Spagna: Truffa da 5 milardi di Euro da parte di società di investimento filatelico

[~Qohèlet~]

Coinvolti 350.000 risparmiatori. Sotto accusa due aziende

Truffa da 5 miliardi con i francobolli Migliaia in rivolta, interviene Zapatero

DAL NOSTRO CORRISPONDENTE
MADRID - Tremano in Spagna 350 mila piccoli risparmiatori che avevano piazzato i loro soldi in due grandi società di investimenti filatelici, Forum Filatelico e Afinsa, dietro promessa di un rendimento annuale fra il 6 e il 10 per cento. I clienti piazzavano in generale somme fra 10mila e 100mila euro per l’acquisto di francobolli, con la garanzia del loro valore sul mercato. I francobolli erano conservati nelle capaci casseforti delle due imprese perché, sostenevano i consulenti finanziari, nelle case erano a rischio di furto o di deterioramento. Nella realtà questo sicuro metodo di investimento sarebbe stato una maxitruffa di tipo «piramidale»: gli interessi promessi erano pagati non attraverso trasparenti operazioni finanziarie ma con i soldi degli ultimi entrati nella catena. Ufficialmente non si avanzano cifre ma fonti informate sostengono che il «buco» potrebbe aggirarsi attorno ai 5 miliardi di euro, la truffa più grande mai commessa in Spagna.
Ha dovuto intervenire il capo del governo José Luis Zapatero per invitare alla calma i risparmiatori, molti dei quali avevano investito nei francobolli i loro risparmi di una vita o i proventi della vendita di un appartamento.
La tensione fra le vittime, già altissima, era diventata spasmodica quando il portavoce del governo aveva detto che una eventuale frode non sarebbe stata coperta da fondi statali di garanzia e che il controllo delle due società implicate era di competenza delle regioni, non del governo centrale. Dopo la levata di scudi delle associazioni dei consumatori e del principale partito di opposizione, che ha ricordato come il controllo di questo tipo di attività, svolgendosi in più di una regione, è di competenza dello Stato, ha fatto capolino Zapatero. Il premier ha chiesto fiducia nella magistratura e nelle autorità assicurando che sia il governo centrale sia le regioni stanno lavorando «per garantire al massimo gli interessi e i diritti dei risparmiatori», sottolineando che l’inchiesta era partita un anno fa. Ha aggiunto che la magistratura deve ancora verificare la truffa e la solvibilità delle imprese ma si teme che il numero delle vittime sia «molto alto».
Nove persone sono state fermate, fra cui i presidenti di Forum Filatelico e di Afinsa. Secondo un portavoce del governo sono sospettati di frode, insolvenza, riciclaggio di denaro sporco, appropriazione indebita. Nella villa madrilena di uno dei fermati sono stati rinvenuti 10 milioni di euro in banconote da 500 euro, nascosti dietro una parete.

Fonte: Corriere della Sera di oggi

 

[Voltaire]

Leggevo giusto ora su F&M, in pratica un multi-level andato avanti per molti anni.

 

[FaGal]

Paskowitz & Associates Brings Class Action on Behalf of Purchasers of Escala Group, Inc. Shareholders
www.marketwire.com - May 9, 2006


NEW YORK, NY - Paskowitz & Associates announces that it has filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers of the common stock of Escala Group, Inc. ("Escala" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: ESCL) between September 5, 2003 and May 8, 2006 inclusive (the "Class Period"). Defendants include Escala and certain of its top officers and directors. The case has been assigned to the Hon. Alvin Hellerstein, United States District Judge.

For further information you may call toll free, 1-800-705-9529, or contact counsel by e-mail by writing to classattorney@aol.com.

The Complaint asserts violations of the federal securities laws and alleges that defendants made material misstatements and omitted information regarding the true nature of Escala's business and sales activities. Escala is a major distributor of collectibles including postage stamps, and one of its major customers and joint venturers is its majority shareholder, Afinsa Bienes Tangibles SA ("Afinsa").

On May 9, 2006 it was publicly reported that Spanish police had made arrests and raided the offices of Afinsa. The operation forms part of a joint investigation launched by the National Court, tax authorities, financial crime prosecutors and the National Police over an alleged pyramid-type scheme based on overpriced stamps and other collectibles. The prosecutor's office said in a statement that Spanish authorities are conducting more than 20 searches at company offices and private residences. The prosecutor's office also said it plans to conduct "several arrests" as part of a lawsuit based on charges ranging from tax evasion and money laundering to criminal insolvency and falsification of documents. The operation comes after Barron's magazine extensively reported questionable practices at Afinsa, which purportedly operates a "no-lose" stamp-sales program for investors in Spain and Portugal.

As a result of these revelations, given the high level of the integration between Afinsa's and Escala's business operations, ESCL stock fell more than 50% in heavy trading on May 9, 2006.

If you purchased Escala stock during the Class Period, you may qualify to serve as Lead Plaintiff on behalf of the Class, which consists of all persons and entities who purchased Escala stock from September 5, 2003 and May 8, 2006. You are not required to have sold your Escala stock in order to claim damages, or to serve in this role. This case will be prosecuted on a contingent fee basis. All motions for appointment as Lead Plaintiff must be filed with the Court by July 10, 2006.

Paskowitz & Associates has many years of successful experience representing shareholders in securities fraud class actions. Our firm will answer all questions, and provide information, at no cost or obligation to you.



Stash of £7m hidden in stamp dealer's mansion
www.timesonline.co.uk - By Ben Hoyle, and Graham Keeley in Madrid - May 13, 2006


The unmistakable smell of fresh plaster alerted police to a package hidden in the wall of Francisco Guijarro’s lavish home. Closer inspection of the eminent stamp dealer’s Madrid mansion revealed a cache of €10 million (£6.8 million) in €500 notes, the most dramatic discovery from raids that have scandalised the world of philately this week.

Two Spanish companies, Afinsa and Forum Filatelico, stand accused of swindling almost 350,000 Spanish investors out of more than £3.4 billion through pyramid-style schemes. Now British stamp dealers, collectors and investors are waiting anxiously to see whether the scandal will cause long-term damage to the international stamp market, worth an estimated $10 billion (£5.3 billion) a year.

Yesterday a source at the Universal Postal Union in Switzerland told The Times that a global fall in the price of collectible stamps, for the first time since the 1980s, was now probable. Shares in Afinsa’s US subsidiary Escala Group, one of the biggest global players in the coins, stamps and collectibles business, collapsed after the raids. But Stanley Gibbons, the British stamp auctioneers and catalogue publisher that offers a rare stamps investment scheme of its own, also suffered, despite having no links to the scandal.

Shares in the company fell 12 per cent on Wednesday before staging a partial recovery over the past two days. Richard Perkis, one of the company’s directors, was confident that the investigations in Spain would not affect the long-term value of the rare stamps from Britain and the Commonwealth in which Stanley Gibbons specialises.

“Afinsa and Forum Filatelico were mainly selling Spanish or Portuguese stamps. There’s no reason why it should damage the international stamp market,” he said. Afinsa and Forum Filatelico sold portfolios to clients with a promise to buy the stamps back at the original price at the end of the investment period and guaranteeing an interim annual return of up to 8 per cent. It is alleged that the returns were paid out of new customers’ funds rather than reflecting a real increase in the stamps’ value.

The quality of the stamps is also a matter of dispute. Charles Dupplin, an insurer with Hiscox at Lloyd’s of London, examined Forum Filatelico’s stock last summer and concluded it was worth only a fraction of what the company said. “They were just pretty little pieces of paper,” he said.

Recently rare stamps have become a popular vehicle for investors seeking alternatives to risky equity funds and the property market. Stanley Gibbons recruited more than 12,500 new customers in 2004 compared with 950 in 1994.

Señor Guijarro appeared in a Spanish court yesterday. He and eight directors of the two companies pleaded innocent to charges from fraud and tax evasion to money laundering and embezzlement.








Escala Says It Faces No Charges
www.chron.com - The Associated Press - May 15, 2006


NEW YORK — Escala Group, a supplier of collectibles for auctions, said Monday authorities have not charged the company or alleged any "impropriety" under investigations into a massive stamp investment fraud rocking Spain.

The response comes after Spanish authorities last week arrested 11 people and charged two companies with fraud, falsifying documents and mismanagement. Prosecutors said an investment scheme promising annual returns of 6 percent to 10 percent and backed by a collection of valuable stamps was essentially a "pyramid" scheme. The stamps backing the investments were overvalued, prosecutors said, and investors were paid with funds from new investors rather than generated revenue.

One of the companies implicated in the charges was Afinsa Bienes Tangibles, which owns 67 percent of Escala Group's shares and has an exclusive supply agreement with Escala.

In a statement Monday morning, the company said allegations submitted by the Spanish prosecutorial office do "not allege impropriety on the part of Escala or any of its subsidiaries."

"We intend to move the company forward and to continue to pursue our strategies in philately, numismatics, and art and antiques," Chief Executive Jose Miguel Herrero said in a statement. "Although the company faces challenges as a result of the events of last week, there continues to be strong demand in the collectibles markets in which we operate."

Escala has directed its three-member audit committee to investigate the company's business transactions with Afinsa. Escala said one the two Afinsa representatives on Escala's board has resigned, and Escala is seeking the resignation of the other. The company also said it believes the 10 or more class-action lawsuits filed against the company and its officers and directors "lack merit."

While Escala might escape formal charges, the company's business is heavily reliant on exclusive supply contracts with Afinsa. Exclusive sales to Afinsa comprised more than half of Escala's fiscal 2005 revenue of $240.3 million. Sales to Afinsa comprised 62 percent of collectibles revenue for the third quarter, which ended March 31. No other single customer accounts for more than 10 percent of the company's revenue.

Spanish prosecutors last week said Afinsa is insolvent.

Under a 10-year contract dated Aug. 1, 2003, Escala is an exclusive supplier of collectibles to Afinsa. Afinsa buys the collectibles from Escala and pays a commission of 10 percent of sales to dealers and collectors.

Escala, formerly Greg Manning Auctions, also has other relationships with Afinsa, such as property leases and loan backing.

The announcement sent shares of Escala rose $4.50, or 97 percent, to $9.15. Escala shares lost 85 percent of their value last week after prosecutors announced charges against the company's largest shareholder and customer. Escala's shares have traded in a range of $3.95 and $35 in the past year.

 

[FaGal]

The great Spanish stamps scandal
www.hamiltonspectator.com - By Elizabeth Nash - The Independent - London - May 20, 2006

Thousands fear they've been swindled in a pyramid-style investment scheme gone bad

MADRID - Harmless enough hobby, stamp-collecting, you might think, redolent of inky schoolboys or fusty gents in leather armchairs. Nice little earner, too, if you consider that these miniature artworks are relics of a postal age fast fading into history.

That's what hundreds of thousands of Spaniards thought when they entrusted their savings -- sometimes all they had -- to two well-established stamp-dealing firms Afinsa and Forum Filatelico.

Savers were persuaded to buy stamps with the promise they would increase in value, and were offered between 6 per cent and 12 per cent return, far more than the rate offered by banks.

Around 350,000 savers, mostly recruited by word of mouth from friends and family, contributed about 5 billion euros (about $7 billion Cdn) over more than 20 years. Some contributed small sums each month, others handed over their entire pension pot.

Then suddenly just over a week ago, this gentle pastime lost its innocence.

Police raided and shut down the two giants of the stamp-dealing world on suspicion of fraud, tax evasion, embezzlement and money laundering; and savers realized, aghast, that they risked losing everything.

"My dream is broken. I am 45 and have a five-year-old son. Now I have nothing. I put in 60,000 euros (almost $90,000 Cdn) -- not much, but for me it was a great fortune. My indignation knows no limits," said one distraught investor, Maria Cruz Ingles.

"I can't tell you my real name because my father would have a heart attack if he found out," said Jaime, 55, one of hundreds who besieged an office of Forum Filatelico in Barcelona. "The income was to pay for a care home for my parents in their old age." Jaime had 220,000 euros (about $300,000 Cdn) invested.

In Madrid, desperate and bewildered savers blocked the traffic in protest when staff at the headquarters of Forum Filatelico refused to let them withdraw their savings.

Encarnacion Cortes, 53, came to withdraw his money "but they raised a thousand obstacles. They said the investment would appreciate, so very reluctantly I left it."

State prosecutors believe the operation amounts to a textbook pyramid-selling scam, when high returns for early investors are financed with money brought by new savers enticed into the scheme. Eventually the promised outlay spirals out of all proportion to the assets, in this case stamps, the whole house of cards collapses. No one gets their money back.

"Potential investors were offered high returns from the purchase and management of a stamp fund which was apparently made up of overvalued -- or even fake -- stamps and whose returns did not apparently come from the fund but from money received from new clients," police said.

Laura (not her real name) denounced Forum Filatelico. She had just lost her job and was worried about the 8,000 euros she'd spent on stamps in the last two years. She was more worried about the health of her mother:

"My mother was the first person in our family to invest," Laura said. "She was so sure that everything was above board and a good business that she recommended it to all her friends."

Laura's mother developed close relations with the company. "She took courses to become an agent and set out to recruit people to the scheme. Now since the news of the suspected fraud, her clients never stop ringing, demanding information. She can't do anything; she's just another victim. But she feels like a fraudster."

Spaniards have been scared off by the swooping stock markets, dodgy pension plans and speculative property deals of recent years, and flocked to a business based on stamps, which by their nature seemed to enjoy official endorsement. Stamp and coin collecting has been popular in Spain for decades.

Many reacted to the news that their companies faced collapse with disbelief, followed frequently by shame at having been gulled by false promises.

"They sold it very well," Jose Bodalo, 30, reflected bitterly.

"They assured me the investment was guaranteed and my money was safe. I was persuaded more by sentiment than sense. But I've lost 21,000 euros, everything I had."

Some hard-earned savings may have gone into the gigantic cache buried in the grounds of the property belonging to Francisco Guijarro, one of the nine people detained. Police who raided Guijarro's sprawling villa set amid lawns and cypresses in Madrid's luxury suburb of La Moraleja had examined the subterranean discotheque and were about to leave, when one officer commented on the smell of fresh plaster.

On closer investigation they found a recently closed-up Ali Baba's cave stuffed with bags containing 10 million euros (about $14.5 million Cdn) in 500-euro notes.

Police estimate the seizure to be the largest they had ever carried out in Spain.They also found sheets of forged stamps, paintings by renowned contemporary artists, and luxury cars, including a Lamborghini. Investigators reckon some of the stamps were overvalued by up to 900 per cent, and would make on the open market only a fraction of what savers had paid.

One disillusioned punter who had paid 1,000 euros for stamps he kept at home tried to sell them at auction when he needed money. "The auction house said they'd take the stamps but reckoned they'd make less than 100 euros," he said.

"I was never particularly interested in stamps," says Javier Molinera, a bar-owner in Madrid who has been investing in the Forum Filatelico for 23 years. "But I listened to a friend and joined in because it sounded a good investment."

Molinera was offered the option of taking his stamp collections home but, fearful of losing them, he did what most savers did and left them in the company's vaults. "They guaranteed that they would buy back all the stamps you'd bought at their cost price, in addition all the income they'd paid."

Angel Quesada, 72, heard from a friend that the Forum might provide a good pension. He invested 54,000 euros, his life savings, in stamp collections offered by the company. Every month they paid him 200 euros.

Those affected are overwhelmingly small savers, mostly elderly, tempted by promised high returns, who brought family and friends into the scheme when they began to reap the benefits. Some, like Gabriel Calderon, who is retired, didn't scrutinize the small print when he invested 51,000 euros (about $70,000 Cdn) over 10 years, nor investigate the value of the stamps he bought.

"I started with a bond of five years and it went well so I extended it for another four years. They gave me around 6 per cent interest and it always arrived on time. This is a terrible surprise." He adds: "I didn't even look at the list of stamps they sent me because it was very long."

He, like others, now blames himself for being gullible, but criticizes authorities for apparently washing their hands of responsibility and leaving hundreds of thousands in the lurch.

So, how did the tranquil backwater of tweezers, tissue-paper and special issues balloon into potentially the biggest scandal ever experienced in Spain, a country that has been no stranger to financial skulduggery?

Stamps, for all their small-time image, are big business. Forum Filatelico, founded in 1980, is a pioneer in promoting stamp-collecting as investment and has clocked up spectacular results in recent years. In 2004 the company made nearly 90 million euros, a third more than the previous year.

Results for 2005 were expected to be even higher. Forum has 150 branches, 250,000 clients, 300 employees and 1,600 agents.

Its main rival is Afinsa, world leader in stamp- and coin-dealing, founded in 1980 by a Portuguese resident in Spain, Albertino de Figuereido, 75. Figuereido conceived the idea after a Spanish philatelist friend advised him to buy stamps with money inherited from his father in Portugal.

That way he could bring his substantial inheritance across the frontier to Spain without paying tax. He loaded his old Ford with stamps and drove to Madrid, where his friend bought them for twice what he'd paid.

Afinsa, in which Figuereido still enjoys a majority shareholding, has 143,000 investors, and recorded profits of 51 million euros (about $70 million Cdn) in 2004. The company recently announced ambitious plans to expand throughout Europe, North America and Asia.

Professional stamp collectors, and weekend aficionados with the magnifying glass, disapprove of both companies because of their single-minded focus on stamps purely as investment. Spain's National Association of Coin and Stamp Businesses (to which neither company belongs) insisted stamps were principally a cultural artifact, and hoped that a traditional trade would not be damaged "by something that has nothing to do with stamp-collecting".

The two companies are accused of buying stamps cheaply -- not difficult as they virtually control the market -- then selling them at wildly inflated prices to investors who never checked their true value, making up to 1,000 per cent mark-up.

Investigators believe both companies tried to conceal their purchases from the tax inspector, by declaring their suppliers to be outside Spain (which in some cases they were) thereby whisking huge profits away from Spanish scrutiny.

The public prosecutor has accused Afinsa of being "absolutely insolvent", which it denies. Forum Filatelico is accused of being "clearly bankrupt" with a 2.4-billion euro ($3.4 billion Cdn) black hole in its accounts.

The company admits it would go under if it had to pay all its creditors at once "like any bank", but promises to meet its commitments.

Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero pleaded this week for "calm and confidence" in response to the suspected fraud and promised to protect investors.

But alarm spread when the finance ministry and the Bank of Spain made clear that these kinds of investments in stamps were not covered by a government-backed insurance plan.

This means that if those 350,000 families have been defrauded of their hopes, their savings, in some cases their livelihoods, they stand to receive no compensation.

Small wonder that thousands who believe they are victims of a bare-faced swindle are banding together nationwide, in the street, in line-ups at the police station and on the internet, to demand their money back.

These small investors and careful savers are a cross section of ordinary Spaniards, dispersed -- now united in misfortune -- across the country.

Mostly elderly folk who have dedicated their lives to the virtues of thrift and planning for their future, these victims were traumatized with shock and disbelief when the scandal first broke. They are now starting to mobilize -- and they are unlikely to go home quietly.

 

[FaGal]

Spanish fraud rocks UK stamp investors
business.timesonline.co.uk - By Jessica Bown - May 21, 2006


Investors in British stamp funds were left reeling earlier this month when 350,000 Spanish philatelists lost up to €5 billion (£3.4 billion) after buying stamp schemes through dealers Afinsa and Forum Filatelico.

The firms’ offices were raided and sealed by police investigating allegations of fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and embezzlement. Investors, who had been told their returns were guaranteed, were left angry and confused.

It was then British investors’ turn to worry as shares in Stanley Gibbons, a London-based stamp cataloguing company, slumped 12%.

The firm runs investment schemes that buy rare stamps to provide a return for investors. These could suffer if there is any knock-on effect on the British market, although there is as yet no sign that the Spanish crisis has hit worldwide stamp prices.

Andrew Claridge, a partner at stamp specialist Grosvenor Philatelic Auctions, said: “The problems in Spain have had no real impact on the market here as far as I can see.”

Last October, Stanley Gibbons launched a guaranteed investment product that promises investors a return of 5% to 7% a year over a three, five or ten-year term.

The investment schemes involved in the Spanish fraud also carried guarantees which were not backed by the value of the underlying stamps because dealers had purchased relatively modern stamps and ramped up their values before selling them to investors.

There is no suggestion that Stanley Gibbons has been involved in such practices, but sceptics fear that, if the stamp market does fall at some point, the company would struggle to meet its obligation to investors.

Chris Harman, president of the Royal Philatelic Society, said: “The market has been very buoyant, but prices will drop at some point. We’ve seen it so many times before.”

In the 1970s, for example, investors flooded the stamp market, sending prices soaring to up to eight times their previous levels. Soon after, however, experienced collectors banked their profits and prices crashed back.

This year, as then, lofty prices are being paid for very rare stamps at auction. In one recent example, a rare Canada Black stamp was sold at Sotheby’s in New York for $220,000 (£116,000).

Thousands of people have therefore bought into the market as an alternative to shares or property.

Claridge said: “The market is much more active now than it was a few years ago. It has been bolstered by collectors, ranging from those investing in a very junior way to those prepared to pay tens of thousands of pounds for rare specimens.”

The boom is all the more worrying because investments of this kind are not regulated by the Financial Services Authority, meaning investors cannot complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service or make a claim to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme if they lose their money.

Stanley Gibbons points out, however, that it is making monthly provisions to cover any potential shortfall.

The firm also runs a five-year worldwide rare-stamp investment fund that carries no guarantees, although that closed to new investors on Friday.

Launched in November last year, it required a minimum investment of £20,000 and has attracted interest from overseas, as well as domestic, investors — despite charges of 5% upfront and 1.5% a year.

However, Stanley Gibbons admits it has only limited knowledge about the stamp market outside the UK and Commonwealth.

Richard Purkis of Stanley Gibbons said: “We’re only really qualified to speak about the markets in Britain and the Commonwealth because that’s where our expertise lies.”

The launch of the rare-stamps fund could further increase the risks for investors in the guaranteed contracts because prices could slump when it is liquidated in five years’ time.

Harman said: “It is good that the Stanley Gibbons schemes are concentrated on rarer stamps. However, the main warning I would give is that stamps are pretty illiquid because collectors generally hold on to their stamps for 10 or 20 years.

“The market is also relatively small — in Britain we estimate that it is worth about £200m to £250m. This means that people are often trying to buy the same stamps, which can create an artificial bubble.”

Pension advisers believe that Stanley Gibbons has launched the guaranteed and rare-stamp schemes in a bid to cash in on the self-invested personal pension market.

Interest in investing in stamps surged when the government indicated that physical stamp collections would be able to be included in Sipps last year.

Such assets were later vetoed as part of Gordon Brown’s turnround on esoteric investments. But stamp funds do qualify for inclusion — although pundits warn against ploughing too much money into such a specialist asset class.

Tom McPhail of Hargreaves Lansdown, an adviser, said: “I wouldn’t encourage someone to invest in this type of fund unless they were reasonably familiar with that market, and even then it should generally only be a minority holding — perhaps 10% of your overall portfolio, if you were feeling reckless.”

Claridge argues that investors should only buy stamps when they are sure they understand the market.

He said: “You should always go for the very best stamps you can afford.”

 

[slowdown]

Coinvolti 350.000 risparmiatori. Sotto accusa due aziende

Truffa da 5 miliardi con i francobolli Migliaia in rivolta, interviene Zapatero

DAL NOSTRO CORRISPONDENTE
MADRID - Tremano in Spagna 350 mila piccoli risparmiatori che avevano piazzato i loro soldi in due grandi società di investimenti filatelici, Forum Filatelico e Afinsa, dietro promessa di un rendimento annuale fra il 6 e il 10 per cento. I clienti piazzavano in generale somme fra 10mila e 100mila euro per l’acquisto di francobolli, con la garanzia del loro valore sul mercato. I francobolli erano conservati nelle capaci casseforti delle due imprese perché, sostenevano i consulenti finanziari, nelle case erano a rischio di furto o di deterioramento. Nella realtà questo sicuro metodo di investimento sarebbe stato una maxitruffa di tipo «piramidale»: gli interessi promessi erano pagati non attraverso trasparenti operazioni finanziarie ma con i soldi degli ultimi entrati nella catena. Ufficialmente non si avanzano cifre ma fonti informate sostengono che il «buco» potrebbe aggirarsi attorno ai 5 miliardi di euro, la truffa più grande mai commessa in Spagna.
Ha dovuto intervenire il capo del governo José Luis Zapatero per invitare alla calma i risparmiatori, molti dei quali avevano investito nei francobolli i loro risparmi di una vita o i proventi della vendita di un appartamento.
La tensione fra le vittime, già altissima, era diventata spasmodica quando il portavoce del governo aveva detto che una eventuale frode non sarebbe stata coperta da fondi statali di garanzia e che il controllo delle due società implicate era di competenza delle regioni, non del governo centrale. Dopo la levata di scudi delle associazioni dei consumatori e del principale partito di opposizione, che ha ricordato come il controllo di questo tipo di attività, svolgendosi in più di una regione, è di competenza dello Stato, ha fatto capolino Zapatero. Il premier ha chiesto fiducia nella magistratura e nelle autorità assicurando che sia il governo centrale sia le regioni stanno lavorando «per garantire al massimo gli interessi e i diritti dei risparmiatori», sottolineando che l’inchiesta era partita un anno fa. Ha aggiunto che la magistratura deve ancora verificare la truffa e la solvibilità delle imprese ma si teme che il numero delle vittime sia «molto alto».
Nove persone sono state fermate, fra cui i presidenti di Forum Filatelico e di Afinsa. Secondo un portavoce del governo sono sospettati di frode, insolvenza, riciclaggio di denaro sporco, appropriazione indebita. Nella villa madrilena di uno dei fermati sono stati rinvenuti 10 milioni di euro in banconote da 500 euro, nascosti dietro una parete.

Fonte: Corriere della Sera di oggi

..hi hi hi hi ....


..come a noi - come a me , almeno - dicevano che le mozzarelle e gli yogurt dovevano restare restare nel frigo , alle Cayman...altrimenti sarebbero andati tutti a male....

noto però , che pure colà , il governo dice che a lui frega un tubo e gli aspiranti alla sedia invocano il pubblico intervento.......azzzzz.... a colori invertiti....

il risultato non sarà invertito - almeno in questo non litigano...

 

[giancarlo55]

Avete mai letto il libro "Ponzi l'uomo che frodo l'America"?, si parla di un signore di origine italiana che negli anni 30 truffo' gli americani con speculazioni sui francobolli. La storia si ripete.