La Línea owes banks €100 million and fell behind in salary payments to municipality employees over the summer.

La Línea owes banks €100 million and fell behind in salary payments to municipality employees over the summer. About 10,000 of its 65,000 inhabitants are unemployed, compared with 4,000 jobless five years ago.

“The boom years created jobs, but when the building craze suddenly ended, there was no obvious way to channel all these people into other activities,” Mr. Sánchez said. “We’re now told by Madrid that we cannot take on more debt, but that puts a city like ours in an impossible situation.”

In Jerez de la Frontera, a municipality known for its wine and flamenco, the debt pile has reached €670 million, or about $883 million. The economic slowdown has also cut Jerez’s tax revenue to €11 million last year from €41 million in 2008. “I’m running a war economy,” said Jerez’s mayor, Pilar Sánchez.

The dire financial prospects for such mayors are increasingly at odds with the view from Madrid, where the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has managed to improve investor confidence by reducing the central government’s deficit — down 42 percent in the first eight months of this year.

In contrast, some analysts and politicians warn that deficit levels in regions like Andalusia could worsen in coming months ahead of pivotal regional elections as local politicians display more generosity to sway voters. The electoral battle is expected to be intense in Andalusia, where the center-right Popular Party is aiming for a historic victory next May on the back of voters’ resentment over the downturn. Andalusia has been under Socialist control since Spain returned to democracy in the 1970s.

“Any mayor who cannot present some exciting new projects to the voters next May will face a very ugly situation,” said José Blas Fernández, a senior council member in the city hall of Cádiz, another Andalusian city that swung to a deficit last year. “The debt consequences of this political game will naturally only appear later.”

Meanwhile, Alejandro Sánchez, the mayor of La Línea, who represents the Popular Party, is also fighting to restore confidence in city hall politics after taking office last October, when his predecessor was ousted following a financial scandal involving a supplier of medical equipment to the city. He said the toll charge, expected to be €5 per vehicle crossing, was not an attempt to discriminate against Gibraltar but a savvy way of offsetting the pollution and traffic congestion caused by six million vehicles driving through La Línea every year.

“I don’t care whether drivers go to Gibraltar or not,” Mr. Sánchez said, “but I do care about making life better in La Línea.”

But José Blanco, transport and development minister, has vowed to take legal action against any such toll, arguing that it was beyond a mayor’s powers to charge for usage of a national road.

“For the first time in the dispute over Gibraltar,” Mr. Sánchez said, “the Spanish government is on the side of the British, which is even more paradoxical since this is exactly the kind of issue that should be left to local authorities if devolution is to mean anything in this country.”

Read More

Gibraltar cited for weak anti-money laundering compliance

Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust – the same institution were Ponzi scheme architect Scott Rothstein did millions of dollars in banking – was criticized by federal regulators for weak anti-money laundering compliance.
Regulators told the $1.6 billion-asset bank to stop the “unsafe and unsound” practices of operating with “ineffective Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and anti-money laundering compliance programs, having an excessive level of problem assets, not addressing its liquidity risk management and not following regulatory guidelines on real estate lending.
The Coral Gables-based bank on Friday released the order to cease and desist to the Business Journal shortly before the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) was expected to make it public.
The OTS listed six laws or regulations that it said the bank violated based on its confidential report of examination issued in May.
The enforcement action does not address the bank’s capital levels, which were strong as of June 30. Yet, it was given a restriction on its asset growth.
Gibraltar Chairman and CEO Steven Hayworth said the bank has been working with regulators on these issues for many months and it has already addressed many of their concerns.
“I feel like we’ve made great progress in raising our game in BSA compliance,” Hayworth said.
Miami-based banking analyst and economist Kenneth H. Thomas said he’s very surprised that a bank like Gibraltar, which caters to wealthy professionals and manages large sums of investment money, was criticized so harshly by regulators.
“These things don’t happen to private banks,” Thomas said. “They deal with a small number of wealthy clients and are usually very careful with clients.”
Several victims of Rothstein’s massive Ponzi scheme are suing Gibraltar, along with TD Bank, in Broward County Circuit Court. The complaint alleges that the bank reaped $200,000 in overdraft fees by approving and helping to cover sizable overdrafts totaling in excess of $64 million. The plaintiffs produced e-mails from Rothstein to Gibraltar officials threatening to make large clients leave the bank if they questioned his sloppy banking habits.
The investors’ lawsuit claimed that Gibraltar’s BSA compliance officer wanted more information in 2009 about certain transactions in Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler’s account, but Hayworth scuttled the inquiry.
Gibraltar said the information in the complaint is inaccurate and it is contesting the lawsuit.
Rothstein had a 5 percent ownership stake in Gibraltar, but those shares were turned over to the government.
Hayworth declined to comment on whether the Rothstein’s accounts had anything to do with the OTS’ enforcement action.
“Like so many other companies and individuals who were touched by that firm, we were a victim,” Hayworth said.
The OTS gave Gibraltar 60 days to review its BSA and anti-money laundering compliance and make corrections. That includes hiring a full-time person with daily responsibility in that area and annual training for all relevant bank personnel and the board.
Hayworth said the bank hired Danny Rodriguez as senior VP and BSA officer and Lee Duff as general counsel, with a specialization in BSA compliance. It already started the staff training in that area.
Regulators also told Gibraltar to implement a system for the proper filing of currency transaction reports and for adequately identifying customers, especially non-U.S. residents, commercial and business accounts and customers that use a lot of wire transfers. It must set up a system to monitor high-risk customers.
Gibraltar must make sure that it reports suspicious transactions to the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
Gibraltar is required to hire a third-party consultant to review all customer relationships established after Jan. 1, 2009 and identify the ones that were not in compliance with BSA and anti-money laundering regulations. The bank will have 30 days to correct those problems.
In other areas of concern, the OTS told Gibraltar to reduce its level of problem assets and develop a workout strategy for troubled loans in excess of $1 million.
The bank reported 6.26 percent of its loans as noncurrent as of June 30. Hayworth said that ratio would be below 5 percent in its third quarter report.
“The good news is in the third quarter our nonperforming loans dropped 28 percent from the second quarter,” Hayworth said. “That’s a result of working hard on some of these relationships. … I feel very bullish that the bank’s core earnings will continue to grow.”
The bank may not be able to grow its assets as much as it has in the past. That’s because regulators restricted its quarterly asset growth to no more than the net interest credited on its deposits. Hayworth said that’s about $3 million a quarter, but regulators can grant the bank permission to exceed that level.
In the first six months of this year, Gibraltar’s assets increased by $108 million.
Other provisions of the enforcement action require the bank to reduce its levels of deposits from brokers, not pay dividends without regulatory approval and not change executive compensation levels without regulators signing off


Read more: Gibraltar cited for weak anti-money laundering compliance | South Florida Business Journal

Read More

Amnesty International is calling on the Moroccan authorities to immediately investigate the fatal checkpoint shooting of a 14-year old boy

Amnesty International is calling on the Moroccan authorities to immediately investigate the fatal checkpoint shooting of a 14-year old boy outside a camp set up by Sahrawi protestors.

According to his relatives, Al-Nagem Al-Qarhi was shot dead on 24 October by Moroccan military officers, while in a car bringing supplies to a camp set up by Sahrawi protesters demanding an end to their economic marginalization by the Moroccan government.

“The disturbing details of this killing that must be investigated immediately and transparently”, said Amnesty International. “Morocco needs to show that it has not violated UN standards on the use of firearms, or used excessive force as it chokes off access, supplies and communications to the Sahrawi protest camp.”

Al-Nagem died almost immediately after being shot in the kidney at close range by Moroccan military forces as he sat in a car with six others at a checkpoint, the victim’s sister Sayida has told Amnesty International.

The Moroccan Ministry of Interior has claimed that the car “attacked a checkpoint”, and that the checkpoint was fired on, but from another vehicle. Family members say the passengers were seated when they were shot, and that they were bringing supplies to relatives living in the protest camp.

The other passengers in the car with Al-Nagem were also injured in the shooting, and then beaten by Moroccan police, according to Sayida’s testimony. The surviving victims were transferred to a military hospital in the nearby city of Laayoune, where they were found handcuffed to their beds when family members visited them the next day. One has since been detained, and two taken in for questioning.

According to his family, Al-Nagem was buried the next evening by the Moroccan authorities, who have refused to allow his mother and siblings to see the body or tell them the location of the burial site.

The Moroccan military has kept a heavy presence around the camp, established on 10 October by Sahrawis who left the city of Laayoune and other Western Sahara cities en masse to demand improved job opportunities and housing.

Today a group of about ten Spanish journalists were prevented from entering the camp by the police. Last week, Moroccan officials are reported to have used batons and teargas to prevent over a hundred people travelling in cars from reaching the camp with supplies.

Amnesty International has called for the respect of Sahrawi protesters’ right to freedom of assembly and warned that no excessive force should be used to disperse protestors, in a letter addressed last week to the Moroccan Minister of Interior.

Since 10 October 2010, thousands of Sahrawis have collectively left Laayoune to set up a camp in the desert about 10-13 kilometres east of the city. Some Sahrawi human rights defenders say that the camp population has reached the tens of thousands; official sources reported that there were 5,000 people last week in the camp.

Western Sahara is a territory contested between Morocco, which annexed it 1975, and the Polisario Front, which calls for its independence and runs a self-declared government in exile in the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria.

Read More

Moroccan police have instituted a pattern of abuse under the country's anti-terrorism law, notably by way of detentions

Human Rights Watch charged Monday that Moroccan police have instituted a pattern of abuse under the country's anti-terrorism law, notably by way of detentions carried out by the intelligence service.
In a report called "Stop Looking for Your Son: Illegal Detentions Under the Counterterrorism law in Morocco," the New-York based rights organisation said that the abuses "violate the progressive legislation Morocco adopted to safeguard against torture and illegal detention."
HRW staff told a press conference in Rabat that agents wearing plain clothes have in recent years turned up at homes and arrested people without any identification or explanation, then transported them blindfolded to a secret place of detention.
This practice has taken place under a law that was passed just after the Casablanca terrorist bombings of May 16, 2003, in which 45 people were killed, including 13 suicide bombers, and many were injured.
The HRW report was partly based on interviews conducted with people who had been detained between 2007 and 2010, and with their relatives. It includes a response from the Moroccan government, which Human Rights Watch welcomed.
Suspects are often held longer than the 12-day legal maximum in custody and "many of those held under those conditions say that they were tortured or ill-treated in detention," the report said.
"The authorities eventually transfer them to a police station, where officers present them with a statement for signature. Only after they have signed do most of them first see a lawyer and are their families initially notified of their whereabouts -- sometimes four or five weeks after their arrest.
"The failure of arresting agents to prove their identity as police is significant because the suspects and their families uniformly contend that those who carried out the arrests are agents of the domestic intelligence agency" -- the General Direction of the Surveillance of the Territory (DGST).
The report contains allegations that the DGST has a secret detention centre in or near Tamara, outside Rabat, and carries out arrests that are legally the responsibility of the police.
Moroccan authorities deny that such a detention facility exists and Rabat's embassy in Washington on September 25 wrote to HRW to say: "Agents of the DGST are not officers of the criminal investigation police and do not act as such.
"The king's prosecutor at the appeal court in Rabat visited the headquarters of the DGST, searched its premises and established a report indicating that there is no secret detention centre," the government said.
The government also responded to individual cases of detention cited in the HRW report and said the suspects were arrested by regular police, presented to the investigation judge within the legal timeframe and held in legal places of detention.
It said that families were notified and "the fact that some terrorism suspects refused to sign statements prepared for them by the police shows there is no coercion."

Read More

Sperm whales, pilot whales, orcas and dolphins are all at risk of being killed in collisions with freighters using the proposed route between Tarifa,

Sperm whales, pilot whales, orcas and dolphins are all at risk of being killed in collisions with freighters using the proposed route between Tarifa, on the southwestern tip of Spain and a new port in Tangier on Morocco's northern coast.
Greenpeace has called on the Spanish government to rethink the creation of the new route.

"There is an exclusion zone that is ignored already and now they are going to create a new route that slices it in two," Pilar Marcos, head of Greenpeace Spain's coastal campaign, told Spanish newspaper El Pais.
The Merchant Marine department of Spain's Public Works ministry has admitted that it "does not consider the said route to be necessary" but cannot prohibit its use.
Instead it will urge freighters to reduce their speed during the crossing to 13 knots and post lookouts on deck to "avoid collisions with cetaceans".
Spain's Center for Conservation, Information & Research on Cetaceans (CIRCE) has said there have already been four documented collisions in the waters at the mouth of the Mediterranean.
"In 2002 we saw one close up. A freighter passed by our side and ran into a sperm whale, which was left expelling jets of blood," said Renaud de Stephanis, president of CIRCE.
"The new route could cause a significant increase in the number of collisions between fast ferries and these species," he said.

Read More

Morocco has blocked the entry of seven Spanish journalists into Western Sahara following the killing of a young demonstrator there by Moroccan police

Morocco has blocked the entry of seven Spanish journalists into Western Sahara following the killing of a young demonstrator there by Moroccan police, Spanish media reported Tuesday.
Moroccan government sources accused the Western Sahara independence movement Polisario and its backer Algeria of using journalists to politicise social demands by protestors who have set up a tent camp near the Saharan capital Laayoune.
The Moroccan airline Royal Air Maroc cancelled the tickets of the Spanish journalists as they were preparing to fly from the Moroccan city of Casablanca to Laayoune, the daily El Mundo said.
The journalists were given no clear explanation for the cancellation.
Morocco perceives Spanish media as often siding with Polisario, government sources told the German Press Agency dpa. They accused Algeria of using Spanish journalists in a 'media war' against Morocco.
Morocco annexed Western Sahara after the colonial power Spain withdrew from there in 1975.
The Spanish journalists were prevented from flying into Laayoune following the killing of 14-year-old Najem el-Guareh near the protest camp on Sunday.
The incident occurred when two cars tried to force their way through a police checkpoint, the Moroccan Interior Ministry said Tuesday.
The people travelling in the cars included Ahmed Daoudi, a known criminal who was transporting weapons, according to the communique. Daoudi was planning to take vengeance of the protestors, who had expelled him from their camp, the ministry said.
The occupants of one of the cars opened fire, forcing police to respond, according to the communique.
However, camp residents quoted by the Spanish daily El Pais denied that the car occupants had opened fire.
El-Guareh was shot. Several others, including Daoudi, were reportedly injured. At least one of the victims was reported in a serious condition.
The demonstrators are demanding social improvements such as better housing. Morocco has cut down on the construction of social housing because of the economic crisis. Low-level or overcrowded housing is a problem all over the country, according to analysts in Rabat.
The Western Saharan demonstrators, however, are also accusing Morocco of using the desert region's natural resources such as fisheries to its own benefit.
The protest was taking separatist undertones, though it was not initially associated with Polisario, El Pais said.
The incidents in Laayoun coincided with the visit to Morocco of United Nations Western Sahara envoy Christopher Ross, who stressed the need to lower tension when meeting King Mohammed VI on Monday.
Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez also asked the Moroccan authorities to maintain contacts with the camp leaders in order to prevent violent incidents.
Morocco says there are about 1,000 demonstrators at the camp, which began to be set up on October 9. Spanish reports, however, put their number at more than 10,000.
More than 100 people protested against the UN Western Sahara force Minurso in Tifariti in a buffer zone between Morocco and Algeria on Monday, accusing it of not protecting human rights, El Pais reported.
The UN-sponsored talks between Morocco and Polisario are due to be relaunched in early November.
Polisario's 16-year war against Morocco ended in a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1991. However, the planned referendum on independence was never put into practice by Morocco.
Rabat is now proposing to grant Western Sahara an autonomy status. Polisario rejects that option and continues insisting on the referendum on independence.

Read More

official complaint against the Rock’s reclamation projects.

SANCHEZ CALLS ON BRUSSELS TO INVESTIGATE GIB RECLAMATION PROJECTS
Mayor of La Linea Alejandro Sánchez yesterday presented a 100 page document to the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee in Brussels detailing an official complaint against the Rock’s reclamation projects. According to Sr Sánchez the paper “will show the damage to La Linea’s beaches given the proximity of these projects,” while noting the alleged absence or notification of any environmental impact assessment into the neighbouring coastline.
Additionally, Sr Sánchez also refers to other “hidden reclamation projects which will come to fruition soon,” that could have further effects “on the marine fauna, flora and environment.”

The complaint also calls for the setting up of a commission of investigation to establish whether there have been any breaches of EU laws by Gibraltar.

Read More

HOTEL and real estate group, Jale have lost control of the famous Incosol hotel in Marbella

HOTEL and real estate group, Jale have lost control of the famous Incosol hotel in Marbella as well as three others in Cadiz and Cordoba. A judge in Cadiz has left the management of the hotel in the hands of the members of the insolvency administration and the owner of the hotels, Inmobiliaria Amuerga, will receive no money at all.

Incosol is run by Jale Medical Spa Corporate SL although there is no contract to prove this and the money taken, which amounted to €11.7m in 2008, is kept by this company. The judge reports that there was €7.5m worth of unjustified personnel and external services expenses. Amuerga, however, claimed that this situation was known by the insolvency administration.

Now, the creditor will be able to appoint someone to directly run each one of the hotels so that expenses can be properly controlled.

Staff at the hotels, and trade unions, are happy with the sentence, which may be appealed, because it means they will remain open and they will be paid the wages which they are owed.

Read More

official complaint against the Rock’s reclamation projects.

SANCHEZ CALLS ON BRUSSELS TO INVESTIGATE GIB RECLAMATION PROJECTS
Mayor of La Linea Alejandro Sánchez yesterday presented a 100 page document to the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee in Brussels detailing an official complaint against the Rock’s reclamation projects. According to Sr Sánchez the paper “will show the damage to La Linea’s beaches given the proximity of these projects,” while noting the alleged absence or notification of any environmental impact assessment into the neighbouring coastline.
Additionally, Sr Sánchez also refers to other “hidden reclamation projects which will come to fruition soon,” that could have further effects “on the marine fauna, flora and environment.”

The complaint also calls for the setting up of a commission of investigation to establish whether there have been any breaches of EU laws by Gibraltar.

Read More

Kuwaiti investments in Morocco reached about 8 billion dirhams ($1 billion)

Kuwaiti investments in Morocco reached about 8 billion dirhams ($1 billion) in various sectors, Morocco's Economy and Finance Minister Salaheddine Mezouar said on Thursday.

These investments significantly increased with a tendency for more sectoral diversification, Mezouar told the press following the signing ceremony of four agreements to reinforce the Moroccan-Kuwaiti cooperation, under the chairmanship of HM King Mohammed VI and HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The Moroccan official added that Kuwait is one of the Kingdom's main partners in terms of funding development projects in Morocco (ports, highways, electricity, high speed rail, dams…).

The Moroccan-Kuwaiti agreements signed on Thursday reflect the deep and sound bilateral relations, he said, underlining that the two countries are willing to further boost trade exchanges which do not live up to their expectations.

The contribution of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development to development projects in Morocco increased to 1.2 billion dollars, said on Thursday in Rabat the Fund's managing director, Abdelwahab Ahmed Al-Badr.

The Fund has signed 36 agreements as part of the Moroccan-Kuwaiti cooperation, he told the press after the signing ceremony of four agreements on bilateral cooperation under the chairmanship of HM King Mohammed VI and the Amir of Kuwait HH Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Abdelwahab Ahmed Al-Badr added that the Kuwait Fund will, under these agreements, finance a development project on the transmission of electricity worth 20 million Kuwaiti dinars, as well as a high-speed train project, with a contribution of 40 million Kuwaiti dinars.

Cooperation between the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development and Morocco's electricity utility, known by its French acronym ONE, stood at 1.011 billion dirhams ($125 mln) under the form of four loans.

These loans contributed, since 1975, to the funding and building of the central thermal of Kenitra, the Al Wahda central hydroelectric power plant, the hydraulic complex of Dchar El Oued-Aït Messaoud, and the implementation of the fourth phase of the comprehensive rural electrification programme, the ONE said in a statement.

The two parties signed another agreement worth 660 million dirhams, on Thursday in Rabat, during the official visit of HH the Amir of Kwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The agreement aims to reinfoirce the network of electricity transmission in the southern provinces.

Read More

jet owned by a senior executive in the US firm which has bought Liverpool Football Club was chartered by the CIA and used

jet owned by a senior executive in the US firm which has bought Liverpool Football Club was chartered by the CIA and used in flights allegedly linked to the rendition of terror suspects.
The plane is owned by Phillip Morse, 69, the vice-chairman of New England Sports Ventures, which bought the club on Friday for £300million.
An investigation has established that between 2002 and 2005 the CIA chartered the plane from Mr Morse for millions of pounds and made extensive use of it.Guantanamo Bay to Morocco on March 27 2004 and a journey from Guantanamo to Romania and Morocco on April 12 2004 to the abduction of al Qaeda operatives Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri, Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Mustafa al-Hawsawi.

Abduction link: Mr Morse's jet with the Red Sox logo on its tail fin
All four men were reportedly transferred from Guantanamo to foreign prisons in March and April 2004. The CIA subsequently admitted that it has video footage of al-Shibh under interrogation in a Morocco black prison.
The plane’s flight records show it also made a series of visits to RAF Leuchars in Scotland and also landed at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Luton airports.
Located by The Mail on Sunday at his home in Florida on Friday night, Mr Morse confirmed the arrangement with the CIA. He said: ‘Yeah, that’s true.’
But he insisted he had stopped renting the plane to the agency after he became aware of the rendition of Mr Omar.
He said: ‘The plane is still chartered. It’s just not chartered to the CIA.’
He said he became aware of the investigation into Mr Omar’s abduction in early 2005 and at that point he stopped hiring the jet to the CIA.
He said: ‘I didn’t know anything at the time. I don’t know that it’s ever been verified.’
Mr Morse, a partner in NESV, made his fortune from a company he founded which makes tubes used in heart surgery.
In 2002 he bought a ten per cent stake in NESV, which experts believe was valued at £26million at the time.
Mr Morse bought the white Gulfstream IV in 1995.
Clara Gutteridge of Reprieve said: ‘Questions have now been raised about the involvement of Mr Morse’s plane N85VM in three illegal rendition operations, and Reprieve is actively investigating its involvement in a number of further “transfers to torture”.
‘In light of these revelations, I hope very much that Mr Morse’s moral fibre is of the same high calibre as his bank balance.
‘I therefore look forward to Mr Morse’s full co-operation with our investigations into the clandestine activities of this executive jet. If Mr Morse fails to assist in investigations, this would raise serious questions as to his fitness to own Liverpool Football Club.’
Overseas tycoons now own nine of the 20 Premier League clubs. A NESV UK spokesman said: ‘Phillip is a passive investor in NESV and is not involved in our work here in the UK. Phillip addressed these questions publicly back in 2005, and any further inquiries about the use of his private plane are really a matter for Phillip.’






Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1321244/CIA-paid-Liverpool-buyout-tycoons-millions--use-jet-torture-flights.html#ixzz12iAvW5fw

Read More

Moroccan investigations have revealed that the terrorist network al-Qaeda is aiding international drug cartels

Moroccan investigations have revealed that the terrorist network al-Qaeda is aiding international drug cartels in securing logistics in the Northern African country to export drugs to Europe.

On Friday, Morocco’s Interior Minister, Taib Cherkaoui, revealed details of the relationship between al-Qaeda and drug cartels, which he described as “obvious”. The interior ministry’s recently cracked down on a group with 34 members involved in selling drugs.

“Through security investigation, it has been found that there are direct relations between international drug networks and al-Qaeda, and they use Moroccan’s desert and coast as a base for their operations,” Cherkaoui said.
He also added that the drug lords are mainly from Colombia, Venezuela and Spain and have a “good” relationship with al-Qaeda in the North African country.

Read More

Morocco's government says police have dismantled an international drug trafficking ring

Morocco's government says police have dismantled an international drug trafficking ring bringing cocaine and marijuana from South America to Africa and on to Europe.
Taieb Cherqaoui says 34 people were arrested, including a Spaniard who led the group out of Morocco.
Cherqaoui told a news conference Friday that the ring had ties with al-Qaida's North African affiliate, known as AQIM, as well as Latin American drug cartels.
Cherqaoui said the group had smuggled 600 kilograms of cocaine into Morocco between March and August of this year.
He said the drugs were brought from Colombia and Venezuela to Africa, stored in northern Mali, then taken through the desert to markets in Morocco and Europe.

Read More

12 people were killed when former Tuareg rebels backed by Malian government forces clashed with heavily armed drug smugglers

12 people were killed when former Tuareg rebels backed by Malian government forces clashed with heavily armed drug smugglers ferrying cocaine across the Sahara desert, Malian officials said on Sunday.

Several smugglers were captured in the clash, which took place on Thursday about 100 km (60 miles) from the town of Kidal in northern Mali, a local government official said.

"Drug traffickers transporting cocaine from Morocco towards Egypt clashed with (former Tuareg rebel leader Ibrahim Ag) Bahanga and his men, who were given material support by the army," said the official, asking not to be named.

"About a dozen" people died in the clash and a number of traffickers were arrested, the official said. Another official confirmed the incident but could give no further details.

Nomadic Tuareg rebels took up arms in northern Mali in 2007 to fight for a greater share of the country's resources. A peace deal ended that conflict, but drug smugglers and Islamists still operate in the desert, ignoring national borders.

Islamists have risen to prominence over the last year with a string of kidnappings and have received millions of dollars in ransom payments, security sources say.

The al Qaeda-linked Islamist group known as AQIM is currently holding seven foreigners, five of them French citizens, who it kidnapped from a uranium-mining town in neighbouring Niger.

Countries in the Sahel-Sahara region are finding it difficult to overcome their strained relations and unite in the fight against AQIM, and the former Tuareg rebels have said they are ready to take on the Islamists for the government.

No formal agreements have been reached since they made the offer but the latest clash shows that there is some cooperation with the Malian armed forces on the ground.

Under the peace deal that ended their conflict with the Malian army, some Tuareg rebels were due to be integrated into army units to provide security for the north.

Read More

Probability has been awarded a remote gambling licence by the government of Gibraltar

Probability has been awarded a remote gambling licence by the government of Gibraltar, the first new licence since 2008.

Cohen called the Gibraltar licence “the icing on the cake” not just because it places the company among a “prestigious group of egaming businesses, but because it provides us with access to a skilled workforce and more efficient, competitive tax and cost regime”.

There are currently 19 other companies with a remote gambling licence in Gibraltar including Ladbrokes, 888.com, PartyGaming and William Hill. The company said the move would bring both commercial benefits and “significant on-going cost savings and improved operational margins” as the business expands.

Glenn Elliott, the company's chief operating officer has relocated to Gibraltar and taken up the role of managing director of Probability (Gibraltar) Limited. Elliott has resigned his position on the board of Probability with immediate effect in order to take up this appointment.

John Anderson has also been appointed as non-executive chairman of Probability (Gibraltar) Limited. Anderson has been non-executive director of 888 Holdings since January 2007and was its chief executive for seven years. He is also chairman of the Interactive Gaming Council and a board member of the international player protection and standards organisation eCOGRA and a director of online bookmaker 10Bet as well as being chairman of Burford holdings, a privately held property investment company.

Read More

Gibraltar is now recognised globally as an online gambling centre and continues to highlight it's credibility.

Gibraltar is now recognised globally as an online gambling centre and continues to highlight it's credibility.
While not quite the glamorous destination of the Mediterranean gambling mecca Monaco Gibraltar has gained a reputation as the place where sophisticated online gambling companies have based their operations. Rising from reclaimed land on the Rock's west side, Europort has become home to some of the world's most trusted and reliable gaming firms.

Back as far as 1998 Victor Chandler from the U.K. moved a segment of it's operation to Gibraltar in order to give customers an advantage by not having to pay a gambling duty or VAT in the U.K. When Ladbrokes moved their online and telephone segments there the government in the U.K. removed the gambling tax in order to keep more companies from following suit.

Gibraltar can now boast as many as 20 online betting and gaming firms employing an estimated 2000 people. The gambling industry represents Europort's largest employer and tenants.

Former trade and industry minister, and now a partner at Hassans law firm, Peter Montegriffo, commented that regulation has come with careful and researched progress, He said, "There is a certain reputation risk that comes with gambling," Montegriffo continued, "The other consideration is that Gibraltar is a small place , we did not want one single activity to become too big," "Gibraltar never set out to become a centre of online gaming,” explained Montegriffo, " However, the industry has developed a momentum all of its own."

The fear of one industry being too big and an economy such as Gibraltar's have most of it's eggs in one basket is real and imposing. When America shredded the online gambling industry Gibraltar was one country that was severely affected by the prohibition. Fortunately online gambling companies have recovered somewhat from the USA melt down and the jurisdiction is still maintaining a strong hold on the industry. Various online gaming operators are still looking at Gibraltar as the best place to do their business from.

Read More

Probability plc, a software producer that specializes in developing mobile casino games, has left Aldernary and is on its way to Gibraltar

Probability plc, a software producer that specializes in developing mobile casino games, has left Aldernary and is on its way to Gibraltar, becoming the first online gambling company to receive a new license from the jurisdiction since 2008.
Probability says the move will allow them to save costs and improve operational margins. The company is expanding thanks to a recent explosion of interest in mobile phone gambling. Recent revenue growth is also attributable to increased spending on marketing and customer retention.

Wagers on Probability’s mobile casino games were up 55 per cent in September over April, with total cash deposited by players up 27 per cent over the same period. The group’s sites also saw an 11 per cent rise in players.

The latest product update released by Probability was the addition of iPhone casino games. The product, called ‘Touch Casino’, was launched in July. The group says that 12 per cent of all cash deposits already come from iPhone users.

The new Gibraltar license means that mobile gambling sites powered by Probability software, like LadyLucks Mobile Casino, can now be included on the UK’s famous “white list” of trusted gambling sites.

Charles Cohen, CEO of Probability, explains that further growth can be expected. “There remains a huge amount of opportunity for us as consumers shift their behaviour towards mobile devices such as the iPhone, Android and tablets such as the iPad and Blackberry’s recently announced PlayBook. You are going to see Probability making a strong play into all of these devices and markets.”

Shares in Probability plc reached a 52 week high of 60.50 pence after the announcement was made.

Read More

Gibraltar Private Bank and Trust Co. on Friday was served with a cease and desist order from regulators, citing unsound banking practices

Gibraltar Private Bank and Trust Co. on Friday was served with a cease and desist order from regulators, citing unsound banking practices related to its Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering policies and procedures, as well as problem loans.
The privately held Coral Gables-based bank, which caters to doctors, lawyers and other professionals and entrepreneurs, has had clients affected by the economic downturn, said Steve Hayworth, Gibraltar's founder, chairman and chief executive.
``Clearly over the last few years it's been a difficult environment for all Florida banks -- all banks really,'' Hayworth said.
Yet given its well-heeled niche, it's ``very surprising'' to be given a formal regulatory enforcement action, said Miami-based economist and independent banking consultant Ken Thomas.
``It shows how difficult this banking environment is, when private banks are being hit with enforcement actions,'' said Thomas, adding that Palm Beach-based Lydian Bank & Trust was also served this year. ``Usually they are conservative lenders and the most conservative bankers, and for them to run afoul of the regulators in any way is very unusual.''
Among Gibraltar's clients was the now defunct law firm of Scott Rothstein, who pleaded guilty in January to racketeering charges in masterminding a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
Rothstein also acquired a 5 percent stake in the bank in September 2009 when Hayworth led an investor group in buying Gibraltar back from Boston Private Financial Holdings. Those shares are now in the hands of the federal government.
Hayworth said Gibraltar is taking the enforcement action, its first ever, ``very seriously.'' The bank has already taken several steps to comply with the order, including beefing up its Bank Secrecy Act staff, both in the level of experience and number of personnel, Hayworth said.
Gibraltar has also ramped up the loan workout department that it created last year, adding more staff during the first half of this year.
And the bank has hired its first in-house general counsel, who has a strong Bank Secrecy Act and compliance background, Hayworth said. And it has enhanced its training program related to the Bank Secrecy Act.
Among other requirements of the 16-page order, Gibraltar is barred from granting any dividends without regulatory approval, and it shall not change any senior executive officer or director's compensation or benefits agreement without notifying regulators.
Founded in 1994, Gibraltar had $1.6 billion in assets on June 30, 2010, and $732 million in assets under management. The bank posted a net loss of $805,000 during the second quarter, primarily due to provisions for loan losses.
Though final results for the third quarter are not yet out, Hayworth said non-performing loans dropped during the period by 28 percent, from $95 million to $68 million, or to less than 5 percent of total assets.
``This is an environment where there are obviously some challenges, asset quality being one of them,'' Hayworth said. ``There is still a huge need for quality private banking and wealth management services.''


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/16/1876268/coral-gables-private-bank-gibraltar.html#ixzz12i7jn9Vh

Read More

Spanish fisheries protection vessel entered our waters and inspected a vessel’s papers

May of last year we had the first incident of a different and more serious kind. That was when a Spanish fisheries protection vessel entered our waters and inspected a vessel’s papers. This was therefore not just a case of incursion, but also of exercising executive competence and policing powers in our territorial waters. During the last 18 months we have been making it clear to both London and Madrid that this new Spanish behaviour was not consistent with, and was bound to impact on, the viability of co-operation in matters relating to waters.

The incident of 28th September was the first of an even more serious kind, in which the Guardia Civil, by the threat and use of physical force against RGP officers, prevented them from exercising the RGP’s powers and jurisdiction in our own waters. In the process, they enabled, assisted and indeed secured the escape onto the Guardia Civil launch of a person who was already under the lawful arrest and physical custody of the RGP. This they achieved by the use of physical force against RGP Officers. They then took away to Spain, in the Guardia Civil launch, the person whose escape from arrest they had themselves achieved, ignoring RGP requests to return him to their custody.

Read More

Gibraltar’s application to establish a World Trade Centre (WTC)

Gibraltar’s application to establish a World Trade Centre (WTC) has been approved by the WTC Association at the conclusion of its Annual General Assembly in China, making it the 335th licence to be awarded across the globe to develop international trade.

The unanimous vote by WTC members in favour came after close scrutiny of the credentials and development plans submitted by Greg Butcher, the entrepreneur behind the large-scale mixed use Ocean Village project.

Read More

NO to the reclamation in Gibraltar.

mayor of La Linea Alejandro Sanchez and his PP council members have again been trying to stir anti-Gibraltar feelings in La Linea. On this occasion through a leaflet that was produced by the 'ayuntamiento' and distributed in the border town.

The leaflet carried a banner headline which said NO to the reclamation in Gibraltar.

It then asked: Till when? To where?

It is not right that Gibraltar should expand its territory at La Linea's expense - that was the message.

The line taken was that the reclamation projects were affecting La Linea's beaches, which they claimed were 'disappearing'.

It is amazing how excited they can get when they think they can knock the Rock.

Yet, there have been huge reclamation projects over the Campamento and Algeciras areas, gaining land from the waters of the bay - and Sanchez & Co have remained dutifully silent.

Read More

British and Spanish naval and police boats have been involved in a series of face-offs in the waters off Gibraltar, around which Britain claims

The government has declined to take further action on Saturday after a letter from Gibraltar called for the Royal Navy to deploy ships to confront Spanish "incursions" into the waters of the disputed territory.
Gibraltar's Chief Minister Peter Caruana said on Thursday he had written to Foreign Secretary William Hague asking him "to take effective action to uphold Her Majesty?s Sovereignty of British Gibraltar Territorial Waters."
He wanted this to include "the systematic deployment and intervention of the Royal Navy in support and protection" of police.
But while acknowledging receipt of the letter, a spokesman for the Foreign Office said: "The Royal Navy is already present and their role is well-defined already."
Since last year, British and Spanish naval and police boats have been involved in a series of face-offs in the waters off Gibraltar, around which Britain claims a strip of water measuring three nautical miles (5.5 kilometres).
The most recent incident came last month when Gibraltar police said they were pursuing a suspect and Spanish officers used "physical aggression" to stop them.
Spain does not recognise any waters off Gibraltar as belonging to the territory, apart from its ports.
Gibraltar, which Spain ceded to Britain in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht, has long caused tensions between the two countries.
Madrid says it should be returned to Spanish sovereignty, but its residents overwhelmingly rejected an Anglo-Spanish proposal for co-sovereignty in a referendum in 2002.

Read More

DutchNews.nl - Netherlands and Morocco sign treaty on criminal investigations

DutchNews.nl - Netherlands and Morocco sign treaty on criminal investigations: "Netherlands and Morocco will today sign a treaty designed at making it easier for the two countries to each other in criminal investigations.
For example, the agreement will make it possible for the Dutch and Moroccan police to ask for evidence or to question witnesses in each other's countries, Nos tv said.
Justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin has described the treaty as a 'breakthrough'.
Every year, the Netherlands asks Morocco to help it in hundreds of criminal investigations, usually to do with drugs smuggling, money laundering, violence or suspected terrorism."

Read More

Euro Weekly News | Two held on drugs charges linked to Italian Mafia | Costa del Sol | News | The Largest English Language Newspapers in Spain

Euro Weekly News | Two held on drugs charges linked to Italian Mafia | Costa del Sol | News | The Largest English Language Newspapers in Spain: "POLICE have arrested seven people who were caught unloading 700 kilos of hashish from a recreational boat in Malaga. An eighth person was arrested in Barcelona. Two of the detainees are associated with the Neapolitan Camorra and were under investigation by the French and Italian police for smuggling drugs from Morocco while pretending to be fishing.
They had several boats which they kept in Montenegro, Serbia. One of the detainees owned a nautical company in Velez Malaga from where they would head to Morocco and return with the drugs hidden in special compartments.
When police were tipped off that they were on their way to pick up a large quantity of drugs, a trap was set up with Malaga Tax Agency to catch them as they unloaded the drugs intending to take them to a nearby warehouse.
The investigation, carried out by Italian, French, British and Spanish police, also resulted in a boat, four vehicles, a laptop computer, several mobile phones, documents and €7,000 in cash being confiscated"

Read More

Investigations led to the arrest of seven members of this criminal network, including two Spaniards, who were in possession of large sums of money

Home: Morocco dismantles drug trafficking criminal network, Interior Ministry: "As part of efforts made by the Moroccan authorities to fight organized crime in all its forms, security services have managed to dismantle a dangerous criminal network operating in Morocco.
The network, which has branches in Latin America, Europe and Africa, is specialized in the trafficking of hard drugs (cocaine) and chira, transported to Europe by land, sea and air, a statement of the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.
Investigations led to the arrest of seven members of this criminal network, including two Spaniards, who were in possession of large sums of money in foreign and Moroccan currencies, vehicles used in the trafficking of hard drugs in Morocco, quantities of cocaine and chira, and tear gases.
The investigations also revealed that the members of this network, led by criminals of foreign nationalities, were able to transport large quantities of cocaine from Mali to Morocco, while the rest was transferred to European countries, the same source added.
The members were also able to smuggle large sums of money in foreign currency abroad.
The network made of Mali a platform for its criminal activities in collusion with terrorist elements belonging to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
The probe is still underway and the people involved in these criminal acts will be brought to justice, the statement said."

Read More

French bank Credit Agricole exits Morrocan Attijariwafa Bank | TradingMarkets.com

French bank Credit Agricole exits Morrocan Attijariwafa Bank | TradingMarkets.com: "French bank Credit Agricole (EPA:ACA) has disposed of its 1.44% in Morrocan Attijariwafa Bank (CAS:ATW) to holding company SNI for an unrevealed price, French daily, Les Echos, wrote on Monday, citing press reports from Morroco. Credit Agricole still owns in Morocco the majority of local lender Credit du Maroc (CAS:CDM), the French daily said. Country: , Morocco Sector: Banking/Financial Services Target: Vendor: Credit Agricole SA Type: Divestment Status: Closed"

Read More

Spain has made it clear she wants to return to sovereignty negotiations

"Spain has made it clear she wants to return to sovereignty negotiations - despite the tripartite talks!

At the UN last week, the message was clear: Spain wants dialogue, of the wrong kind.

Spain reiterated a firm desire to resume direct conversations with the UK.

Where does that leave the Gibraltar Government?

The Spanish attack followed the pattern of the past:

*The colonial situation in Gibraltar ran counter to the Charter of the United Nations

*The principle of self-determination was not applicable to the decolonisation of Gibraltar

The Gibraltar Government has been dismissing the Spanish stance, while Britain has been backing the Gibraltar line."

Read More

Pure Power hires Gibraltar as AOR - PRWeek US

Pure Power hires Gibraltar as AOR - PRWeek US: "Pure Power, a Singapore-based clean technology and biofuels company, hired Gibraltar Associates as its AOR.
The firm, which began working on the account in June, is providing IR, media relations, shareholder communications, and social media counsel. The company is focusing on outreach to North America markets although it is planning for a global push, as well. It was not a competitive bid."

Read More

Los Barrios vows to free Jorge Cano and Juan José Ramirez Ruíz | dscriber

Los Barrios vows to free Jorge Cano and Juan José Ramirez Ruíz | dscriber: "On Monday evening, the people of Los Barrios gathered at the town's cinema to form an action group to fight for the release of Jorge Cano and Juan José Ramirez Ruíz in the wake of an appeal court ruling last week in Tangier that confirmed their three-year jail sentence for drug trafficking as well as a fine of 170,000 euros. Andalucía's ombudsman, José Chamizo, called the court's decision an 'outrage,' claiming there was no strong evidence against the pair. Moreover, he said evidence also proves their innocence, suggesting the conviction of the pair was politically motivated.
The Plataforma Cívica de 'Libertad para Jorge y Juan José' was established by the residents of Los Barrios with the specific purpose of achieving their release and return home. The pair have been held since June 5. That's when their boat was rescued by a Moroccan patrol after they became lost whilst fishing in fog. The two drifted to the North African country's shoreline."

Read More

Betfair May Be The Next Gambling Group To Leave The UK - Gamblingkingz.com

Betfair May Be The Next Gambling Group To Leave The UK - Gamblingkingz.com: "After confirming last week that it would be going ahead with planned flotation on the London Stock Exchange valued at £1.5 billion, Betfair has apparently drawn up a contingency plan that could see the group move its operations to Gibraltar.
Rumours are high that Betfair will follow in the footsteps of its rival William Hill in a bid to save millions of pounds in taxes.
By operating offshore, Betfair will also be free of the heavy 10% horseracing levy that all bookies in the United Kingdom are subject to.
Gross Profit Tax (GPT) in Gibraltar is only 3%, compared to the 15% demanded by the UK government.
Bookmakers have long complained over the government's inaction over offshore gambling sites, as well as ever-increasing taxes on local UK gambling operations."

Read More

Question that investors might like to pose Betfair as its directors tour the City with the aim of securing their backing for its forthcoming float

Question that investors might like to pose Betfair as its directors tour the City with the aim of securing their backing for its forthcoming float: why are you still onshore?

Nearly all of the betting exchange's more traditional rivals have now upped sticks and left for sunnier offshore climes (principally Gibraltar). And it's not hard to see why: by doing this there's no more 20 per cent "gross profits tax" on betting over and above corporation tax and other levies. Nor is there any need to pony up 10 per cent of your profits on horseracing for the racing industry to spend more or less as it sees fit.

Of course, one of the reasons for Betfair remaining onshore is that it remains a controversial company, one that has many enemies. Staying onshore allows it to play the good guy, no bad thing for a business with ambitions to expand into overseas territories with nervous politicians and tightly regulated gambling markets.

But there must come a point where the benefits of being virtually the only onshore internet gambling company of note no longer add up. And you couldn't blame Betfair for departing when that time comes. Just as you can't blame Ladbrokes and William Hill for having made the move. They are, after all, commercial entities. The latter two had, in fact, planned to relocate their telephone and internet betting operations offshore several years ago, not least because they were losing out badly to the likes of Victor Chandler, whose relocation to Gibraltar meant that his punters could place bets over the phone (and the interent) free of the hated betting duty.

Gordon Brown persuaded them to stay put by replacing betting duty with the gross profits tax, stimulating a betting boom and a multimillion-pound tax windfall. A windfall which would be rather useful right now. Trouble is, plenty of bookies (including Victor) stayed put, giving them a huge financial advantage over their onshore rivals. Staying onshore became untenable.

It is not as if the Treasury wasn't warned about this. Unfortunately the last government chose not to listen. And the current government (which will have heard from the same lobbyists while in opposition) also chose not to listen.

As someone who enjoys the occasional flutter, the betting industry's move offshore is great news: I stand to benefit from better prices, and more promotions.

As a taxpayer I'm inclined to ask why successive governments have sat back and allowed millions of pounds in revenue to disappear,. particularly when the Government says it is so hard up that it has to axe child benefit for everyone earning over £45,000.

There are ways for the Government to get some of the lost money back. Gambling is a regulated industry: it would be possible, for example, to require those who offer, and crucially, advertise gambling services to operate and be taxed onshore. Cue howls of outrage from the gambling industry. But, George Osborne, who do you want to bear the pain of deficit reduction? Punters or parents?

Read More

Offshore Gambling,Offshore and online gambling is illegal

Offshore Gambling: "Offshore and online gambling is illegal. There was something called the 'Wire Act' in 1961, which banned all gambling over a telephone, and Congress has stated that internet gambling is similar to gambling over a telephone. In 2006... they passed the 'Unlawful Internet Gambling Act', which banned all gambling on the Internet. Luckily, they're not arresting the people who are actually gambling, but instead, they are going after the companies that are sponsoring the gambling. At the moment, it is illegal for Americans to gamble on the internet."

Read More

worrying implication for sports is that the bookmakers will no longer have to comply with rules requiring them to share information

William Hill's offshore gambling move raises match-fixing fears - Telegraph: "worrying implication for sports is that the bookmakers will no longer have to comply with rules requiring them to share information in cases of suspected corruption.
Bookmakers are required to share information and to alert governing bodies to suspicious betting patterns under the Gambling Act, and the condition is seen as a crucial tool in preventing and detecting betting-related fraud.
Last month the FA banned four players for up to a year for their part in a suspected match-fixing sting in a game between Accrington Stanley and Bury, with the case largely reliant on evidence provided by bookmakers. By contrast, the FA's investigations into other alleged rule breaches involving bets placed with bookmakers based offshore have been stymied by a lack of co-operation.
The Government has appointed an independent panel, including a representative of William Hill, to recommend improvements to the information-sharing regime.
With the bookmaker's online operations now beyond the reach of governing bodies and UK lawmakers, sports fear that they could be more vulnerable."

Read More

Sportingbet shares jump 10pc after settling US gambling case - Telegraph

Sportingbet shares jump 10pc after settling US gambling case - Telegraph: "Sportingbet shares jumped 10pc after the company agreed to pay $33m (£21m) to protect itself from prosecution in the US in a move that is likely to thrust the online gaming group into the takeover spotlight.
The company said it had signed an agreement with legal authorities acting on behalf of the Department of Justice. The deal gives Sportingbet protection after it provided internet gaming services prior to the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in October 2006."

Read More

Sportingbet Forfeits $33 Million in Deal With U.S. Prosecutors - Bloomberg

Sportingbet Forfeits $33 Million in Deal With U.S. Prosecutors - Bloomberg: "Sportingbet Plc rose after the U.K.-listed online betting company reached a non-prosecution agreement with U.S. authorities that would have it forfeit $33 million for its American Internet gambling operations between 1998 and 2006.
Chief Executive Officer Andrew McIver said the step should make it easier for the Guernsey-based company to raise funds, make acquisitions, and resume operations in the U.S. if it legalizes Web gambling. Shares rose as much as 16 percent.
Sportingbet and PartyGaming Plc are the only European online gambling companies to have signed agreements to avoid prosecution by the U.S. Sportingbet agreed to cooperate with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a continuing probe by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office, according to the agreement.
“It removes an overhang from the company,” McIver said in a telephone interview. “We exited the U.S. in October 2006. It’s putting the last of that to bed.”"

Read More

Investors gamble on Delta as co plans offshore casinos - The Economic Times

Investors gamble on Delta as co plans offshore casinos - The Economic Times: "Investors have been accumulating shares of Delta Corp on talks that the company has plans to open a series of offshore casinos along the western coastline. The company is also planning to open gaming rings and casinos in Sri Lanka, people close to the management said.

Apart from its real estate and hospitality businesses, Delta is touted to be the biggest player in casinos and gaming areas. Anticipating a tremendous growth potential, large investors have begun investing in the company in a big way.

The ‘Rar(e)ing Bull’ and his wife, close buddy ‘Old Fox’ and a Mumbai-based wealth management firm partly owned by the bull, are learnt to have picked up a significant stake in the company. Delta shares climbed 8.2% to Rs 79 on the BSE on Thursday."

Read More

Revitalizing California's Potential Online Gaming Regulation | PokerNews

Revitalizing California's Potential Online Gaming Regulation | PokerNews: "California State Sen. Rod Wright withdrew his bill to license and regulate Internet poker within the state in late June because of a lack of support from California's card clubs and Indian casinos, Poker Voters of America has gotten involved to try to revive the legislation.
The organization proposed an amendment to the bill that would set up a mitigation fund that would allocate up to $100,000 annually over five years to each land-based Indian casino, card club and racetrack that may face competition from online poker.
Another proposed amendment would increase the number of licensed operators allowed under the legislation from three to five, which would create more competition to benefit players."

Read More

Gibraltar is considered to be one of the most desirable offshore centres for bookmakers

Gibraltar is considered to be one of the most desirable offshore centres for bookmakers, but there are only nine offshore bookmakers licences and the government is cautious about issuing new ones, perhaps not least because of the danger of overstressing the infrastructure in such a small place.

Recently, however, Gibraltar has had to face the possibility that the betting industry would desert the Rock almost as suddenly as it arrived, when the UK Chancellor, Gordon 'Stealth' Brown, announced changes to the UK's betting tax regime designed to tempt back the bookmaking companies which had jumped ship to escape the UK's 9% betting tax.

The Gibraltar government is currently holding discussions with those UK bookmakers established on the Rock following the British government's announcement. Bookmakers had left the UK precisely to avoid the tax that will be no longer there from the beginning of next year.
Trade and Industry Minister Keith Azopardi said that betting was not a mainstay of the economy, and discarded the idea that there was a crisis scenario.

Opposition leader Joe Bossano said the government had described the arrival of the bookmakers as one of the most important economic development in recent years. What they cannot do, he said, is seek the political credit when they came and then say it is not their fault if they go.

Some in the real estate industry immediately talked of a possible slump, but developers have indicated their optimism, with demand remaining high for accommodation in luxury projects already underway.

'This,' said one developer, "will allow for the market to continue offering affordable accommodation, and be able to give increased luxury accommodation in Gibraltar which after the sell out of the latest developments has seen an increase in the numbers waiting to buy luxury accommodation."

Read More

Fifth Guilt Plea Comes Thursday In Kansas City Online Gambling Case

Fifth Guilt Plea Comes Thursday In Kansas City Online Gambling Case: "Authorities may have caught their biggest fish yet this week when a fifth person of a group running an illegal online sports gambling operation pleaded guilty in federal court. William D. Cammisano Jr. admitted to his guilt on Thursday.

The betting ring had been taking place for several years, and was being run through telephone and Internet communications with an office in Costa Rica. Cammisano admitted to collecting over $1 million in lost bets between 2006 and 2009.

This is not the first time that Cammisano has been in trouble with the law. Back in 1988, he was identified as a high ranking member of an organized crime family in Kansas City. The only higher ranking official at that time, according to the FBI, was Cammisano's father, who was the top mobster in the city.

While the online gambling investigation did not lead to any form of gambling outside of sports, Cammisano had previously been banned from casinos in Missouri back in 1994. That came after he was convicted in federal court back in 1989 for obstruction of justice.

The online gambling case in Kansas City has drawn national attention because of the insistence from federal judge's that gamblers testify. Around a dozen gamblers have been sent to jail for refusing to testify about the site where they were placing their bets. Attorneys for these gamblers tried to invoke their constitutional rights, but they were denied."

Read More

Something’s Just Not Adding Up with the Kentucky Domain Name Case

Something’s Just Not Adding Up with the Kentucky Domain Name Case: "One of the strangest stories I’ve covered over the last several years has been the attempt by the state of Kentucky to seize 141 domain names belonging to internet gambling companies. The state was clearly upset that offshore sites were taking revenue from their casinos and racetracks and they really had no way of stopping their citizens from betting with those sites. After all, there is nothing in U.S. federal law or Kentucky state law that prevents someone from placing a bet, offshore or not. To combat the growing interest in offshore wagering by Kentucky residents, in 2008 Governor Brashear issued a warrant to seize the domain names of 141 sites including many stalwarts like FullTiltpoker.com, Pokerstars.com, WSEX.com and DoylesRoom.com. The reasoning behind the seizure was interesting but also inane. Without going into great detail, the state’s logic was that offshore websites are operating illegally under the Wire act, the Travel Act and possibly the UIGEA. As is the case with any illegal gambling operation, the police can seize all gambling devices used to process those bets. So, if a gambling den is raided in Kentucky, the government has the right to seize slot machines, roulette tables, blackjack tables, cards or money that is being used in the commission of the crime. Obviously the state can’t seize any gambling devices of the offshore sites since they are beyond their reach, nor can they close down the websites since they are operating legally in the jurisdiction where they are licensed. Consequently, the state made the argument that the domain name is a gambling device and subject to seizure."

Read More

policing of British/Gibraltar sovereign waters is controlled by an ideology of political practicality

"Anyone with a memory stretching beyond the last weeks clash between the RGP and our friends at the Guardia Civil, would have little difficulty confirming in their own minds a familiar trait or characteristic in all this, the one that exposes the fact that policing of British/Gibraltar sovereign waters is controlled by an ideology of political practicality.
Political philosophies is clearly the dominate force here; it’s where politics makes its own ‘frequent incursion into policing’ and seriously interferes with the vital policing role connected with this important issue!
The most recent bout of political posturing regarding the policing role in the bay went up a notch or two after last weeks skirmish. As most of us know the Spanish government has always been quite adapted at politicising their police and enforcement agencies, mainly for their own partisan advantage.
Although it’s not just the Spaniards, a lot of politicising of the police concerning this matter has also been prevalent with our own government over the RGP."

Read More

Is Gibraltar Hiking Gambling Tax

Is Gibraltar Hiking Gambling Tax: "A dispute with a neighbouring mayor has brought forth some interesting facts and figures on the British enclave of Gibraltar, a financial services and online gambling jurisdiction at the entrance to the Mediterranean, and adjacent to Spain.

The publication Panorama reports that rumblings about 'The Rock's' involvement in online gambling from the mayor of neighbouring La Linea prompted it to make a few local enquiries regarding the business. The publication approached Dr Joseph Garcia, the leader of the Liberal Party and opposition MP on Gibraltar, asking for information on the turnover and tax paid by online gambling companies domiciled in Gibraltar.

Garcia responded: “We do not have the data on the turnover for the online companies. The latest information is that there are 18 companies based in Gibraltar, employing a total of 1,905 persons as at 18 September 2010, of which 274 are Gibraltarian, 981 are British, 110 are Spanish and 540 have other nationalities.

'There is no information on the tax paid by these companies. Many, if not all of them, have been exempt companies up to now. This is expected to change when the new tax regime comes into effect, where they would be expected to pay 10 percent.”"

Read More

Leading Tory ministers and advisors attend Gibraltar reception in Birmingham — MercoPress

Leading Tory ministers and advisors attend Gibraltar reception in Birmingham — MercoPress: "serious problem with Spain over territorial waters and he highlighted the recent incident where the Spanish police prevented a suspected drug smuggler being arrested by the RGP.
Foreign Secretary William Hague also gave short speech in which he said he had enjoyed visiting The Rock during the European election campaign where he had stated that in Government he would not let Gibraltar down and that now he was, intended to defend Gibraltar’s interests strongly.
The first meeting of the conference was entitled ‘People Power and the Big Society’ chaired by Eric Pickles. As is usual with high profile events, the streets were lined with police. Many had been brought in from neighbouring forces for the event."

Read More