Did Silvia Batista have a conflict of interest acting as an interpreter?

[Robittybob1]

The question of Silvia Batista's (SB) conflict of interest (COI) is raised often and needs to be determined.

There are a range of opinions:
"It is not so improbable when you consider the conflict of interest being dealt with by Silvia Batista.  Head of the OC Childcare services and a child gone missing on her watch."
OR

"Strictly speaking it was outside her remit.
Would you care to delineate this conflict of interest wrt Sra Batista, that you persistently refer to?"

"If I may intrude here - SB was responsible for the people who had access to the apartments & vitally, who had access to the apartment keys on behalf of OC. Is that a conflict of interest?"

"Conflict of interest:
a situation in which a person is in a position to derive personal benefit from actions or decisions made in their official capacity."

"Taking that as a definition it is difficult to see how a conflict of interest existed between her employment as Head of Maintenance and Janitorial Services with OC and providing a service as an interpreter, the disappearance of a child from a building outside the OC compound limits notwithstanding. One would need to look at some contractual relationships together with the full extent of Sr Batista's duties, that is her full job description and terms of employment, in order to gain a full appreciation. I doubt we will lay our hands on any of that.
I do not think it appropriate, apart from potentially being libelous, to speculate about what personal benefit she may have derived in order to satisfy a conflict of interest."

4

[ShiningInLuz]

Can I suggest you get basic facts correct?

From Silvia's statement "until the present date, as a head of maintenance and services.
 The head of maintenance and services, in the area of services, is responsible for the admission of employees and, in the area of maintenance, is responsible for the admission of employees and the good functioning of all equipment of the Ocean Club, including : flats, swimming pools, gardens, fences, etc."

This has nothing to do with childcare, so your starting premise appears to be fatally flawed.

I believe that the overall head of childcare had been changed shortly before the incident, and that the previous occupant, Donna Hill, was not interviewed in 2007.  It seems she was one of those interviewed by Operation Grange in Dec 2014, so one presumes they were interested in the childcare staffing arrangements.

However, you are going to have to start again if you wish to make a case for a conflict of interest between Madeleine McCann going missing and Silvia Batista translating.

[Robittybob1]

Can I suggest you get basic facts correct?

From Silvia's statement "until the present date, as a head of maintenance and services.
 The head of maintenance and services, in the area of services, is responsible for the admission of employees and, in the area of maintenance, is responsible for the admission of employees and the good functioning of all equipment of the Ocean Club, including : flats, swimming pools, gardens, fences, etc."

This has nothing to do with childcare, so your starting premise appears to be fatally flawed.

I believe that the overall head of childcare had been changed shortly before the incident, and that the previous occupant, Donna Hill, was not interviewed in 2007.  It seems she was one of those interviewed by Operation Grange in Dec 2014, so one presumes they were interested in the childcare staffing arrangements.

However, you are going to have to start again if you wish to make a case for a conflict of interest between Madeleine McCann going missing and Silvia Batista translating.

All these aspects will need checking of course.

[Robittybob1]

From Kate's book
"A lady called Silvia, who worked at Ocean Club, had arrived to help out with translations.  We learned later that she was the maintenance and services manager. .... She was very kind and I was glad of her help and support.
What were the services manager's duties?

[John]

The question of Silvia Batista's (SB) conflict of interest (COI) is raised often and needs to be determined.

There are a range of opinions:
"It is not so improbable when you consider the conflict of interest being dealt with by Silvia Batista.  Head of the OC Childcare services and a child gone missing on her watch."
OR

"Strictly speaking it was outside her remit.
Would you care to delineate this conflict of interest wrt Sra Batista, that you persistently refer to?"

"If I may intrude here - SB was responsible for the people who had access to the apartments & vitally, who had access to the apartment keys on behalf of OC. Is that a conflict of interest?"

"Conflict of interest:
a situation in which a person is in a position to derive personal benefit from actions or decisions made in their official capacity."

"Taking that as a definition it is difficult to see how a conflict of interest existed between her employment as Head of Maintenance and Janitorial Services with OC and providing a service as an interpreter, the disappearance of a child from a building outside the OC compound limits notwithstanding. One would need to look at some contractual relationships together with the full extent of Sr Batista's duties, that is her full job description and terms of employment, in order to gain a full appreciation. I doubt we will lay our hands on any of that.
I do not think it appropriate, apart from potentially being libelous, to speculate about what personal benefit she may have derived in order to satisfy a conflict of interest."

There was a clear conflict of interest.  Police interpreters should be totally independent of any persons or prior activity being investigated. What if there had been neglect on behalf of the OC management, using a manager as an interpreter was simply asking for trouble.

Additionally, employing Robert Murat to act as an interpreter must have been really embarassing for them when he later became a suspect.  Using the services of Sra Batista was convenient for them at the time but very unprofessional imo and just one more cock-up to consider.

[Alice Purjorick]

There was a clear conflict of interest.  Police interpreters should be totally independent of any persons or prior activity being investigated. What if there had been neglect on behalf of the OC management, using a manager as an interpreter was simply asking for trouble.

Additionally, employing Robert Murat to act as an interpreter must have been really embarassing for them when he later became a suspect.  Using the services of Sra Batista was convenient for them at the time but very unprofessional imo and just one more cock-up to consider.

So what in your opinion did Silvia Batista or tha OC gain in order to satisfy the alleged conflict of interest ?

[John]

So what in your opinion did Silvia Batista or tha OC gain in order to satisfy the alleged conflict of interest ?

Inside knowledge.  Look at it this way, the parents of the missing child weren't going to question the resort security when a manager was interpreting their every word.

[Robittybob1]

So what in your opinion did Silvia Batista or tha OC gain in order to satisfy the alleged conflict of interest ?

Do you accept that she made the statements recorded in this article?  http://www.infobae.com/2007/08/15/331952-crecen-las-sospechas-contra-los-padres-madeleine/

In particular:
1. "The technical director of the Ocean Club resort, Silvia Batista, stated that the same night that Madeleine disappeared, she personally offered the childcare service "because the hotel is responsible for the children of the clients, but they Rejected ".

2. "According to the director of the housing, " every month have theft records in place, so a nanny service are advised " but even knowing this, Maddie's parents did not accept it "

3.  ""We did not have guilt in the disappearance of small, could not say who was at fault, but ours did not , " said the director, noting that "parents of that child night were very unconcerned" , reason They would not have asked for the babysitting service.

We might need a better translation of the 3rd quote as it doesn't quite make sense as it is.  Do you read Portuguese?

In 3 there are clear hints of a conflict of interest.  She is basically declaring that she and the OC are not guilty, like responsible  for Madeleine's disappearance. Then she goes on to say something like it wouldn't have happened had the parents not refused the babysitting service.
Is Silvia involved in providing the nanny service?  If she personally offered it earlier that day it sounds like she had some involvement in providing the service.

These issues are not raised in her statement yet seem very important to the case.  Why were they not raised with the PJ in her statement?

[misty]

Can I suggest you get basic facts correct?

From Silvia's statement "until the present date, as a head of maintenance and services.
 The head of maintenance and services, in the area of services, is responsible for the admission of employees and, in the area of maintenance, is responsible for the admission of employees and the good functioning of all equipment of the Ocean Club, including : flats, swimming pools, gardens, fences, etc."

This has nothing to do with childcare, so your starting premise appears to be fatally flawed.

I believe that the overall head of childcare had been changed shortly before the incident, and that the previous occupant, Donna Hill, was not interviewed in 2007.  It seems she was one of those interviewed by Operation Grange in Dec 2014, so one presumes they were interested in the childcare staffing arrangements.

However, you are going to have to start again if you wish to make a case for a conflict of interest between Madeleine McCann going missing and Silvia Batista translating.

Donna Hill was spoken to & made some form of statement.

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/KIDS-CLUB-STAFF.htm

Officer responsible: Inspector Manuel Pinho

Description and Result:


On this date, in the company of my colleague L.Madeira, we spoke with Mrs Silvia Maria Correia Ramos B., director of maintenance and services for the company "GREENTROUST", which manages the "OCEAN CLUB" company, contactable by mobile phone 964....

Through her, we contacted Donna Louise Rafferty Hill (contactable by mobile phone number 964...) responsible for the crèche employees belonging to the "MARK WARNER" company, who were responsible for Madeleine and the twins for several periods during the day after their arrival in Portugal.

She told us that all these employees are English nationals and that they work in Portugal from
March/April until November; that there are 13 people who work in the crèche, their names and telephone numbers being as follows: [NOTE: Phone numbers withheld]
- Pauline Francis M.
- Emma Louise W.
- Sarah Elizabeth W.
- Susan Bernadette O.
- Leanne Danielle W.
- Shinead Maria V.
- Jacqueline Mary W.
- Kirsty Louise M.
- Lynne R.F.
- Catriona Treasa Sisile B.
- Stacey P.
- Lyndsay Jayne J.
- Amy Ellen T.

--- It was also determined that all these girls live outside the resort, although quite close to it, and that Catriona B. was responsible for Madeleine during the day yesterday.
--- Stacey P. was the staff member responsible for the McCann twins.
--- Usually, it is always the same nanny who cares for each child.
--- The latest to arrive in Portugal were Sarah W. and Charlotte Pennington who arrived last Saturday, April 28th 2007.
--- The witness is the one responsible for coordination, and who distributed the children between the various girls, allocating each child to one of them.
--- Nothing abnormal happened today and no one was absent from work except those who were on their day off.
--- All the carers have made themselves available to speak with the police.

[misty]

There was a clear conflict of interest.  Police interpreters should be totally independent of any persons or prior activity being investigated. What if there had been neglect on behalf of the OC management, using a manager as an interpreter was simply asking for trouble.

Additionally, employing Robert Murat to act as an interpreter must have been really embarassing for them when he later became a suspect.  Using the services of Sra Batista was convenient for them at the time but very unprofessional imo and just one more cock-up to consider.

I don't believe SB was ever an official police interpreter (for written statements). She gave much-needed assistance to the English-speaking holidaymakers at a critical time when little other linguistic help was forthcoming.

[Robittybob1]

I don't believe SB was ever an official police interpreter (for written statements). She gave much-needed assistance to the English-speaking holidaymakers at a critical time when little other linguistic help was forthcoming.

She interprets the day Amy Tierney makes a statement about the photos.  That is a clear conflict of interest.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/AMY-ELLEN-TIERNEY-1.htm
"Name: Amy Tierney
Has made previous statements in May last year.
Given that she does not speak Portuguese, Silvia Batista acted as interpreter."

[John]

I don't believe SB was ever an official police interpreter (for written statements). She gave much-needed assistance to the English-speaking holidaymakers at a critical time when little other linguistic help was forthcoming.

It can be a difficult balancing act when urgency is required I agree.

[misty]

She interprets the day Amy Tierney makes a statement about the photos.  That is a clear conflict of interest.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/AMY-ELLEN-TIERNEY-1.htm
"Name: Amy Tierney
Has made previous statements in May last year.
Given that she does not speak Portuguese, Silvia Batista acted as interpreter."

Fair enough - but that was a year after the disappearance.

[Robittybob1]

Fair enough - but that was a year after the disappearance.

A very controversial statement though.  I wouldn't say all on this forum would accept what Amy says in it is fact.
I think Silvia would have been controlling the dialogue.  It has never been explained how Bridget O'Donnell got the photo of Madeleine so soon.  Was this photo one of the ones produced by Amy Tierney?

[John]

As an aside, why was Joao Carlos pursuing issues about the photos in any event?