THIS IS THE TRANSLATED CHAPTER OF 'THE SMOKESCREEN' WHICH DEALS WITH THE ACTIONS OF METODO3 IN RELATION TO THE SEARCH FOR MADELEINE BETH McCANN.
IT IS RATHER LONG AND IT MAY BE BEST TO READ THE FOLLOWING POST FIRST - A REVIEW AND DISCUSSION ON THE IMPLICATIONS OF CHAPTER 13 OF THE BOOK.
CHAPTER 13: THE
DISAPPEARANCE OF ‘LOS CAGOTS’:
OUR WORK FOR METODO 3
The
first part of this chapter is written by Antonio Tamarit; the second part by
Julian Peribanez
Antonio Tamarit:
Our
involvement in the case of a little girl called Madeleine McCann began during
October 2007 in the city of Tangiers, Morocco, where I was on location for
business reasons. It is a place with which I am well acquainted. Performing
work such as mine at that location is no easy task.
Whilst
I was there, Francisco Marco rang me from Barcelona, instructing me to
establish contact in Tangiers Airport with some people from Control Risks,
London, who wanted to speak to me about a little English girl who had disappeared
in Portugal, and to hear what they had to say.
I
met Brian Kennedy at the airport, accompanied by his son Patrick. The former
was not connected to Control Risks, London, but was instead a patron who was
helping the little girl’s parents to discover her whereabouts.
Our
conversation focused on the common elements of the youngster’s disappearance. I
made a few general comments on the basis of what I had read in the press (by
this point in time, the only scenario I could envisage was finding a body,
although I did not say that), and the conclusion that I drew from this first chat
was that my conversation partners were very religious, as I myself am.
They
were both convinced that the little girl was alive and that someone had
abducted her. We got on well together. All three of us are keen on rugby and
Brian Kennedy even has his own team (yes, that’s what he told us, that he had
his own team). I commented that a complex case such as this requires in-depth
research in order to be able to analyse all aspects.
We
agreed to meet again in Manchester, Brian having already taken it as agreed
that we would be contracted. When I enquired about their flight number for
their return journey to England, they pointed to a private jet standing on the
runway. I jovially commented that they don’t have a hard life, after which we said
goodbye.
I
subsequently rang Francisco Marco in Barcelona to inform him of our agreement
and I suggested that he refrain from involving the press, as was his usual
practice, and that instead we should simply get on with our work quietly, so
that he could enjoy his moment of glory when we actually made a discovery.
As
the whole world is now aware, there has never been a single moment of glory in
the Madeleine McCann case; however, it has occupied many hours of time on the
television and radio as the centre of attention, packed with lies, and hundreds
of pages in daily newspapers, magazines and on websites, containing many
untruths.
For
the above reasons, my relationship (and likewise that of the other serious
employees of the company) with Marco was seriously damaged.
From
that moment on, which took place as I was at Tangiers Airport, I was relegated
to the sidelines. Marita Fernández and José Luis Marco Llavina travelled to
Manchester; these were Francisco Marco’s mother, who had not carried out any
investigative work for many years, and her nephew, the company’s accountant. This
was all symptomatic of the plans they were setting up at poor Madeleine’s
expense.
The
aunt and nephew team returned from Manchester in heroic style. They made a big
point of emphasising that where this operation was concerned they were not
motivated by money; however, in reality they ended up making a fortune by means
of deception and dishonest trickery.
I
was sent to Portugal on two occasions, just to make up the numbers, because in
theory a whole army of Método 3 detectives were supposed to be working in
Portugal. The reality of the situation was very different. Nobody from Método 3
was actually working there except Julián Peribañez, who was burning the
midnight oil in an attempt to solve the case, and Elisenda Villena, for several
months.
They
sent me to Marrakech because, according to what I was told, there was a witness
there. The witness turned out to be a French woman who assured me that the
missing girl was in the Rif Mountains. When I asked her how she knew that - and
whether she had seen her - she replied that she knew two clairvoyants, one in
France and one in Morocco, and that both had informed her that Madeleine was in
the Rif Mountains.
As
the witness was unable to provide any further details, and just in case the
clairvoyants’ predictions came up with any results, I proceeded to scour the
country from top to bottom in my capacity as a member of the Método 3 army of
investigators deployed to Morocco to solve the Madeleine case, travelling to
Tangiers, Casablanca, Rabat, Agadir, Fez, Uarzazat, Uchda, Nador and any other
places you may care to add. Needless to say, the little girl failed to appear.
After
I had left Método 3, I began to realise to what extent the company was
swindling the fund which had been set up and which was supported by hundreds of
unsuspecting people whose sole objective was to find Madeleine. Nothing special,
just inflated expenses, invented items and false invoices, etc. Who were the beneficiaries of this dishonesty?
Needless
to say, the usual suspects: Francisco Marco, Marita Fernández and his cousin
José Luis Marco Llavina.
Julian Peribanez:
And
there is more besides that about Portugal, relating to frauds, the hotline and
Brian Kennedy’s extraordinary reaction when we explained to him that they had
been defrauded.
The
Madeleine case was yet another outrage bearing the unmistakable hallmark of
Método 3. Now it’s my turn to tell you about it. Método 3 became involved in
the search for Madeleine McCann in October 2007.
Although
there had been some talk of my accompanying Marita Fernández to the interview,
in the end Marita went with Jose Luis Marco Llavina to meet Madeleine’s
parents, Gerry and Kate McCann. I have
no idea why, but the interview between the Método 3 representatives and
Madeleine’s parents was recorded, which was not normal practice. I had an
opportunity to listen to the recording. From that point on, Madeleine’s parents
were relegated to the background and conversations were led directly by Brian
Kennedy.
It
was decided that the search for Madeleine was to take place in two countries:
Portugal and Morocco (yes, Portugal and Morocco). My reason for emphasising
that is because you may have read that the search took place in other places;
however, that was a complete fabrication.
Antonio
Tamarit trudged all over Morocco during a search the nature of which was both
bizarre and insane. Where Portugal was concerned, Elisenda Villena and I were responsible
for making the appropriate enquiries at the outset; however, after several
months I found myself carrying out this task practically single handed.
In
terms of the investigation, which lasted approximately eight months, we only
received very sporadic assistance from Antonio Tamarit and Gerard Acereda.
Indeed, their back-up was so sporadic that this only took place on a couple of
occasions. Francisco Marco had tasked the latter of the two with locating a
suspect who did not even exist. The purpose of Antonio Tamarit and Gerard
Acereda’s visit to Portugal was to hide from Brian Kennedy (who had meanwhile suddenly
left the United Kingdom and relocated to Praia de Luz in order to check
first-hand on the progress of the search and rescue operations) the ‘empty
shell’ nature of the supposed ‘twenty-man team’ from Método 3 which Francisco
Marco had stated were dedicated to the search for the little girl in that area.
I wish
to emphasise here again how shocking this was, so that it will not be
overlooked: Francisco Marco, whenever asked, always replied that Método 3 had
deployed ‘twenty men’ to investigate
Madeleine’s disappearance! That was yet another lie.
This
was the tactic used by Francisco Marco to inflate Método 3’s invoices to the
client and it also gave him an opportunity to brag to the numerous journalists
who were keen to report on the Madeleine case, as he was their point of
reference.
I
began in Portugal by following up various leads and then, by virtue of my good
knowledge of English, I attended the offices of the Latium group in Wilmslow,
Cheshire, in England where I met its owner, Brian Kennedy, lawyer Edward
Smethurst, Madeleine’s parents Gerry and Kate McCann and cousins Francisco Marco
and José Luis Marco in their capacity as the representatives, at the highest
possible level, of Método 3.
The
meeting, which had been arranged in order to outline the strategic plan and the
investigative lines being pursued to locate the little girl, was also attended by
another lawyer who was a former police officer, whose name I cannot recall. During
the meeting, at the point when Francisco Marco addressed me. saying, “Stand up
and talk, Julián, that is the only reason for your attendance here,” I realised
that I had been sent to Wilmslow simply in order to deflect attention away from
the fact that Francisco Marco’s English skills left a lot to be desired, which
meant that he was incapable of describing in an intelligible manner the actions
being taken to find the missing girl.
The
presentation was laboured but it went reasonably well. There were some
difficult moments when we had to take breaks. One such example was when the
possibility was raised that Madeleine could have been abducted by a paedophile network.
The parents remained stoical when this scenario was considered, although they
were unable to stop their eyes from filling with tears. We had to stop at that
point because their heartbreak was upsetting us all.
After
the meeting had ended, the participants all went to Brian Kennedy’s home for
supper. There, I was struck by how both our host and Madeleine’s parents were
lovely people, and I was able to deduce, without any reservations whatsoever,
that as far as that operation was concerned Francisco Marco had no particular
interest in finding Madeleine. I made that deduction when during an aside, he
asked me, “Do you realise how much an advertising campaign like this for Método
3 would cost me?”
Before
I had a chance to reply, he answered his own question, “At least two million Euros!”
An advertising campaign costing him next to nothing, which was barely the cost
of setting up the Madeleine McCann telephone line - the famous hotline no. 902
300 213 - the purpose of which was for people to ring in with information
leading us to the little girl’s whereabouts.
Headlines
in the media stated that a mechanism had been set up whereby operators would
answer calls in Spanish, English, French, Italian, Arabic and Portuguese.
However, this consisted in reality of a switchboard which redirected calls to
our office, where Método 3’s employees, including myself, answered them. Before
going on to describe the nature of the calls we received, I should mention that
our understanding of English, French, Italian, Arabic and Portuguese certainly
left room for improvement. In any event, the linguistic element was of no
consequence, given that no relevant information was lost.
Fortune
tellers (Spanish playing card and Tarot readers), necromancers, palmists,
individuals who had had dreams but did not know what they were about, followed
by others who offered interpretations of those dreams. In short, pure
esotericism and complete time-wasting, all of which was the result of Francisco
Marco’s bright and unique ideas about how to find little Madeleine.
After
that, the genie having by now run out of ideas, he returned to his lamp, not without
failing, however, to make frequent appearances in the media circus, where both
he and his mother shone like bright lights. They were the king and queen of the
trapeze.
The
daily newspaper El Mundo on 25th
November 2007 quoted Francisco, who was overwhelmed by his stardom, as saying,
“The pressure is immense. I have a waiting list for 60 interviews with media
from all over the world - and in the mornings, when I go to take my breakfast
in the bar, I also come up against some English reporter or other who wants me
to divulge information.”
Then,
Marita Fernández had the absolute audacity to state that “half a dozen
translators are responsible for answering calls in their own language, whether
French, English, Portuguese, Arabic, etc. … Each conversation is recorded in a file
and every piece of information is cross-checked with the others.”
When
the journalist asked whether they were doing all this work for financial money
reasons, the reply was: “We’re talking about five-figure sums and no more, and
almost the whole of that amount is to cover the travel expenses to the
countries where we have been working. The 20-strong team who are working exclusively
on this case are all on our payroll, and our fees are practically symbolic.
Madeleine is our only client.”
Both
mother and son were trained in how to answer questions of this sort. On the
back page of La Vanguardia dated 1st
November 2007, at the time when rumours were circulating about whether
Madeleine’s disappearance was simply a money-making hoax, the journalist Victor
M. Amela asked Marco what was the basis of his belief. The latter replied, “Our
experts spent ten hours interviewing the McCanns, which was sufficient time for
them to ascertain whether they were deceiving us. My specialists have assured
me that they are not hiding anything at all, and that is why we have decided to
help them.”
He
omitted to tell the journalist that his specialists were his mother and his
cousin; he must have thought there was no need to mention this. Alternatively,
he may have thought that the journalist had realised that his cousin was the
chief financial officer (meaning the accountant) of Método 3 and that his mother
was just a woman who didn’t even hold a driving licence and had been a
secretary at a detective agency and who was involved in sales for the agency
and not investigative work.
When
asked what amount of money was being charged for the search for Madeleine,
Francisco Marco replied, “Expenses plus a figure which is symbolic rather than
high.” In answer to a question about how many cases of missing persons they
investigated each year, he replied insistently, “We specialise in business
fraud but we also locate approximately 300 persons per year.”
And
now here is my attempt at solving a ‘rule of three’. If Francisco Marco’s
agency turned over approximately a thousand cases each year and each missing
person is one case, then what percentage of the trading account of Francisco
Marco’s agency related to missing persons? And if I were to complicate the rule
of three a little further, it would be interesting to know how many Método 3
employees were responsible for finding missing persons, given that during the
six years I spent with the company I only dealt with two cases, which to my
great pride I solved; these kinds of cases are the most rewarding within the
profession.
Where
Madeleine’s case was concerned, Francisco Marco answered the journalist from La Vanguardia with maximum audacity by
stating that his agency had “about 40 people here and in Morocco”. To avoid
repetition, I will avoid making any further comments, other than to say that I
wish he had been struck dead when, upon being asked how he foresaw the ending
of the Madeleine case, he said that he would “give Madeleine her dolls, calm
her down, remove her from the place where she was, ring her parents and put her
on the phone.”
The
way in which things were turning out, Madeleine’s case would have to be closed.
Brian Kennedy grew tired of trying to achieve the impossible, and of paying.
Francisco Marco and José Luis Marco arranged to meet me at the Petit Paris Restaurant, which no longer
exists as it was forced to close by customers who went there for meals on
company accounts which were never settled.
Método
3’s name appeared on the list of clients who were in default because they had
failed to pay a 3,000 Euro debt, as the accountant of Método 3 himself would
have described it. He was the person who dealt with creditors. It was when we
were inside the Petit Paris that
Francisco Marco and José Luis Marco informed me that the contract with the
Madeleine Fund had been terminated and that I should therefore take several
days off in order to unwind. They also told me over that same meal that Brian
Kennedy had suggested that I continue working on the case with him, an offer
which was turned down by Francisco Marco and José Luis Marco on the grounds that
I was too valuable to them. At that moment in time I was filled with pride, but
the mere thought of it I now find repellent.
On
23rd November 2009 the news broke that Kevin Hallingen and Henry
Exton from Oakley International had conned the Madeleine Fund out of half a
million pounds. It would appear that that company had picked up where Método 3
left off.
On
13th December 2011, officers from the Policía Nacional (Spanish National Police) and Scotland Yard
arrived at Método 3’s premises in order to remove documentation related to the
Madeleine McCann case. I will pause for a moment here to describe the star
performance in the office by Marita Fernández when she found out that the
Scotland Yard officers had arrived.
As
she cannot speak English, she participated in the conversation via the
interpreter who had accompanied the officers, to whom she blurted out the
following words only, “How are you getting on with those child sexual abuse cases
of yours? How are you combating it? Because that is something which, obviously,
forms an innate part of your English genetic makeup and which you carry with
you …” The interpreter was absolutely astounded, yet the Método 3 director
insisted that she translate these words. I ended up asking a question in order
to divert the officers’ attention and rescue the interpreter from this
situation.
Whilst
they were there, Francisco Marco rang Mayka Navarro, the editor of El Periódico, to alert her and suggest
that if she wanted to illustrate this news item, she should send a photographer
and television cameras along to capture images of the British and Spanish
officers leaving the premises of Metodo 3. On 14th December 2011,
Francisco Marco appeared on the programme directed by Ana Rosa Quintana on Tele
5. I now reproduce a verbatim record of a significant part of the dialogue:
- Ana
Rosa: El Periódico de Cataluña presents
an exclusive story by our colleague Mayka Navarro about the investigation
of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Mayka, what are these
photographs?
- Mayka
Navarro: Well, these photographs were taken yesterday at 3pm by our
colleague Albert Bertrán from El
Periódico, and in fact they show officers from Scotland Yard
accompanied by officers from the National Police Agency. At that point
they are leaving the Barcelona offices of the detective agency Método 3,
there is the corner of the intersection of Tuset and Diagonal
(streets) and they are holding boxes containing photocopies of the
complete file on the disappearance of the little girl Madeleine …
- Francisco
Marco: I believe there are six, seven or eight very important leads in
there, which were reported at the time in question, in partnership with
the Spanish and Portuguese police, which the Portuguese police always
dismissed without even investigating them - for the reason which has
already been mentioned previously. And that was because this was a highly politicised
issue and also because they did not want to act on any information which
did not originate from their own sources. The only thing I would say is
that on each day when one of us from Método 3 travelled to Portugal, we
were followed the whole time and checked up upon continuously so that they
could see what we were up to. We were never allowed to get on with our
work quietly, and all the investigative work we carried out at that time
outside of Portugal, and indeed some which was carried out inside Portugal
itself, can be performed by Scotland Yard and the Metropolitan Police or
else they can continue where we left off.
- Mayka
Navarro: Six leads, six lines, yes, yes, you were just saying…
- Francisco
Marco: Yes Mayka, that’s more or less it…
The
reason I am recounting that incident and am able to do so in these terms is
that firstly, I was present in Método 3’s premises when the officers from
Scotland Yard and the National Police entered to find the documents; secondly,
because I overheard the telephone call made by Marco to Mayka Navarro; thirdly,
I am one of the people whose photographs were published, and fourthly, because
Francisco Marco instructed me to let him know when the officers were due to
leave Metodo 3’s offices so that they could be photographed (otherwise, the
photographers would not have known who they were).
Don’t
you agree that it is obvious how the Madeleine case was advantageous for
Francisco Marco? It was so that the media provided him with a huge publicity
campaign free of charge, whilst at the same time enabling him to fob off Madeleine’s
Fund, an organisation funded by thousands of well-intentioned people who wanted
to make their own financial contribution towards the search for the missing
girl. He presented them with false
invoices for travel and accommodation expenses for the 20 people who were
supposed to be working in Portugal.
The
procedure for accomplishing this task was simple and straightforward and no
scientific methodology was required: all they had to do was obtain some El Corte Inglés travel invoices and
subsequently falsify them by changing the details. These invoices can be found
stored inside Método 3’s computers which were seized and are located at
Barcelona Court no. 14 (Juzgado 14 de
Barcelona). For the time being, they remain there by virtue of an action
filed by Montserrat Turu against Francisco Marco for breach of confidentiality.
As
soon as we had compiled all the relevant information and evidence to show him,
we subsequently contacted Brian Kennedy during December 2013 in order to inform
him of what we had found out and suggest that he should take action against the
persons in Spain who were responsible for defrauding him.
I
rang him during the first week of December 2013 and my conversations with both
Brian and his son Patrick were relaxed and friendly. Due to financial problems
and Christmas holiday dates, we had to delay meeting him until January. We
contacted Brian again on 8th January 2014; he asked us to explain
why we wanted to see him and we informed him of the discoveries we had made.
We
explained that, as a result of the latest scandals relating to Francisco Marco
and Método 3, we had carried out certain investigations of our own. In so doing
we had discovered that the company had conned the Madeleine Fund by producing
false invoices, and so we wanted to meet them in order to check the information
with him and work out a strategy whereby they - the parents of the little girl,
in whose innocence we have always believed - would not suffer any harm as a
result of this intrigue, in particular from the media.
I
did not receive a reply from him, although I knew he had received my email
because I had requested proof of delivery. I had to send him two messages and I
finally heard back from him on the 11th day of that month, when he
sent a vague-sounding reply about having to go to the USA and it may therefore
be better if I spoke to Ed Smethurst, his lawyer. I had to send four emails
before I was able to obtain details of his lawyer, and moreover in his last
reply he warned me that he would be unlikely to be willing to take any legal
action against Método 3 because he had to focus upon the search for Madeleine,
or at least, find out who was responsible for her abduction.
I was
barely able to believe what was happening and so I wrote to Edward Smethurst,
who in addition to being his lawyer was also a member of the board of directors
of the Madeleine Fund. The text of his email is reproduced below:
Dear Julián,
I have just finished participating
in a telephone conference with our advisors. As you are probably aware, the
Metropolitan Police is currently responsible for the investigation. Therefore,
the Trust (the Madeleine Fund) has decided neither to meet with, nor to discuss
the investigation with, any private investigators whilst the MET (Metropolitan
Police) are carrying out their investigation. We will therefore not be able to
meet with you.
However, if you have any
information which may assist the Trust (the Madeleine Fund) or the
investigation, please feel free to send it to us by email and we would welcome
this.
I
was annoyed at the cold and distant tone of his reply. I simply could not
understand how they could fail to be alarmed by the discovery that they had
been the victims of a financial fraud and had been charged for work which was
not carried out, as well as having had their hopes raised, only for it to come
to nothing. Feeling let down, I wanted to find out exactly what the Madeleine
Fund’s position was, and so I sent them the following email:
I
understand that your position is as follows: that we wish to assist the
Madeleine Fund to uncover a fraud which was perpetrated against the above Fund by
a firm of private detectives, Método 3, with which the Fund had entered into a
contract – and that you do not wish to hold a meeting with us - and that you
will not co-operate with us in order to expose the above agency, which has
stolen money destined for locating Madeleine McCann, which people around the
world had donated out of the goodness of their hearts for the purpose of
finding a missing girl, and which ended up lining the pockets of Método 3 as a
result of false invoicing. Please would you simply let me know whether I have
got this right, as I am finding it difficult to understand your position, and
solely for the sake of clarity, so that I can be sure that we cannot rely upon
co-operation from the Madeleine Fund in relation to this matter, and to enable
us to pursue this issue in a different direction.
With best wishes
Julián
I did not receive any reply. I was therefore able to
ascertain that the Madeleine Fund had surrounded itself in a wall of silence,
especially when I realised that Gerry McCann, the missing girl’s father, did
not even respond to the message I sent him, the content of which was similar to
those I had previously addressed to Brian Kennedy and the lawyer Edward
Smethurst.
In the light of this situation, I should perhaps point
out the following: the Madeleine Fund is not a charity, but is in fact a
limited company called “Madeleine’s Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned Ltd” based
in Cannon Street in London (EC4M 6YH), with registered no. CRN 624815, office
of registration 2-6. Its six directors include the aforementioned Edward
Smethurst and Kate and Gerry McCann, the parents of little Madeleine.
Furthermore, with the exception of the last invoices,
which were processed by Brian Kennedy’s company LATIUM MANAGEMENT SERVICES, in
theory Método 3’s client was not Madeleine’s Fund but was in fact Mr Brian
Kennedy. Therefore, if Brian Kennedy failed to take legal action in relation to
the fraud, we would not have a case, and that would be the end of the matter.
Don’t you think that would be a shame?
However, rather than wallowing in displeasure, I think that
it is worth examining the fact that the annual accounts presented to the press
by Madeleine’s Fund clearly showed that they had allocated money from their own
Fund to a team of private investigators who were searching for Madeleine, Método
3 in this instance, and that that money had originated from altruistic people
whose sole intention was for Madeleine to be found.
That leaves a huge black hole which has swallowed up many
thousands of Euros. In order to emerge from that hole, I would suggest that the
English police, who have been tasked with solving the case, track down the only
two existing copies of the fictitious invoices. Brian Kennedy has one of these
copies, but he is extraordinarily disinterested in filing a lawsuit for fraud
against Método 3.
The other copy is at Barcelona Court no. 14 (Juzgado de Barcelona no. 14), where the
items seized from Francisco Marco remain lodged, pursuant to a court order
enabling the police to proceed to search Método 3’s premises. The English police
should act swiftly in order to obtain the false invoices, as if they fail to
act expeditiously, Francisco Marco is sure to make sure they disappears, if the
seized items are returned to him.
That would not surprise me in the least, given that this
is a man who had the audacity to brag in writing that in order for Método 3 to
carry out its investigation, “We have infiltrated Moroccan and French paedophile
gangs” (El Método, page 452) and also
speaking into Radio 4’s microphones - in a phony, humble tone - during the
interview with Xantal Llavina and saying that he “felt proud to have led to the
arrest of a paedophile network. I believe that anything which affects children
is what propels me forward, having protected them by stopping these people,
having meant that certain children will not have to suffer what many others
have suffered before them; I think that is my achievement. As I also mentioned
in my book, if Método 3’s entire existence had served only to lead to the
arrest of that paedophile group, then I would say that its existence had been
worthwhile.”
He
was rather economical with the truth here, having failed to mention the
following important detail: that the paedophile ring in question was busted
thanks to a sickening video which a debauched paedophile provided to Método 3,
telling us that Madeleine appeared in it, and also thanks to my investigation,
the results of which I handed over in their entirety to Juan Carlos Ruiloba, a
good friend and a member of the National Police’s Cyber-crime Unit.
In
other words, Francisco Marco boasted to Xantal Llavina’s audience, taking the
credit for what the person in his book The Method (El Método) described as a “liar, thief, extortionist and
blackmailer” had achieved. And that was my good self!
Needless
to say, the content of the video in question could be downloaded using a simple
P2P and not by means of the mysterious-sounding “hidden server” which Francisco
Marco pulled out of his hat in order to brag yet again that his words were the
greatest.
If
it is the case that the objective was to raise as much funding as possible in
order to continue investigating the little girl’s disappearance, would it not
have been logical to sue the company that has defrauded you? - and thus obtain
additional resources?
In fact,
that was what happened early on to the English tabloids, when they threatened
to take legal action against them and succeeded in obtaining a settlement of a
million pounds from them, a sum which was supposedly destined for the Madeleine’s
Fund.
There
is also the case of Goncalo Amaral, the senior Portuguese police officer in
charge of the police investigation, following publication in 2008 of his book ‘The
Truth of the Lie’, after he was removed from the case.
Given
the above, it is surprising that they did not sue Kevin Halligen, who was the
other person who conned them and is awaiting extradition to the United States
for allegedly having defrauded a London company of 1.3 million pounds. (* see Notes below)
Anyone who is interested in doing so can watch on YouTube
certain statements made by Francisco Marco on television, where he brags about
his investigations and gives false hope to Madeleine’s family and friends. In
some of these, he even goes as far as to say that he knows the identity of
Madeleine’s abductor, his whereabouts and how he did it. Those videos were the
ones which raised indignation worldwide and subsequently, the shaming of the
profession in Spain.
