ERVA has had access to a ruling from an Alicante-province Court declaring an Equity Release Contract null and void, ordering DANSKE BANK INTERNATIONAL S.A. to remove the mortgage charge over the clients’ property and ordering the bank to assume all investment losses. Conversely, the Court also orders the claimant to return the deposit received, all of it pursuant to article 1303 of the Spanish Civil Code.
The claimants, a Norwegian couple, had attended a seminar where a number of bank representatives, as well as carefully-chosen biased lawyers, had been lined up to promote and sell the tax-avoidance virtues of a bespoke multi-currently mortgage loan.
Anne Leighton, Gustavo Garcia and Oyving Bjornsen, for Danske Bank International S.A, had extolled the advantages of a pioneer financial product that was to be used, primarily, to legally avoid the unassumable inheritance tax they would be hit with on death of either of the clients.
Legal eagle Agnete Dale, at the time working for VOIGT LAWYERS, nodded in agremeent (it is not clear from the Court dispatches that she actually knew what she was nodding about).
The Judge concluded that the multi-currency loan, as well as the financial investments made by DANSKE BANK INTERNATIONAL S.A., was offered to their customers as a means to protect their properties, on death of either owner, by reducing the amount of INHERITANCE TAX payable to the Spanish Tax Office.
The Court thereby concludes that the objetive of the mortgage loan was not to satisfy the clients’ desire to invest in speculative financial products but to protect their property against Spanish IHT, adding that had the clients known about real bank’s intentions -to invest life savings in sheer speculative investment markets- they would have turned down the proposal.
The ruling can be appealed.
Lawyers acting for the claimants are Benidorm-based (contact details to be provided upon request).
This judgement by the Alicante Court has made all the victims of the Danske Bank Scheme who lost all their money by Danske Bank Account and Fund Managers improper investment of their wealth, very happy as it has proven that Danske Bank not only cheated these old age pensioners out of their money by creating a mortgage against their homes but also put their homes at risk and in some cases forced the pensioners to sell their homes to repay the mortgage which the Danske Bank had used as an investment bond and LOST THEIR MONEY
Furthermore this judgement against Danske Bank will give all other Court cases a reason to force Danske Bank to cancel these existing mortgages and also the charges
It would also strengthen the case of criminal action against the perpetrators of these financial acts of misselling by misrepresentation and misappropriation of clients money. It would be excellent to put them in jail.
Very good to read of the Court’s Judgement here. But no mention so far of any compensation to the victims for the many long years of stress, uncertainty and mental anguish caused by the bank, along with the disruption of the victims economical situation during such a large part of their hard earned retirement years.
Let’s hope that we hear news that the banks do not escape proper Justice that easily.
Finally the victims of these equity release scams are getting some justice. It has taken some time but at least one court has come to the correct decision in my and many other people’s opinion. The court has demonstrated that Danske Bank have cheated people by selling a product that was designed to evade IHT. Not withstanding the fact that the scheme itself was not able to work. I hope that this judgement will be the trigger for all banks to settle with all their victims. For sure there will be other cases coming before the courts very soon. Congratulations to the couple who brought this action and won.
Fantastic news. Just what the doctor ordered. As we always thought we knew that once these cass started to appear in the courts there was only one logical outcome. It would seem that the court have ruled on the fact this was illegal as it was against the Spanish Tax Laws, which we always knew was the case. Does this mean that the Spanish Prosecutor might take the view that this is a criminal offence and indict Danske Bank on a criminal charge. Whatever it can only be good news for all Erva members.
Well this has certainly brightened my day. Now if this had been in the UK the financial authorities would have instructed all banks responsible for seeking this toxic product to settle with their victims. Much the same way as we have seen happen with PPI (payment protection insurance) where the banks have been paying out hundreds of millions in compensation for this scam. I guess Spain is not geared up to make such decisions or is it? Perhaps Antonio Flores at Lawbird can answer the question if he picks this post up.
This has certainly got all the tongues wagging this morning. It just goes to show how well this web site is monitored. So keep logging on and commenting please. Interesting to note that whilst the court has null & voided the mortgage contract and instructed the bank to pay back all the losses, they have not compensated the victims for their mental suffering etc. Furthermore the claimant has been ordered to pay back the draw down. This is certainly good news for Euan our Chairman who has been fighting Danske Bank for some 7 years and currently has a criminal complaint being investigated by the court. Hopefully this ruling will soon bring his torment to an end. Certainly this ruling will focus the minds of other banks currently being sued in Spain, hopefully they will begin to realise that there can only be one outcome if these cases come to trial.
Very, very good news!
But what about the disastrous performance of the so/called investment funds where the capital equity “released” was “invested” to obtain sufficient “return” to both service the mortgage repayments AND provide extra income?
If any of yours went into the Isle of Man based Premier Group ‘s “investment products ” such as the Premier “Balanced Fund” you may be interested to know that the parent company has recently changed its trading name and Premier’s directors now claim that the original company has “no connection to us”.
All assisted by the Isle of Man government licencing financial and regulatory authorities who have given the “new” Premier company all the requisite permissions to continue trading as before.
As has been said many times before on this blog:-
Never, ever invest a single cent on the Isle of Man you may never see your money again!
Quite apart from the mental anguish they’ve suffered, if the Norwegian couple don’t have the resources to repay the drawdown they received, they’ll still have a mortgage with the bank. They’ll need to sell their home in a depressed market and pay the bank interest costs until it’s sold. They will incur huge financial losses. So while the news is a welcome start, this outcome is not justice, or fair for us victims. These banks mis-sold and commited tax-fraud, and were assisted by Spanish lawyers and Notaries.
My thoughts exactly! Ive been figting Banco del Gottardo /Swiss Life for 7 years & with no correspondence from them, or updating since a year ago from Lawbird, am wondering what on earth is happening to mine & other cases, some of which have been in the pipeline for longer. Just sitting here waiting………………….
A number of members have asked what other cases are pending. I will ask our lawyers to update us on all the proceedings currently filed in the courts and awaiting court dates. For example we believe our lawyers Antonio Flores law firm have issued proceedings against Danske Bank, Rothschild, Nordea and I believe
Landsbanki (criminal complaints) Civil proceedings we also believe have also been issued against Landsbanki, Rothschild and Nordea. Most of these are in the courts waiting for court dates. Nordea for example have been summoned to the Mercantile Court, Malaga and the trial will take place on the 23 April 2015. We are not sure what other lawyers have in their care as we are not always informed by the lawyers or members . As soon as we are informed by the courts of the trial dates we will let you know. Should any of our members engaged with lawyers other than Lawbird have any other information, please share it with us.
Why are the cases not all tried as CRIMINAL, I do not understand the civil aspect..
Fantastic news, brilliant, lets hope it is the beginning of the end for all of us.
At last, an enlightened Judge.
Hope more will follow this brave example…..
Not at all do I want to dumpen other people’s enthusiasm here, but SONMATIES is absolutely right. The norwegian couple won nothing, and the court’s finding in the province of Alicante is just another example of a rather strange understanding of the term justice in some parts of Spain.
I can only speak about Danske Bank’s business behaviour in the provice of Málaga, but facts are as follows:
– the D-Bank person running the representation office in Centro Idea did not even have signing power
– they were not licensed by Banco de Espagña for that type of banking business
– they collaborated with people who were black listed by the Danish FSA
– D-Bank staff allegedly authorised to grant power of attorney did not have signing power either
– the proposed business model for reduction of inheritance tax is against spanish law
– no proper translation of complicated spanish wording in the “Escritura de Préstamo Hipotecario”
– etc., etc.
It appears that all of the above mentioned machinations served a fraudulent purpose which is why it is of fundamental importance to go for the right type of legal actions which IMO require a more coordinarted approach with adequate sponsoring from regional governments as a response for the attempt to cheat spanish tax authorities on the back of retired foreigeners having no clue what was going on.
None of these banks should be allowed to squeeze its victims any longer. Fair would be to set the payback for the victims to be max. at 50%, and consider the rest to be the bank’s repentance, plus releasing all properties from any mortgage, of course!
Sorry for typing error in our post of the 9 April. The date of the hearing in Malaga Mercantile Court against Nordea Bank is the 28 April this coming Tuesday and not 23 April as quoted. We will let you now the outcome.
Hope the recording equipment is better in the Malaga Mercantile court than in was in Court no 5 Marbella.
I would just like to add to the excellent comments of the previous writiers, especially, by adding something to Elcaro’s writings and that is:- on top of all Elcaro quoted we must not forget that the Danske Bank USED KPMG as a rubber stamp for the product by quoting them in their own publicity stating “that the product had been approved by KPMG!!” to which this company catorgorically rejects in a writtten letter to Antonio Flores our lawyer!! I mean another lie,what matters to them when you are trying to con the public!
kind regards to all and the best of luck too.
robin carter.
The Norwegian victim who won his case against DANSKE BANK in the Benidorm Court requires to sue for compensation on grounds of stress, financial loss, mental depression, frustration, loss of face in his society, and degradation to his health. All these afflictions would also apply to me and to my brother, John Armstrong, who died as a direct result of all these strains being put upon him by DANSKE BANK and their ACCOUNT MANAGERS. We victims require guidance by our lawyer, Antonio Flores, as to how much we can claim from the bank and when we should commence these actions. There is no point in winning the case against any if the robbing banks if we still have a mortgage to settle afterwards.
The victims should have their debts annulled by the Courts and be compensated by the banks for all the anguish they have suffered.