If the fund is now a secret fund... How do we know so much about it...
That is just it we dont.
So where has the money gone?
The short answer to that question is that we don't know. [Note: This article was written in April 2008. The accounts, to 31 March 2008, were released in January 2009 - view here]
The Fund's organisers have refused to say how much has been spent but have confirmed that money donated by the public was made available for the family's living expenses.
In October 2007, it was revealed that the Fund had been used to make mortgage payments on the McCanns' family home in Rothley. It is believed that two payments were made amounting to £4,000 but the fund directors have never been prepared to divulge that information. The information has come from Clarence Mitchell who isn't even on the board of directors.
The Fund also met the legal fees involved in the setting up of the private limited company but the Fund's directors ruled that they could not use it to pay the legal team defending them against Portuguese allegations that they were involved in Madeleine's disappearance. That has been met by a separate fund, using donations from wealthy benefactors including Sir Richard Branson.
The salary of the McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell is paid by another millionaire, double-glazing tycoon Brian Kennedy. But Madeleine's Fund has paid for other staff, including former campaign manager Justine McGuinness.
http://www.gerrymccannsblogs.co.uk/Nigel/id58.htm
