Rough justice yet again!

Hi Ruth

So basically you are saying that if you have any problems and you don't live in my back yard I don't want to know! - So much for solidarity in numbers, when the people are just asking for their voices to be heard in full!........................ and not just a whimper

I question the UK goverment on such practices!

Hello Mike - You asked earlier if I'd followed-up on the tardy reply from Downing Street to our petition.  On 19 August 2009 I sent an Open Letter to Gordon Brown which included further comments from petitioners, and can be read in full here:

http://www.spanishpropertyscandalpetition.co.uk/9.html

Following a further unacceptable response from the P.M.,  this question was tabled in the House of Lords on 28 October 2009:

'HL6108: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they have taken in response to the petition delivered to No. 10 Downing Street on 12 March by Suzanne Wyatt concerning United Kingdom citizens who have bought, or attempted to buy, property in Spain; and whether they have raised the matter with the government of Spain. '

The reply:

'Although the Government has no authority in matters relating to Spanish domestic legislation, whether national, regional or local, we understand the difficulties and distress caused to some British citizens by property-related issues in Spain, of which the petition is further good evidence. We are in regular contact with the central and local governments in Spain on this issue and raise our concerns with the interlocutors at every appropriate opportunity. Most recently, my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office Affairs, Chris Bryant raised property issues with the Spanish Minister of State for Territorial Policy during his visit to Madrid in September 2009 and will do so again when he visits this month.'

Since I started work on the petition just over three years ago now, we've had seven Ministers for Europe, & I've written to each one of them.  Keeping up the pressure, regardless, seems to be the only way forward.

Best regards,

Suzie

yes, pressure from enough people that it can't continue to be ignored.

I would love to see the questions in 'ads' list answered, but not hoding my breath. I would expect the answers to be false promise and bull*hit at best without a change in stance from the Spanish government or the EU?

Just to let everyone know that I have emailed Marta Andreasen (marta.andreasen-office@europarl.europa.eu) with the list of questions for Mr Zapatero as per my previous posting, and copied in our local MEP, also Roger Helmer (roger.helmer@europarl.europa.eu ), Glenis Willmott (office@gleniswillmott.org.uk ), Margrete Auken (margrete.auken@europarl.europa.eu ) and will inform of any response.

It has been suggested that it might be of use to have these questions translated into Spanish. It may be useful to send them to Spanish MEP's in the hope that they also may request answers from Mr Zapatero. If there is anyone out there who can provide a quality translation I would be very grateful if they could pm me. Does anyone know which Spanish MEP's have shown sufficient concern and support to date for matters relating to issues impacting the Spanish application of law?

Zapatero also stated the following in his response to Marta Andreasen on July 6th, "My country is based on the rules of law and it respects and ensures that laws are respected. Really we have the courts which implement our legislation. The courts which are responsible for the application of law "

Well it's now up to us to identify that the application of law is being SIGNIFICANTLY compromised by court delays, by abusive developers' and Banks' tactics and we need to hammer home these facts. What is the point of having laws in place if they are not seen to be effectively administered, with end results that reflect the judgements?

Suzie, I would be very interested to see the results of your painstaking analysis relating to the "triangle of corruption" that you have identified. We are so grateful for all your efforts to date. Likewise to all those other posters who have been incredibly pro-active in their quest for solutions to these growing problems of "Rough Justice".

ads

well done for e-mailing those who are most likely our best chance for hammering home the message. Zapatero's reply to Marta makes my blood boil, it's just pure lies and a total denial of facts. Really shows what we are up against, when those responsible won't even admit any of their failings that have hurt so many, that alone respond in a positive way!!

Hi folks,

I don't think the Spanish public agree with Mr. "Z".

HALF the Spanish population believes that with enough money it is possible to escape justice.

One in two people (48 per cent) questioned think that judges can be bribed with the right amount of money.

A further 60 per cent of Spaniards believe that the justice system is antiquated and works ‘badly’…at best.
The new figures come as Marbella judge Francisco Javier de Urquia was sentenced to two years in prison.

The 41-year-old judge was also fined 140,000 euros after being found guilty of accepting a 60,000 euro bribe in return for dropping charges against three businessmen in the Hidalgo money laundering case.

It is the second time he has been found guilty, after being suspended two years ago for taking a bribe over an illegal development.

The recent study by the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) clearly outlined the broken justice system in Spain.

It believes some of the problems could be solved by selecting older judges with more experience.

“We also need to apply mental health criteria for potential judges to detect anomalies as soon as possible,” added a spokesman.

The findings came just a month after Granada judge Adelina Entrena was sacked after leaving an innocent suspect in jail for 437 days after forgetting to sign release forms.

Another judge ordered the arrest of a perfume shop owner when her request for a refund was not granted, while in Alicante, one judge simply refuses to sanction same-sex marriages, despite it being law.

I wonder how many people had their cases heard by this despicable judge? It confirms ..AGAIN.. what many of us already knew. Judges can be and are bribed!

I can not say for certain if it's possible to buy off a judge but I personally believe it to have been possible in Spain and it has happened in the past. Certainly family connections or close business connections can lead to favourable judgments.

I do know for a fact it is possible to buy off a certain tax inspector in Malaga. Pay off this tax inspector and problem goes away!

Maybe there's less of it these days but in the past if you did not grease a few palms then of course building licences were not granted and files did not move .... foreign people were told this was the norm and just let your lawyer or whoever take care of it for you and you will get whatever .....

How many times are we still told if you want a certain problem sorted then you better go see this lawyer because his brother/sister/uncle/aunt/cousin work sin whatever institution and he can get anything done .......

It will take many years to restore confidence and for us all to be assured these institutions are not corrupt and that we have a level playing field and no matter what professional you engage you will get the same result.

A coutry like Spain cannot reform overnight.

 I believe that in my case and many other cases against Aifos and other developers, there's a fair chance tthat court proceedings were deliberately delayed, allowing the company to go under without having to pay court judgements against them. I can't prove that, but a big coincidence that they  went under only a matter of weeks before we won our case following a two year hearing delay.  At the start of our case the courts were seeing Aifos on a regular basis on similar charges against them, so knew full well the importance of hearing our case quickly. The excuse was that the courts couldn't cope with the amount of similar cases.  If it wasn't a deliberate delay, and the courts really couldn't cope?, then why the hell am I not being compensated by the courts for their poor management of their workload, leading to the delay that's left me as merely a creditor?

Heads they win, tails I lose!!