admin
This user hasn't shared any biographical information
The Premier Group (Isle of Man) Limited Operating Clandestinely
The Spanish regulator CNMV has confirmed that the Premier Group is a clandestine operation in respect to its activities in Spain. A letter received at the law firm Lawbird Legal Services lists a number of firms that have operated in Spain illegally, including The Premier Group (Isle of Man) Limited, SL Mortgage Funding nº 1 Limited and The Premier Balanced Fund PLC.
Other banks that have operated furtively are ABN Amro N.V. (Gibraltar Branch), International Property Finance (Spain) Limited, BNP Paribas Trust Company (IOM) Limited and Banca del Gottardo.
2 Danske Bank executives to appear in a Fuengirola Court over fraud allegations
According to Sur Newspaper, two executives of the largest Danish bank, Danske Bank, have been ordered to appear before the Criminal Court 1 in Fuengirola to be deposed in relation to two charges of swindle and misleading publicity, brought by Euan Armstrong, a Briton who was sold an equity release mortgage.
The bank’s employees (Henrik Hjerrild Hansen -above left- and Morten Runo Waaben), currently working from the Luxembourg branch office, are due to appear in Court on the 23rd of January and are to be questioned by the Judge and the claimant’s legal representatives, Lawbird Legal Services.
The Court ruling has also ordered the legal representatives for Danske Bank International S.A. to appear in Court, on the same day, in a capacity of ‘civilly responsible party’, inasmuch as corporations did not have criminal responsibility when the alleged fraud took place.
According to the writ filed by the claimant in 2011, Danske Bank convinced him in 2005 to mortgage his retirement home in Alhaurin El Grande (Málaga) to guarantee a loan that was directly invested in financial speculative investment transactions, in Luxembourg, without the capital ever coming to Spain. The financial product, called “Capital Assurance”, promised interesting tax benefits compliant with Spanish laws in respect to Inheritance and Wealth Taxes by reducing or eliminating the taxable value of the property, once the mortgage was registered against it.
According to Lawbird’s representative, Danske Bank even falsified the content of a tax report on the product prepared by KPMG, one of the largest professional services company, by interpreting its conclusions in an unlawful manner with the purpose of facilitating sales.
The news release points out that KPMG has deemed ‘false’ a statement made by Danske Bank in their promotional marketing whereby the former had approved the tax benefits, as well as a formal request by KPM to Danske Bank to cease the use of their name and the removal of any reference to them having given their blessing to the financial product.
The text makes reference to a recent ruling by the Spanish Tax Office that concluded that the so called Equity Release on Spanish property is not a valid scheme for lawful tax mitigation but tax fraud, and a criminal offence where the defrauded sum exceeds €120,000 per tax year.
An indictment has also been brought against Peter Staarup, former Danske Bank CEO, as head of the Danish company that is believed to have sold in Spain over 100 “Capital Assurance” Equity Release mortgage loans worth tens of millions.
Rothschild Directors Sought by Denia Court
Mark Coutanche and Stephen Dewsnip have been requested to turn up at the Denia Court to be notified of criminal charges being bought against them.
The General Directorate of Police and the Guardia Civil in Madrid have been issued “with Code 1” requests (current address and/or whereabout search warrant) so that they can be notified of ongoing criminal proceedings in Spain.
According to the warrant, the last known address was Paseo de la Castella N 35, 3rd floor, in Madrid, an address that coincides with that of their Madrid offices; it appears that an attempt to deliver a copy of the summons bore no fruits.
The warrant was issued on the 26th November 2013 and ends on the 26th November 2018.
Making service of process difficult has become a useful tool for any lawyer acting for Equity Release banks and NM Rothschild & Sons, a bank known for redifining the meaning of the term “double-standards”, is not going to miss an opportunity to make the lives of their clients-turned-victims a tad more miserable.
N.M. Rothschild & Sons is accused of selling mortgages to Spanish-based pensioners as a tool to defraud the Spanish Tax Office, albeit as a legal product, alongside deliberately concealing crucial data that would prove that their Equity Release product was impractical, from an investment point of view.
Claim Filed In Court Against Sydbank and Nykredit
Lawyers acting for victims of the “Spanish Enquity Release Package”, as advertised by Sydbank (Schweiz) AG, have formally filed a civil suit against this bank, alongside Nykredit (Realkredit) A/S, for statutory voidness and illegality of the named product, on the following grounds:
– Sydbank (Schweiz) teamed up with Nykredit Realkredit A/S, a Danish lender operating through a branch office in Marbella. Both banks contend that they provided separate services and that Nykredit stepped in to lend to British citizens as a result of a “introduction” made by Sydbank, and that was about it as far as their relationship went (it almost seemed as if victims of the Equity Release victims had thrown a party where both banks met each other…getting on famously thereafter).
– Sydbank (Schweiz) was and has never been registered to operate legally in Spain, whether via the Bank of Spain or the CNMV. Notwithstanding such serious infringement, they offered their services to the Spanish general public directly, and through a number of IFAs; they actually opened a branch office in Fuengirola yet failing, as expected, to even secure a municipal opening license from the Fuengirola Town Hall.
– Sydbank (Schweiz) offered a product that, in its inception, violated public policy: it was designed to reduce, ilegally, Spanish Wealth and Inheritance Taxes.
– Sydbank and Nykredit tempted British peaceful property owners to trangress the law, to do what was injurious to the law, the community, banking code of ethics and the very rights of their clients.
– Mads Petersen and Jorn Gregersen were both conscious –yet deliberately witheld information they were only privy to- that the investment product PEERLESS SICAV, of which Sydbank was “promoter, investment manager and most important distributor of the Company”, in any of its 3 Subfunds, did not return more than 0.58% in 2006, and actually less in 2007, when 2 and 1 of the couples, respectively, took the product out.
Corporate rogues Petersen and Gregersen not only failed to advise their clients that the product was not suitable for them (never mind the inheritance tax avoidance illicit aim or the lack of regulatory clearance) but, in a display of extraordinary trickery, made them believe that the SICAV yield could actually pay for the cost of Nykredit mortgage loan, plus Sydbank’s commission and lastly, leave the clients a remaining disposable income sum (in simple layman terms, knowing that 0.58% would hardly pay off 6% they still concealed it, with catastrophic effects).
– Finally, Sydbank (Schweiz) AG and Nykredit Realkredit A/S dishonestly tried to disguise the fact that they are actually partners in Denmark, that Sydbank channels all of its loan business through Nykredit (page 4), against payment of a commission, and that Sydbank’s CEO, Karen Frosig, is in fact a director of Nykredit (pg 12).
Lawyers acting for clients have requested that the Spanish Equity Release, comprising the “Business Connection Agreement” (euphemism coined by Sydbank to refer to a regular bank account contract and an associated Peerless SICAV product) and any associated contracts (including Belize companies, as part of Sydbank’s concealmente technology), as well as the Spanish Nykredit mortgage loan, are rendered void ab initio , following the principles quod nullum est, nullum producit effectum (that which is a nullity, produces no effect) and simul stabunt, simul cadent (they will stand together or they will fall together).
Icelandic Bank Bosses Jailed
It was a matter of time before someone high up in the banking sector was sent down.
Kaupthing bosses have the dishonour of being the first -surely not the last- top bankers to go to prison for defrauding their company, their clients, their country and presumably too, the Tax Office.
But whilst this case may not be directly connected to Equity Release, it is clear that if someone at the bank came up with the brilliant idea of giving out a massive loan to a Middle East-based wealthy Arab to buy stock from the company, why not give smallish loans to owners of Spanish unencumbered property to invest, for instance, with Lex Life, the company Landsbanki owned?
Germans Bust Tax Evading Banks
It was a matter of time before the efficient German state machinery got hold of banks selling tax-efficient insurance wrappers: in this case, Commerce Bank is the target.
So then, when is Jesper Hertz going to resign from his job, clear his conscience and implicate those who have forced him to sell the Capital Management Plan? Listen Jesper, all your past mistakes and regrets can be just that if you come out clean and openly confess to what your employer has been up to in the last few years, on the Costa del Sol, where a few hundred have been sold exactly the same product the German Prosecutor is angry about.
Jesper, ERVA has a list of all customers Nordea Bank Luxembourg sold Equity Release to (a product combining a mortgage on a Spanish property and a Capital Managed Plan Life Insurance Wrapper), that’s Spanish Land Registry efficiency for you -some things do actually work down here- and so, if and when the Spanish Prosecutor decides to quit defending the King’s daughter-in-law, your bank should be next.
Credit Select Series 4: Rothschild could see tens of millions wiped off
Back in 2008, the Supreme Court in Spain ruled on an interesting case: a Spanish Casino had been lending money to some gamblers (by the way, what a silly thing to do) to bet in their premises. As was expected, the gamblers p****d the money up the wall and refused to return it. The Casino, on the strength of the contract they had made their clients sign, demanded payment of the lent sums, plus interest.
The Supreme Court, in application of the established doctrine that states that contracts that breach mandatory provisions are void, declared the contract unenforceable and dismissed the Casino’s attempts to obtain an order forcing the gambler to return the funds.
The provision that had been violated specifically banned Casino’s from lending money to customers, for the purpose of gambling.
In reaching the decision, the Supreme Court stated that even if administrative laws envisage a penalty for breaches of their own laws, such trangression necessarily has an effect on the validity of the contract, which has to be declare void.
By applying this to Equity Release, it is very possible that where the ER package is declared void, claimants will not only have the right to remove the charge attached to their properties but also, claim the loan that was given to them to invest.
What remains to be seen is whether Courts of law will take into consideration breaches in regulatory mandatory provisions, where these exist (SLMH, Nykredit/Sydbank, International Property Finance Spain etc.), and apply article 1.306.2, or the tax benefit that was the main objective pursued by the contract.
In the first scenario, an Equity Release victim would be able to remove the mortgage charge from their property and claim the full loan back, before costs, losses etc., and in the second, remove the mortgage and demand the remaining balance on the loan. In both scenarios, the bank could lose tens of millions if the Courts apply, as would be expected, the following article:
Article 1.306:
If the deed which constitutes the unlawful cause should not constitute a crime or misdemeanour, the following rules shall be observed:
1. Where both contracting parties are at fault, none of them may recover what he has given pursuant to the contract, or claim the performance of what the other should have offered.
2. Where only one contracting party is at fault, he may not recover what he has given pursuant to the contract, or demand the performance of what he should have been offered. The other, who was a stranger to the unlawful cause, may claim what he has given, without the obligation to perform what he should have offered.
Ladies and Gentlemen, place your bets!!
The Premier Balanced Fund and Surrenda Link Mortgage
The Premier Balanced Fund was described as an “experienced investor fund”, restricting it to people capable of understanding the risks, but they needed a lender who could come up with 40 million Euros to invest in their fund.
SLM Funding Nº1 Limited won the tender process: it was selected by the Premier Group (Isle of Man) Ltd. to find those 40 million Euros, an order they carried out efficiently: Aareal Bank was convinced to pool resources, some say Rothschild too…
But there was an added element in the form of bricks and mortar: approximately 100 Spanish properties would be used as collateral to ensure that, if the investments went down, 200-odd British pensioners could be made responsible of footing the bill.
The “experienced investor fund” is now probably worth less than half and the ex- mariners, ex-policemen, house wives and other Spain-based retirees who were instilled with the Fear of God with the Spanish Inheritance Tax -and fell for the scam- have their properties, and lives, bogged down.
Perverse Nicky Flux, loyal till death to SLM, keeps sending her monthly letter out to pensioners…letters coming from a company that would disgrace any Nigerian 419 business.
Terms & Conditions
Surrenda Link Mortgage Holdings and Tax Evasion
Call us on freephone
0800 919 021
0800 919 021
Surrenda Link Mortgage Holdings, sister company of the above noted, had the best advisors money could buy: PINSENT MASONS.
According to a press release, 40 million Euros were granted to primarily non-resident Spanish property owners.
According to the ‘Governor’ of this transaction, it was a very challenging task that they nonetheless successfully fullfiled.
This is that Rupinder Sehmi, from Via Capital Limited, said:
‘Via Capital has the objective of providing our clients with focused capital and funding solutions that concurrently meet capital market investor requirements. Our role as advisor to the innovative mortgage originator, Surrenda-link Mortgage Holdings Limited, proved Via Capital’s strength in matching originator and investor objectives, whilst demonstrating our ability to structure and execute complex cross boarder real-estate transactions.’
Rupinder however was not aware of what really lied behind it all: misselling, lying, cheating, tax evasion on a grand scale, anguish, anxiety, stress…
Below are some questions Rupinder should be asked:
Did you notice that neither Surrenda Link or Premier Balanced Fund Ltd. were allowed to operate in Spain?
How complex was it to find a witless lawyer in Bilbao that would sign off millions of euros worth of mortgages on the pretext that it would promote legitimate, lawful ‘tax avoidance’?
What do you really meant by “complex boarder real-estate transactions”?
Are you aware that, by application of the Spanish Civil Code, your clients could end up losing the full 40 million Euros?
Article 1,306. If the deed which constitutes the unlawful cause should not constitute a crime or misdemeanour, the following rules shall be observed:
- Where both contracting parties are at fault, none of them may recover what he has given pursuant to the contract, or claim the performance of what the other should have offered.
- Where only one contracting party is at fault, he may not recover what he has given pursuant to the contract, or demand the performance of what he should have been offered. The other, who was a stranger to the unlawful cause, may claim what he has given, without the obligation to perform what he should have offered.
“Spanish Equity Release Product”: SYDBANK and NYKREDIT caught with their pants down
Nykredit’s lawyers maintain that, in respect of the Spanish Equity Release Product offered by their Marbella office in conjunction with Sydbank, the biggest offending bank ever to come to Spain (opened an office yet had not informed the Bank of Spain, or the Central Bank of Denmark, for that matter), both banks offered two separate services. We disagree with the first statement, for obvious reasons, but coincide in that they were 2 services: one consisted on predatory lending and the second, on mis-investing hundreds of thousand of Euros (or stealing them as nobody knows where the money went).
According to them, it was David Driver who duly put them in touch and ever since, they got on famously.
Well, it now appears that Karen Frosig, CEO for Sydbank, is also on the board of directors of Nykredit.
|
