheldon Adelson can’t continue with his plans to build hotels and a casino without pressurising the country to change its health laws and making even more money from an already beleaguered public. Of course, no one would turn down the chance to create tens of thousands of jobs while unemployment is soaring. But it seems that the last thing Spain needs right now is a casino complex where they can gamble and smoke their money away, just so the rich can get richer.
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Tel: 951127006/951166060 (admin/editorial/sales/ advertising) or admin@theolivepress.es A campaigning, community newspaper, the Olive Press represents the huge expatriate community in southern Spain - 198,000 copies distributed monthly (130,000 digitally) with an estimated readership, including the website, of more than 500,000 people a month. Luke Stewart Media S.L - CIF: B91664029 Urb Cayetano Arroyo, Buzon 13, Arriate 29350 Malaga Printed by Corporación de Medios de Andalucía S.A. Editor: Jon Clarke jon@theolivepress.es Reporters: Annabel Grossman annabel@theolivepress.es Mason Jones mason@theolivepress.es
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SLIPPERY: Gotardo (left) and (inset) our story on Joan Deak last month
The Olive Press can reveal that despite leaving thousands of buyers with broken dreams, the maligned born-again boss of Palmera Properties, Jesus Gotardo, has landed himself a top job as a food company rep and still lives the high life with a fancy new car and a new trophy wife
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T is yet another nervewracking month for British pensioner Joan Deak. For at any moment the 61-year-old fears the knock on the door at her leafy four-bedroom home in West London, from a bailiff telling her she must fork out up to €50,000 euros following a court hearing in Fuengirola. In a completely shocking case, reported in the Olive Press over recent issues, the retired businesswoman is being forced to pay €25,000, plus legal fees against a house she sold on that had not been built. Incredibly it is not the developer, nor the builder, nor the agent, who are being held responsible for this debacle, but Deak herself. And this, despite the developer/agent Palmera Properties not only being the company that introduced her to the unbuilt development at Mirador de Torreblanca, in Fuengirola, but the company that brokered the deal with the new buyer, who has successfully sued her. “It must surely be Palmera he should have gone after, after all it was responsible for making sure the property was built,” she said. “Now because of this I face losing my home.” So what happened to the owner of Palmera Properties Jesus Gotardo Rodriguez Cortes, who has yet to be punished, despite being arrested for fraud five years ago and despite a supposedly dogged campaign by an action group and its lawyers to make him face the music? Well, the Olive Press has discovered that, perhaps unsurprisingly, Gotardo is still living
EXCLUSIVE INVESTIGATION By Giles Brown and Jon Clarke the high life in a luxury apartment in Puerto Banus. Despite being arrested and bailed over the fraud claims in 2008, he has been able to land himself a plum job as Spain’s main representative for international farming feed supplier Rumenco, who are unconnected to Palmera. Driving a top-of-the-range brand new BMW estate, he goes by the name ‘Jesus Ro-
Driving a top-of-therange brand new BMW estate, he goes by the name ‘Jesus Rodriguez’ driguez’ and ‘spends much of the year travelling,’ according to his father. Tanned and immaculately groomed, Gotardo recently married his attractive young second wife and took a long honeymoon first in Venice and then in the Far East, with obligatory pictures being posted on his Facebook profile, now recently removed. It is a picture likely to stick in the craw of many people’s throats. For young Gotardo’s company Palmera was responsible for the loss of millions of euros of investment in defunct property schemes around Andalucia. While his father this week claimed he is ‘also a victim’, the hundreds of members of various joint action groups, who invested in good faith,
will be demanding to know why justice has not been done. It is certainly a spectacular trail of misery that the boss allowed Palmera to leave in its wake. The Olive Press first reported on his company’s failures to provide what it promised some six years ago. While hundreds (even possibly thousands) of investors have failed to get the properties they invested in, some are now being threatened with the loss of their assets in the UK, as in the case of Joan Deak. Peter Shaw is just one of the many people who lost money with Palmera Properties. The Mijas-based businessman invested €18,000 with Palmera Properties for a villa in Reserva del Higeron, coincidentally where Gotardo’s father currently lives in a halfa-million euro home. “We thought that Palmera was the developer which owned the house, but what we were to find out later was that Palmera didn’t actually own it at all and had simply used our money as a down payment to get a mortgage. “We were unaware of this until two days after Christmas in 2010 there was a knock on the door at 9pm. It was a representative from the CAM Bank, who was checking to see if the house was occupied or not. “Obviously this was a little unsettling as the representative said that no one had been paying the mortgage. So what happened to the money that
we gave Palmera?” As is often the way in Spain these days, when Peter took the bank to court the judge found in the bank’s favour. “He ruled that the contracts weren’t worth the paper they were written on. Eventually we were told to vacate the premises within 10 days. If we didn’t they would send in the bailiffs and if we resisted we would be arrested. The lawyers were not allowed to appeal.” Others including Trina and Tony Abrahams, 46, put down €108,000 on a four-bedroom home in Fuente de Piedra, which was only half completed three years later. “We thought we were getting a big four bedroom house with a garage and garden,” said Tony. “But the fourth bedroom turned into an attic, there was no garden and the garage turned into a car port.” Worse than that, having sold up in England, they ended up being forced to buy another flat to live in for two years after shelling out ‘a fortune’ in rent. So angry were the family from Bedfordshire they ended up moving out of Spain. “Thanks to Palmera our dream move turned into a shattered dream,” added Tony. Another victim Robert Hayles, 42, from Newcastle, put down a deposit on a beachfront apartment in Benalmadena, but three years later, ‘not a brick’ was laid. Ella Munro, 52, of Brighton, put down a €20,000 deposit, describing her predicament as ‘a fiasco’ and ‘deeply upsetting’. The modus operandi of Palmera seems to have been to get people to fork out an