Gonçalo Amaral confirms he will appeal the damages decision to higher Court.

[faithlilly]

Portugal Resident
Natasha Donn
September 22, 2015

Appeal to raise money for Maddie cop’s legal costs gets huge cash boost

An anonymous group of Portuguese “business and legal workers” have ploughed over €5,500 (£4000) into the online appeal, set up by a young single mother to raise money for beleaguered ex-Maddie cop Gonçalo Amaral. Amaral’s appeal against the €600,000 in damages awarded against him in the civil case taken out by the parents of missing Madeleine is due to be decided by Lisbon’s Appellate Court “any day now”.

The cash boost has brought the Legal Defence for Gonçalo Amaral to over €65,000 (£47,010).

Donated in the Portuguese language, the text claims to be from “an anonymous group of business and legal workers who are appalled by what has happened”.

It continues: “Portugal and Britain are old allies, but the McCanns and the British gutter press have tried to drive a wedge between us.

“We can all see what they are trying to do, freezing Dr Amaral’s assets to prevent him from defending himself, whilst using the donated millions to sue him.

“That is not justice. It is not right.

“The McCanns lost five out of the seven issues, but the British press has not reported that, nor the strong terms used by the judge against their so called ‘evidence’.

“They have to pay 60% of the costs, but the British press has not reported that” either, the text continues, stressing that “this small donation is to ensure that this act of hate and venom does not succeed”.

The donation - arriving in the legal fund early on Tuesday morning - has been widely shared on social media where a veritable avalanche of support for Amaral has accompanied him for the past eight years. But so far it has been ignored by the British mainstream media.

As to the former PJ detective’s appeal against the ruling that effectively orders him to pay the McCann’s over €600,000 in damages, that is advancing now through the Appellate Court in Lisbon.

As a friend of the former detective’s explained, “it is not a public process. There is no court date.

“At some point, the judges reach a verdict and then they communicate that verdict to all parties. There is however no deadline. It may take weeks or months until we hear anything”.

natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
http://portugalresident.com/appeal-to-r ... qNHsV.dpuf

[Carana]

It seems that they're no longer too keen on funding legal defence causes, either.

In 2015 GoFundMe announced that the site would no longer support legal defense funds on their platform. [16] The news came after the site suspended funding for the defense of Sweet Cakes by Melissa. a bakery that was fined for refusing to bake a cake for a same sex couple. [16]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoFundMe#cite_note-Sweetcakes-16

[pegasus]

Has any attempt been made to calculate how much Amaral will need?

I assume that his anticipated legal costs have been quite accurately estimated for various scenarios.

[Carana]

Portugal Resident
Natasha Donn
September 22, 2015

Appeal to raise money for Maddie cop’s legal costs gets huge cash boost

An anonymous group of Portuguese “business and legal workers” have ploughed over €5,500 (£4000) into the online appeal, set up by a young single mother to raise money for beleaguered ex-Maddie cop Gonçalo Amaral. Amaral’s appeal against the €600,000 in damages awarded against him in the civil case taken out by the parents of missing Madeleine is due to be decided by Lisbon’s Appellate Court “any day now”.

The cash boost has brought the Legal Defence for Gonçalo Amaral to over €65,000 (£47,010).

Donated in the Portuguese language, the text claims to be from “an anonymous group of business and legal workers who are appalled by what has happened”.

It continues: “Portugal and Britain are old allies, but the McCanns and the British gutter press have tried to drive a wedge between us.

“We can all see what they are trying to do, freezing Dr Amaral’s assets to prevent him from defending himself, whilst using the donated millions to sue him.

“That is not justice. It is not right.

“The McCanns lost five out of the seven issues, but the British press has not reported that, nor the strong terms used by the judge against their so called ‘evidence’.

“They have to pay 60% of the costs, but the British press has not reported that” either, the text continues, stressing that “this small donation is to ensure that this act of hate and venom does not succeed”.

The donation - arriving in the legal fund early on Tuesday morning - has been widely shared on social media where a veritable avalanche of support for Amaral has accompanied him for the past eight years. But so far it has been ignored by the British mainstream media.

As to the former PJ detective’s appeal against the ruling that effectively orders him to pay the McCann’s over €600,000 in damages, that is advancing now through the Appellate Court in Lisbon.

As a friend of the former detective’s explained, “it is not a public process. There is no court date.

“At some point, the judges reach a verdict and then they communicate that verdict to all parties. There is however no deadline. It may take weeks or months until we hear anything”.

natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
http://portugalresident.com/appeal-to-r ... qNHsV.dpuf

Why are there two entries by "anonimo anonimo"? Is this a mistake or coincidence? One has a lower case "a" and the other upper case.

[pegasus]

I gathered that.

But why not promote his PJGA fund instead in the first place? How many of his PT fan club glued to Dear Julia's matinée TV show understand English? And what would be the point of getting them to go via a UK site to redirect their spare cash back to PT?

Because the gofundme site is vastly better than the PJGA site.
Donations appear instantly, donators can publically state why they are donating, people can see others 'donations instantly, read why they donated, vote on them, and think "oh I see someone has just donated 8K, I have my card here I think I will donate twenty pounds". There is no such interaction on the PJGA or MFNSLUL sites.

[Lyall]

why not...what a wonderful opportunity to tell the world the truth....masses of free publicity for amaral's cause...the donations would have rolled in...something very much not right here

Well you would say that wouldn't you?

Masses of free publicity? After last year nobody would trust them.

[Anna]

Why are there two entries by "anonimo anonimo"? Is this a mistake or coincidence? One has a lower case "a" and the other upper case.

It is probably for record accuracy. Anonymous is Anonimo in Portuguese. One has written his message in English and the other in Portuguese.

[pegasus]

Portugal Resident ...

10 out of 10 for the Portugal Resident.
Real journalism. Impartial reporting of what is happening.

[misty]

The English girl set it up, didn't she? Could she have set it up via a different country?

I don't see PT listed.

And what's the point when there was already a fund set up?



Is my country supported?

Supported countries and currencies include: United States of America ($USD), United Kingdom (£GBP), Canada ($CAD), Australia ($AUD), and some European Union countries that use the Euro as their official currency (€EUR).



USA & CANADA
UK ONLY
AUSTRALIA ONLY
FRANCE ONLY
INTERNATIONAL
Ireland, United Kingdom, Belgium, Finland,
Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Austria
See Stripe for Ireland's Fees
CHARITIES ONLY

INTERNATIONAL
Ireland, United Kingdom, Belgium, Finland,
Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Austria


What about taxes and stuff?

Unfortunately, we're unable to provide specific tax advice since everyone's situation is different. While this is by no means a guarantee, most donations on GoFundMe are simply considered to be 'personal gifts' which are not taxed as income in the US. Additionally, only donations made to a legally registered non-profit or charity may be considered eligible for donors to claim as a tax deduction. Again, every situation is different so please consult with a tax professional in your area.

Does it cost anything?

While it's free to create and share your online fundraising campaign, GoFundMe will deduct a 5% fee from each donation that you receive. Since our fee is deducted automatically, you'll never need to worry about being billed or owing us any money. A small processing fee of about 3% will also be deducted from each donation. Please see Pricing & Fees for more info.

LB is no longer running it. Who has the Stripe account been transferred to (the one that payments have to go through between GFM & PJGA - the same one which has card details of all its "customers").

[pegasus]

why not...what a wonderful opportunity to tell the world the truth....masses of free publicity for amaral's cause...the donations would have rolled in...something very much not right here

You seem to have forgotten Dave that the cause you are supporting is to prevent Mr Amaral and his supporters publicising their opinions

[Brietta]

In reality the majority of money going to charities is used to pay the salaries of those who do the fundraising.

                                      Not the charities to which I give my active support.

If I contribute to a charity which is doing good work and also has paid employees ... that is my choice ... based on the fact their finances are transparent and subject to annual audit.  One can't be too careful when dealing with other peoples' money particularly solicited donations.

Then again ... it appears that donations to Mr Amaral's fund should not be subject to any transparency whatsoever ... because the people who demand to know how many paper clips Madeleine's Fund has used per annum seem to have declared Mr Amaral's Fund should be scrutiny free.

Actually I'm not too sure about that ... as anyone who has transferred funds or or received funds into their own bank accounts will attest.

[ferryman]

You seem to have forgotten Dave that the cause you are supporting is to prevent Mr Amaral and his supporters publicising their opinions

From publicising libel, you mean?

Quite different ...

[Brietta]

It doesn't actually say that this group of professionals from the business and legal world are Portuguese...

Hmmm ... which would go some way to explaining why the donation was in Sterling and not Euros.

[Alfred R Jones]

Because the gofundme site is vastly better than the PJGA site.
Donations appear instantly, donators can publically state why they are donating, people can see others 'donations instantly, read why they donated, vote on them, and think "oh I see someone has just donated 8K, I have my card here I think I will donate twenty pounds". There is no such interaction on the PJGA or MFNSLUL sites.

Yes, it's far better for propaganda purposes and much easier to manipulate, I agree.

[Alfred R Jones]

You can never know what that organisation is planning, or what anyone else with a camera is planning too (e.g. Kleeman). This time last year who knew what they were about to do?

Do you think donating to the Fund would be construed by the GBP to be in the same league as being a spiteful troll then?