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End the Week: Courts Roundup

It’s the end of another week and in Spain, the lockdown is beginning to ease with more people returning to work and most importantly the courts. At the moment they are not holding any trials although the judges are working where no witnesses are required to be present. Today we bring you some of the sentences which the judges have now issued for trials that took place before the closedown. We start with a very important decision from the courts in Fuengirola.

Over the years many of the timeshare companies such as Club la Costa, Diamond and MacDonald Resorts have tried to get around Spanish timeshare legislation and in the past, they have succeeded.

These companies have used on their contracts UK Limited companies with the clause arguing they are subject to UK law and the Jurisdiction of UK courts. Unfortunately, many judges for whatever reason have agreed and have refused to accept cases. But over the past few years or so, Canarian Legal Alliance has fought these moves and as we reported in the article below the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by CLC against a Malaga High Court decision that they did come under Spanish law and jurisdiction.

https://insidetimeshare.com/http-insidetimeshare-com-p5128/

Now it is the turn for Diamond Resorts (Europe) Ltd, The Court of First Instance Number 1 in Fuengirola has ruled that despite the claims of Diamond Resorts, Spanish law and courts do have jurisdiction.

In the ruling from the court, the documents (see PDF below), show very clearly the precedents set by the Club la Costa cases, with the various rulings being cited. It is now clear to all, that if the timeshare is purchased in Spain then the consumer is protected by Spanish Law. This opens the gates for many timeshare owners who previously did not have a case in Spain due to the clauses in the contract of jurisdiction. Do remember that Spain has the toughest timeshare laws in Europe, the UK, however, is lacking very far behind.

The case was brought by Miguel Ángel Melián Santana (Abogado) and Francisco Cornelia Montesdeoca Quesada (Procurador) of Canarian Legal Alliance.

Declinatoria RedactedDownload

Miguel Ángel Melián Santana

On Monday 1 June, the High Court Number 3 in Tenerife (this is the appeal court), declared a UK client’s Silverpoint contract null & void with the return of over 60,000€ plus legal fees and legal interest.

The claim is now being registered with the Mercantile Court making the client a “creditor” as well as being handed over to the Enforcement Team of CLA to secure the funds through property embargoes of the Limora Group. Along with this further embargoes are being sought against assets held by the ex-managing director of Silverpoint. From these proceedings, it is clear that CLA is doing whatever it takes to ensure their clients receive their lawful payments.

The lawyers in this case were Miguel Ángel Melián Santana and Óscar Salvador Santana González.


Óscar Salvador Santana González

The following day was not a good one for Anfi Sales SL and Anfi Resorts SL, the case was heard at the Court of First Instance of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Gran Canaria. Ths court ruled that 4 contracts be declared null and void with the client to be returned over 15,000€ plus legal fees and legal interest.

The lawyer conducting the case was Adrián Diaz-Saavedra Morales of CLA.


Adrián Diaz-Saavedra Morales

On Wednesday the High Court Number 5 the appeal court of Las Palmas GC, confirmed the original ruling made at the Court of First Instance against Anfi, yet again.

The contract was declared null and void with the court awarding 152,345.38€ plus by way of a fine a further 26,743.68 for the illegal taking of payments during the statutory cooling-off period. This happy German client is now timeshare free and 179,088.68€ better off.

This client was assisted in the claim by the senior German Consultant Jasmin Erhard and the lawyer Eva Guttiérrez.


Eva Guttiérrez

This morning another German client of CLA has just received their sentence from the courts in Fuengirola against Club la Costa. The court declared the contract null and void and awarded the client 10,100.85€ plus 15,782.03€ by way of a fine for the illegal taking of deposits within the cooling-off period giving a total of 25,882.88€

The client was assisted once again by Jasmin Erhard with Óscar Salvador Santana González who was in charge of the case.


Jasmin Erhard

So it is congratulations to the happy clients and a very big well done to the team at Canarian Legal Alliance.

That is all for this week, hopefully Inside Timeshare will be running back to normal next week, in the meantime have a great weekend and stay safe.

Hellenic Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Monster Clients Targeted

At the start of this year Inside Timeshare published an article on the latest scam which was then targeting Eze Group clients, only this was not coming from Spain but Greece. Clients were being contacted supposedly by The Hellenic Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, well, they seem to have switched their targets, it is now clients of companies owned and operated by Mark Rowe.

The scam is just as before, the clients are contacted by an unsolicited email claiming their case which is part of a “Class Action Lawsuit”. According to the email which from Panagiotis Chatzitheofanos, another familiar name and is signed by none other than Stavros Mpotsari who we have already mentioned in the previous articles, the case was originally heard in another “European member” state, where the “initial crime” took place. But unfortunately, the assets had already been moved so there was no “compensation” for the claimants.

The email address being used is [email protected]

Now for the good news, thanks to the “tenacity” of the lawyer who worked on this clients behalf he found a link between several new companies formed in Greece. We just wonder who the lawyer is?

Well, our guess is it is yet another name linked to Hellenic Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs and dubious companies in Spain, namely Platinum Services and Administration SL, Litigation Services SL and a name from the past Greenges 2005 SL. All are using the name of Jose Lara Cabello, who we do know is a lawyer registered with the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de Málaga.

Inside Timeshare has in the past published his name, emails have been sent to him to verify if he is aware that his name is being used or if he is working with these companies, no reply has ever been received. Again Inside Timeshare leaves you the reader to draw your own conclusions.

With the email, there was also an “official court summary” with English translation, which begins with “The Honourable High Judge Dr Nikos Paraskevopoulos sited at court room 1a of the Court of Cassation, chosen by the Cabinet of the Council of State under the Articles 87-100A of the constitution”.

There is a Dr Nikos Paraskevopoulos, he is actually a very eminent criminologist who was also at one time the Minister of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights, being appointed after being elected an MP in 2015 Professor of criminal law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki’s Law School and is also Vice President of one of Greece’s largest drug rehabilitation and social integration clinics. We wonder if he knows his name is being used?

See link to Wikipedia entry for Dr Nikos Paraskevopoulos

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikos_Paraskevopoulos


Dr Nikos Paraskevopoulos

The companies named as appearing in court are:

Now we do know that these companies which are part of the Mark Rowe “empire” (albeit crumbling), are under investigation in Tenerife and the UK, but as yet no case has been brought, which makes a mockery of the claim made in the email.

The Greek version of the “summary” includes the Signature of  Dr Nikos Paraskevopoulos which you can see in the PDF below, we have also found a letter from the good Dr to the European Commissioner for Human Rights with his signature. They are very obviously different.

Summary of Court ruling Greek RedactedDownload
Summary of Court ruling English RedactedDownload
Letter with Dr Nikos Paraskevopoulos signatureDownload

Now considering that Eze Group were originally targeted by the Spanish companies we mentioned and also by Hellenic Republic, then the switch to Monster clients, along with the name of the Spanish lawyer Jose Lara Cabello, it is now looking like this “fraud” is being perpetrated by the same people. The links are too close to be just a coincidence, again we leave you the reader to decide!

If you have been contacted by any of the companies mentioned, especially Hellenic Republic please use our contact page and let us know.

Links to previous articles

https://insidetimeshare.com/start-the-week-more-consumer-warnings/

https://insidetimeshare.com/the-mid-week-report-platinum-services-and-administration-sl/

https://insidetimeshare.com/hellenic-republic-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-the-latest-eze-group-scam/

https://insidetimeshare.com/update-eze-group-scam-coming-from-greece/

Start the Week: Playing Catchup

Firstly apologies for the lack of articles over the past couple of weeks, this has been due to medical issues and the strong medication that has been required. Today we give you a quick update on the liquidations of Azure in Malta, we also highlight yet another new “fake” law firm which is part of the fakes known as the Litigious Abogados family.

As we know several of the Azure companies in Malta are going into liquidation, the appointed Joint Liquidators (JL’s) are Wesley Edwards and Barry Lynch, both from the company CVR Global (B.V.I.) Limited. This company is registered in the Territory of the British Virgin Islands (No. 1875694). Registered office: Jayla Place, 2nd Floor, PO Box 216 Road Town Tortola British Virgin Islands VG1110.

They are in the process of informing members that they are in negotiations with several unrelated companies to take over the management of the “clubs”. This is to ensure that members do not lose what they have purchased.

We also know that the shareholders of the resorts are also involved in this process and they have already stated that they will do their utmost to protect members.

Now, this is not the story that many of our readers are being told by the various cold calling companies contacting them. Once again the use of scare tactics claiming that if they (the member) does not act now by cancelling their membership and making a “claim” for “compensation” they will lose everything.

Below is a PDF copy of the letter being sent out by the JL’s, as you can see they are being very open about this matter and are keeping members informed as and when further information is available.

Azure-update-to-members-20200529-signed-WE-and-BLDownload

As usual, the news of a company going into liquidation sparks a frenzy of cold calls by companies jumping on the bandwagon with a lot of misinformation, so please beware!

We now move to the latest incarnation of the Litigious Abogados family, Torcaz Abogados, they have the website:

https://torcaz-abogados.com/

Which is almost identical to all the previous websites, just a few minor changes. The website was registered on 11 March 2020 and is due to expire on 11 March 2021, so only registered for 1 year. This does seem very strange considering that they claim to have been established as a law firm on 1 September 1994. The CIF number they show A43663289 is also as all the previous ones a fake.

The founder is named as Fernando Olawza Garcia, there is only one problem: the photograph of Fernando shown on the website is actually Judge Dana Makoto Sabraw, for the United States District Court for the Southern District of California.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Sabraw

So another one to add to the list of identified photographs stolen from the web, these have included the late 39th President of Venezuela and the Azerbaijan Ambassador to Argentina. We have yet to identify the other “lawyers” pictured, but no doubt they will be found soon.

These are the lawyers shown on the website:

  • Hernan Destaras Caletasan
  • Juan Erestaldo Goberas
  • Manuel Fertals Idelaris
  • Ricardo Lunkmand

The Modus Operandi has changed very little, they are still using fake court documents and have used official logos on their letters. The main difference is what they are initially charging to get your case registered, obviously, there will be more charges as the case goes on.

Payment is required by bank transfer and according to the letterhead the payment is made to Armando Orebandel Jurados & Notarios, but as you can see the account is not in the name of the company but to a named individual, Paulo Rosso Vearns. This should set all your alarm bells ringing.

If you have been contacted by any company regarding your timeshare or with the great news that you have been awarded money held by the courts, please use our contact page and we will get back to you. Do not pay them anything until you have done your homework,

Once again we apologise to all our readers for our absence and we will be getting back to normal with more news and information on the murky world of timeshare.