OLIVE PRESS
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Vol. 5, Issue 107 www.theolivepress.es October 9th - October 22th 2019
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Sotogrande agent denounced after taking €300,000 into her personal account for property purchase
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A GERMAN couple have denounced an expat EXCLUSIVE estate agent for failing to return €289,000 for By Jacque Talbot a four-bed apartment on the Costa del Sol. In a denuncia, seen by the Olive Press, the account. couple claim the money was ‘kept’ after it was However, on the day they were due to sign for sent to the private account of the agent Pan- the property in May they were told that the sale mysteriously could not go through. dora Homes, in Sotogrande. In the shocking claim filed with police, the “We didn’t find out until we were actually couple, from Berlin, believe she is now shut- at the Estepona notary, when we were told ting her company and intends to leave Spain, cheques could not be issued,” said Hans, whose surname we are protecting for legal ‘predictably to Dubai’. And former staff of the company - which has reasons. closed at least one office and laid off various “We waited for two hours to discover the employees this month - believe there may be money had not arrived.” The couple - who have now flown to Spain many more such cases. The Olive Press has discovered that the com- seven times from Berlin to resolve the issue pany’s owners Nadine Dijkman and hus- - say Dijkman has been continually evasive. band Eddy have previously been involved in They claim she has come up with many exa murky case in Alicante… and were named cuses as to why she could not make meetings in a separate television investigation back in or send back the money she owes. "When we first spoke to her about buying, she their native Holland in 2012. Their most recent dispute centres around the was so nice and friendly," explained Hans. "We were so excited purchase of a swish about buying the property in Casares apartment - but now del Mar this year. feel utterly hopeless." German investors The couple’s lawyer, Hans and Jutta based in Marbella, exfell in love with the plained that Dijkman property and sent was anything but clear €328,000 (including over the passing of the a deposit since redeal. turned) to Pandora’s "Worse, she got the account, in February money sent to her perand March, which it sonal account, not a later emerged was company one,” he said. Dijkman’s personal BRAZEN: Dijkman views yacht
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DEMAND: On Dijkman to return funds for Casares delvopment (top) He continued: “There are various discrepancies and my clients are doing everything they can to claim their money back." When our reporters visited its two offices in Sotogrande Port and the nearby Paniagua centre, this week they found that both offices were closed at 5pm and all computers and furniture had been removed from one. More alarming were the words of various former employees, who insist that there may be many more cases, perhaps running into the dozens. “We took between 20 to 25 deposits from homebuyers alone,” said one key member of staff, who claims to be owed €40,000 for salary and commissions. “I can’t believe they would be so silly to do it in this way, take money into their own bank accounts,” he continued. They certainly showed off the trappings of their success, driving Mercedes and Audi cars, buying property in Dubai and eating out in expensive restaurants. They even took a tour around an expensive yacht, named Livibel, this summer.
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