MARBELLA CLUB

Economic crisis buffeting Spain sent the number of bankruptcies soaring by 182% to 2,864 in 2008, 38% of them in the real estate sector, reveals a new report from PricewaterhoueCoopers.“Between October and December there were more insolvency proceedings than in all of 2007,” says the report, which warns that the commercial courts could collapse under the workload if this trend continues in 2009.Bankruptcies amongst developers and brokers rose from 74 in 2007 to 387 in 2008, and in the construction sector from 182 to 692.The rapidly rising number of property companies being forced into administration, like Martinsa-Fadesa, is likely to have a significant impact on the market. At the very least it should encourage a ‘flight to quality’ amongst buyers looking to avoid the nightmare of dealing with a developer who goes bust.The biggest insolvency proceedings so far are as follows:
Martinsa-Fadesa. A developer that had sales operations in the UK, and has debts of 6.8 billion Euros.
Promociones Habitat. A Barcelona-based developer with debts of 1.7 billion Euros.
Tremón. A developer with projects on the Costa del Sol, and debts of close to 900 million Euros.
Labaro. A Madrid-based developer active all over Spain with debts of 580 million Euros

The pills were hidden in the panels of his Mitsubishi pajero and he was stopped by police as he was driving off the catamaran on July, 9, the night of the World Cup.

When originally arraigned in 2006, Mr Marsden had been charged with importing 28 packets, containing 50,000 ecstasy pills, with the Lacoste crocodile logo embossed on them. He had also been accused of trafficking in the drug.However, two months into the compilation of evidence, court expert Mario Mifsud, a pharmacist, had testified that the pills were not illegal.It turned out that the pills contain the chemical mCPP, which shares several pharmacological properties with MDMA (ecstasy) but was not illegal in Malta when the find was allegedly made.The charges of importing and pushing drugs were subsequently dropped and the Attorney General issued a bill of indictment accusing Mr Marsden of conspiring to deal in ecstasy.Mr Marsden appealed, arguing that since the drugs were not illegal the "charge as it stands is an invention of the Attorney General in his unfettered right to charge as he deems fit".The Court of Criminal Appeal, presided over by Chief Justice Vincent Degaetano, Mr Justice David Scicluna and Mr Justice Joseph Micallef, threw out the appeal and ruled that "a person may be found guilty of, say, conspiracy to import heroin into Malta even though the stuff he eventually brings into Malta turns out to be baking powder. It all depends on what was actually agreed upon between the conspirators and, more specifically, on the object of the conspiracy".The appeals court said that it was not up to it to decide whether "it was "real" ecstasy or "fake" ecstasy, adding that the Attorney General was clearly of the opinion that it was "real" and Mr Marsden disagreed. However, at this point it was up to a jury to decide.

Paul Allen, 30, was accused of involvement in the £53 million robbery at the Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.Depot manager Colin Dixon and his family were kidnapped and members of staff tied up during the armed raid in February 2006.
Jurors have been told that it was masterminded by Allen's best friend and fellow fighter, Lee Murray, who is now in Morocco.But father-of-three Allen, of Chatham, Kent, told the Old Bailey he knew nothing about it, and denied charges of conspiracy to kidnap, rob and possess firearms.Jurors began deliberating in December before the Christmas break and spent more than 27 hours considering their verdicts.They were given a majority direction, meaning the court would accept a decision on which 10 were agreed, earlier this week.But after hearing that they were still unable to reach agreement, trial judge Mr Justice Penry-Davey told jurors: "With regret I have to discharge you from further deliberations and from returning verdicts in this case."A hearing is set to take place next Tuesday to fix a date for a retrial and Allen was remanded in custody.Allen had been in the dock alongside Michael Demetris, a hairdresser who unwittingly prepared disguises for the robbery gang and was cleared by the jury of all charges.In January, five men were convicted of involvement in the heist.Kick boxer Lea Rusha, car salesman Stuart Royle, Albanian Jetmir Bucpapa, and garage owner Roger Coutts were all jailed indefinitely with minimum terms of 15 years.Inside man Emir Hysenaj, an Albanian, who filmed inside the depot using a miniature camera, was given a determinate sentence of 20 years.
Police have only found £21 million of the stolen haul.