Wandering Off Topic

[ShiningInLuz]

Gabriel Cruz.  Correio da Manhã is reporting, via El Pais in Spain.

http://www.cmjornal.pt/mundo/detalhe/gabriel-cruz-foi-estrangulado-no-dia-em-que-desapareceu?ref=HP_Grupo1

According to El Pais, an autopsy has shown that Gabriel was strangled on the day he went missing.

Ana Julia Quezada, the girlfriend of Gabriel's father, appears on video in the link.  The language is Spanish, but even if your understanding of Spanish is poor, you will get the gist from the visuals.

[kizzy]

surely no amount of money -  is going to find any evidence of abduction.



A response is still awaited from the British Home Office to last month’s request for more funding, which came at a time when the Met, along with police forces throughout the UK, are under severe budget pressure and laying off thousands of officers.

Aside from such pressure, many analysts have described the Operation Grange investigation as a “sham”.

Colin Sutton, a highly respected senior Met detective now in retirement, has been more concise in his criticism.

Last May, around the 10th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance, he said the investigation had been so “restricted” from the start that it was destined to fail.

After being tipped to lead Operation Grange, Colin Sutton was advised against it in a phone conversation with another senior Met officer. He was told that operation Grange would be restricted to the abduction theory.
 
Colin Sutton has not elaborated since last May, but nor has he backtracked on his comments.

He said recently: “I have no reason to change my view that Grange was never a comprehensive reinvestigation of all possible theories and that unless and until it changes that focus it will be doomed to fail.”

http://portugalresident.com/justice-for-madeleine-and-mary

[Mr Gray]

surely no amount of money -  is going to find any evidence of abduction.



A response is still awaited from the British Home Office to last month’s request for more funding, which came at a time when the Met, along with police forces throughout the UK, are under severe budget pressure and laying off thousands of officers.

Aside from such pressure, many analysts have described the Operation Grange investigation as a “sham”.

Colin Sutton, a highly respected senior Met detective now in retirement, has been more concise in his criticism.

Last May, around the 10th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance, he said the investigation had been so “restricted” from the start that it was destined to fail.

After being tipped to lead Operation Grange, Colin Sutton was advised against it in a phone conversation with another senior Met officer. He was told that operation Grange would be restricted to the abduction theory.
 
Colin Sutton has not elaborated since last May, but nor has he backtracked on his comments.

He said recently: “I have no reason to change my view that Grange was never a comprehensive reinvestigation of all possible theories and that unless and until it changes that focus it will be doomed to fail.”

http://portugalresident.com/justice-for-madeleine-and-mary

Colin Sutton has backtracked... In May he said he would look at the case in more, detail... I don't have the exact wording but it's on his blog... He seems to have not followed through with this

[kizzy]

Colin Sutton has backtracked... In May he said he would look at the case in more, detail... I don't have the exact wording but it's on his blog... He seems to have not followed through with this

So if he has looked at it in more detail....what has he come up with.

Or has he not come up with anything, apart from what he said.

[jassi]

So if he has looked at it in more detail....what has he come up with.

Or has he not come up with anything, apart from what he said.

Maybe a work in  progress - rather like OG

[barrier]

Maybe a work in  progress - rather like OG

With only two flights abroad by OG officers up to August of last year,thats a stretch of an imagination.

[Mr Gray]

So if he has looked at it in more detail....what has he come up with.

Or has he not come up with anything, apart from what he said.

he has bactracked on his statement  to look at the case in more detail

[sadie]

So if he has looked at it in more detail....what has he come up with.

Or has he not come up with anything, apart from what he said.

Maybe he has heard something on the grapevine and doesn't publicly like to lose face and back down ? 

[jassi]

With only two flights abroad by OG officers up to August of last year,thats a stretch of an imagination.

With modern technology, a physical presence may not be necessary. After all, it's not as if there is any physical searching.

[John]

Colin Sutton has backtracked... In May he said he would look at the case in more, detail... I don't have the exact wording but it's on his blog... He seems to have not followed through with this

Are you really surprised?  It would be interesting to establish who at the Home Office was responsible for ensuring that Operation Grange would never be a comprehensive reinvestigation of all possible theories.

[misty]

This could well warrant a thread of its own.
I have just noticed that the alleged kidnapping, convicted fraudster Paulo Pereira Cristovao appears to have started work for Goldman Sachs.
Goldman Sachs are currently embroiled in a case with the Portuguese Bank BES over a defaulted loan of a mere €765m.  Make of the appointment what you will.


https://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/10291-goldman-sachs-vs-novo-banco-case-to-be-heard-in-lisbon-not-london

Three London Court of Appeal judges unanimously have ruled that the legal dispute between Novo Banco and the US bank Goldman Sachs will have to be resolved in Portugal and not in the British courts.

This decision overturned a lower court decision in August that stated that the loan set arranged by Goldman Sachs in favour of the former Banco Espírito Santo (BES) just two months before it collapsed, could be heard in London.

Novo Banco, now run by António Ramalho, had argued that the case should be heard in Portugal with Goldman Sachs wanting the case to be judged in London in what it sees as a more competent and skilled framework when dealing with complex financial matters.

Novo Banco today said that the London court agreed with the decision of the Bank of Portugal that the case came under Portuguese law and that the proper place for the action to take place is in Portugal where the Administrative Court of Lisbon now will handle the battle over the €765 million 'disappearing loan.'

The money was credited to BES in June 2014 by Oak Finance, an investment vehicle set up by Goldman Sachs which was made up of several powerful funds.

BES then went bust in August 2014 and after its mutation into Novo Banco, the debt was taken on by Novo Banco as a liability.

In December 2014, the Bank of Portugal, led by Carlos Costa, shifted this liability from the recently refinanced ‘good bank’ Novo Banco to ‘bad bank’, the old BES which had no way of repaying such an amount.

The legal action to recover the debt that Carols Costa had wiped out with his magic wand was filed in the summer of 2015 by the group of international investors in Oak Finance which included a New Zealand state pension fund.

That case was opened after Novo Banco failed to pay the first installment of the loan in question, with the bank chaired by Eduardo Stock da Cunha considering itself free of this responsibility, but due only to some nifty and unethical financial footwork.

Much as the world dislikes Goldmnan Sachs, it has a good case against Novo Banco which, in collusion with the Bank of Portugal, stripped out a loan that was repayable when part of Novo Banco, and in effect was written off when is passed back to the BES ‘bad bank’ which was, and remains, deeply insolvent with billions in liabilities and scant few remaining assets.

Goldman Sachs will not be best pleased that the hearing now will be in Portugal where it rightly assumes that political interference is more likely than in London.
====================================================

 Ex Portuguese PM Barroso is also currently working for Goldman Sachs International as the non-executive chairman.

https://www.expatica.com/pt/news/country-news/AD-Barroso-caught-lobbying-for-Goldman-Sachs-despite-ban_1715959.html
Portugal’s Durão Barroso, former Prime Minister of Portugal, former EC President and current employee of the giant vampire squid, Goldman Sachs, has been caught lobbying on behalf of his employer, breaking a ban imposed by the European Commission when he left office.

EU Commissioner, Jyrki Katainen,� confirmed he had a lobby meeting with Barroso who had his Goldman Sachs International hat on.

�

Katainen, EU Commissioner for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, has confirmed Barroso lobbied for investment bank Goldman Sachs International in a meeting at which the two discussed trade and defence.

After Barroso’s highly controversial appointment by Goldman Sachs in 2016, the ex-EU president told his successor, Jean-Claude Juncker, that of course he would not be lobbying EU institutions on behalf of his new employer.

This promise led the European Commission’s ethics committee to conclude that Barroso’s appointment would not interfere with his continuing duty to maintain integrity and discretion as set out in the EU treaties.

Katainen’s confirmation suggests that Barroso has ignored his earlier undertaking, an undertaking which protected his more than ample EU pension, and has betrayed the ethics committee’s trust that he would stick to his word.

European pressure group,� ALTER-EU, has filed a complaint urging the Commission to re-evaluate Barroso’s job at Goldman Sachs as he has been active in lobbying the European Commission.

Margarida Silva from ALTER-EU commented today, “Commissioner Katainen’s letter strongly suggests that Barroso is indeed using his privileged position to lobby the EU on behalf of Goldman Sachs. No one outside the institution has more insider know-how, contacts and lingering influence than a former president of the Commission, which is a great asset for any actor seeking to influence EU policy.”

“Given the new facts, the Commission’s ethics committee must re-assess its acceptance of Barroso’s role at Goldman Sachs. Former Presidents using their insider status to shape EU policy on behalf of a new employer shows neither integrity nor discretion.”

Myriam Douo from ALTER-EU member group Friends of the Earth Europe said, “This meeting is an excellent example of how the revolving door between politics and business benefits corporations. Barroso was able to set up a one-on-one meeting with a sitting commissioner with a single phone call. They met in a hotel and no minutes were kept of any part of the discussion.

“Only an insider like Barroso can get this type of highly-privileged access, which undermines democracy and feeds distrust in European cooperation. Barroso must face repercussions for breaking the European Treaties and his case be forwarded to the European Court of Justice.”

The confirmation of the lobby meeting between Barroso and Katainen added weight to an earlier complaint by ALTER-EU, which highlighted that the assessment of the former President’s new role was too narrow to fulfil the requirements of Article 245 of the European Treaties.


© algarvedailynews.com

[Brietta]

This could well warrant a thread of its own.
I have just noticed that the alleged kidnapping, convicted fraudster Paulo Pereira Cristovao appears to have started work for Goldman Sachs.
Goldman Sachs are currently embroiled in a case with the Portuguese Bank BES over a defaulted loan of a mere €765m.  Make of the appointment what you will.


https://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/10291-goldman-sachs-vs-novo-banco-case-to-be-heard-in-lisbon-not-london

Three London Court of Appeal judges unanimously have ruled that the legal dispute between Novo Banco and the US bank Goldman Sachs will have to be resolved in Portugal and not in the British courts.

This decision overturned a lower court decision in August that stated that the loan set arranged by Goldman Sachs in favour of the former Banco Espírito Santo (BES) just two months before it collapsed, could be heard in London.

Novo Banco, now run by António Ramalho, had argued that the case should be heard in Portugal with Goldman Sachs wanting the case to be judged in London in what it sees as a more competent and skilled framework when dealing with complex financial matters.

Novo Banco today said that the London court agreed with the decision of the Bank of Portugal that the case came under Portuguese law and that the proper place for the action to take place is in Portugal where the Administrative Court of Lisbon now will handle the battle over the €765 million 'disappearing loan.'

The money was credited to BES in June 2014 by Oak Finance, an investment vehicle set up by Goldman Sachs which was made up of several powerful funds.

BES then went bust in August 2014 and after its mutation into Novo Banco, the debt was taken on by Novo Banco as a liability.

In December 2014, the Bank of Portugal, led by Carlos Costa, shifted this liability from the recently refinanced ‘good bank’ Novo Banco to ‘bad bank’, the old BES which had no way of repaying such an amount.

The legal action to recover the debt that Carols Costa had wiped out with his magic wand was filed in the summer of 2015 by the group of international investors in Oak Finance which included a New Zealand state pension fund.

That case was opened after Novo Banco failed to pay the first installment of the loan in question, with the bank chaired by Eduardo Stock da Cunha considering itself free of this responsibility, but due only to some nifty and unethical financial footwork.

Much as the world dislikes Goldmnan Sachs, it has a good case against Novo Banco which, in collusion with the Bank of Portugal, stripped out a loan that was repayable when part of Novo Banco, and in effect was written off when is passed back to the BES ‘bad bank’ which was, and remains, deeply insolvent with billions in liabilities and scant few remaining assets.

Goldman Sachs will not be best pleased that the hearing now will be in Portugal where it rightly assumes that political interference is more likely than in London.
====================================================

 Ex Portuguese PM Barroso is also currently working for Goldman Sachs International as the non-executive chairman.

https://www.expatica.com/pt/news/country-news/AD-Barroso-caught-lobbying-for-Goldman-Sachs-despite-ban_1715959.html
Portugal’s Durão Barroso, former Prime Minister of Portugal, former EC President and current employee of the giant vampire squid, Goldman Sachs, has been caught lobbying on behalf of his employer, breaking a ban imposed by the European Commission when he left office.

EU Commissioner, Jyrki Katainen,� confirmed he had a lobby meeting with Barroso who had his Goldman Sachs International hat on.

�

Katainen, EU Commissioner for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, has confirmed Barroso lobbied for investment bank Goldman Sachs International in a meeting at which the two discussed trade and defence.

After Barroso’s highly controversial appointment by Goldman Sachs in 2016, the ex-EU president told his successor, Jean-Claude Juncker, that of course he would not be lobbying EU institutions on behalf of his new employer.

This promise led the European Commission’s ethics committee to conclude that Barroso’s appointment would not interfere with his continuing duty to maintain integrity and discretion as set out in the EU treaties.

Katainen’s confirmation suggests that Barroso has ignored his earlier undertaking, an undertaking which protected his more than ample EU pension, and has betrayed the ethics committee’s trust that he would stick to his word.

European pressure group,� ALTER-EU, has filed a complaint urging the Commission to re-evaluate Barroso’s job at Goldman Sachs as he has been active in lobbying the European Commission.

Margarida Silva from ALTER-EU commented today, “Commissioner Katainen’s letter strongly suggests that Barroso is indeed using his privileged position to lobby the EU on behalf of Goldman Sachs. No one outside the institution has more insider know-how, contacts and lingering influence than a former president of the Commission, which is a great asset for any actor seeking to influence EU policy.”

“Given the new facts, the Commission’s ethics committee must re-assess its acceptance of Barroso’s role at Goldman Sachs. Former Presidents using their insider status to shape EU policy on behalf of a new employer shows neither integrity nor discretion.”

Myriam Douo from ALTER-EU member group Friends of the Earth Europe said, “This meeting is an excellent example of how the revolving door between politics and business benefits corporations. Barroso was able to set up a one-on-one meeting with a sitting commissioner with a single phone call. They met in a hotel and no minutes were kept of any part of the discussion.

“Only an insider like Barroso can get this type of highly-privileged access, which undermines democracy and feeds distrust in European cooperation. Barroso must face repercussions for breaking the European Treaties and his case be forwarded to the European Court of Justice.”

The confirmation of the lobby meeting between Barroso and Katainen added weight to an earlier complaint by ALTER-EU, which highlighted that the assessment of the former President’s new role was too narrow to fulfil the requirements of Article 245 of the European Treaties.


© algarvedailynews.com

Sometimes I get the feeling I'm in a parallel universe ...

JUSTICE
MP asks for new trial for Paulo Pereira Cristóvão and 17 other defendants
In the investigative debate, which took place this Friday in the Sintra Court, the Public Prosecutor's Office defended that the defendants did not present anything that "uproots the accusation".

LUSA March 9, 2018, 6:11 PM

The Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) wants Paulo Pereira Cristóvão , a former inspector of the Judiciary Police, and 17 other defendants accused of violent assaults on residences in Lisbon and Cascais to be tried again for the facts that appear in the indictment.

Snip
Robbery, kidnapping, criminal association
In that sense, the magistrate defended that the 18 defendants be pronounced [follow for judgment] in the exact terms of the prosecution order of the Public Ministry, which describes seven assaults or robberies in Lisbon and Cascais.

Pereira Cristóvão is accused of two felonies of qualified robbery, one in attempted form, four crimes of kidnapping, two crimes of usurpation of functions, two crimes of detention of prohibited weapon and of a crime of adhesion to criminal association.

The lawyer of the former PJ inspector and also former vice-president of Sporting asked for his constituent not to be pronounced [not to be judged] by these 11 crimes.

Rui Costa Pereira admits, however, that the criminal investigating judge Cristina Henriques Esteves changes the "degree of participation" of his client "to complicity in the only crime that is indicated practiced."

Snip
The 18 defendants, including three policemen and leone Juve Leo cheerleader Nuno Vieira Mendes, known as Mustafa, respond by criminal association, robbery, kidnapping, possession of a prohibited weapon, abuse of power, violation of domicile by employee and document forgery.

According to the indictment of the Public Prosecutor's Office, Paulo Pereira Cristóvão, a former inspector of the PJ and also a former vice-president of Sporting, two other defendants and the three police gathered information and decided which people and places to assault by the group, namely in the Lisbon area and on the south bank of the Tagus River.

The information was then transmitted to the other elements, which formed the operational side of the alleged criminal network.
https://www.publico.pt/2018/03/09/sociedade/noticia/mp-pede-novo-julgamento-para-paulo-pereira-cristovao-e-outros-17-arguidos-1806061

[Miss Taken Identity]

Sometimes I get the feeling I'm in a parallel universe ...

JUSTICE
MP asks for new trial for Paulo Pereira Cristóvão and 17 other defendants
In the investigative debate, which took place this Friday in the Sintra Court, the Public Prosecutor's Office defended that the defendants did not present anything that "uproots the accusation".

LUSA March 9, 2018, 6:11 PM

The Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) wants Paulo Pereira Cristóvão , a former inspector of the Judiciary Police, and 17 other defendants accused of violent assaults on residences in Lisbon and Cascais to be tried again for the facts that appear in the indictment.

Snip
Robbery, kidnapping, criminal association
In that sense, the magistrate defended that the 18 defendants be pronounced [follow for judgment] in the exact terms of the prosecution order of the Public Ministry, which describes seven assaults or robberies in Lisbon and Cascais.

Pereira Cristóvão is accused of two felonies of qualified robbery, one in attempted form, four crimes of kidnapping, two crimes of usurpation of functions, two crimes of detention of prohibited weapon and of a crime of adhesion to criminal association.

The lawyer of the former PJ inspector and also former vice-president of Sporting asked for his constituent not to be pronounced [not to be judged] by these 11 crimes.

Rui Costa Pereira admits, however, that the criminal investigating judge Cristina Henriques Esteves changes the "degree of participation" of his client "to complicity in the only crime that is indicated practiced."

Snip
The 18 defendants, including three policemen and leone Juve Leo cheerleader Nuno Vieira Mendes, known as Mustafa, respond by criminal association, robbery, kidnapping, possession of a prohibited weapon, abuse of power, violation of domicile by employee and document forgery.

According to the indictment of the Public Prosecutor's Office, Paulo Pereira Cristóvão, a former inspector of the PJ and also a former vice-president of Sporting, two other defendants and the three police gathered information and decided which people and places to assault by the group, namely in the Lisbon area and on the south bank of the Tagus River.

The information was then transmitted to the other elements, which formed the operational side of the alleged criminal network.
https://www.publico.pt/2018/03/09/sociedade/noticia/mp-pede-novo-julgamento-para-paulo-pereira-cristovao-e-outros-17-arguidos-1806061

Who did he allegedly kidnap?

[misty]

Is the long-overdue Poulton documentary coming out tomorrow?

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Eleanor]

Is the long-overdue Poulton documentary coming out tomorrow?

Gosh.  That looks interesting.  Although heaven knows what Pat Brown has to do with this.  A deflection perhaps.