Thursday 3 November 2011

Lawyer arrested for fraud on expat property owner aged 90

Vejer de la Frontera
(Photo: vanessainthevines)
VEJER (Agencies) The story begins when a 90 year old woman from Germany inherited some land after the tragic death of her daughter, which she decided to sell. Given her advanced age, she didn't want to travel all the way here, so she contacted a lawyer through a Spanish Consulate in Germany. He was given power of attorney to conduct the transaction. He found buyers and sold the property in her name, telling her that he had sold it for €60,000. Which is the amount that was inscribed in the escrituras (title deeds). Not long after, the woman began getting comments from friends of her daughter in Vejer, saying that they believed the land had been sold for considerably more; that the remainder had been paid 'under the counter' in 'black money', an illegal practice that is commonplace in most of the country. The woman decided to tell the authorities - in Germany.>>>
Through a request for cooperation, the German authorities, in cooperation with the Public Prosecutor in Cádiz, the National Police were asked to investigate the circumstances of the sale.

These ended with the arrest of the lawyer, whose initials are E.F.G. and is aged 32.

The Fraud Unit found that the attorney had appropriated no less thantwo thirds of the real sale price of the property. But because the tax evasion manouvre was illegal, the buyers did not initally want to give any informatiom, saying that the title reflected the price they had paid.
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However, when the matter was looked into more closely, it was discovered that they had taken out a mortgage on the land and had cashed a large amount of money from their account at about the same time, coinciding with the date of the sale. The total amount was almost triple the €60,000.

The final sale price amounted to €203,000.

However, the Police determined that the lawyer was the only one involved in the fraud, and have not implictaed the buyres, whom, say the investigators, had no idea of waht the lawyer was up to, and that they hadn't benefitted from the transaction.

E.F.G. is now facing charges on two counts: fraud and professional misconduct. He is accused of taking €144,000 and is on conditional discharge.

PROSPERO COMMENT:
How many British expats do you know who have been defrauded by their Spanish lawyers and been helped by the British authorities as this woman was?

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