Exclusive to CMOMM - Corruption and criminality inside the Metodo 3 investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance: Extracts from a book by two Metodo 3 men, Tamarit and Peribanez PLUS a second book written by Francisco Marco

When The Madeleine Foundation became aware of this book, La Cortina da Humo, or ‘The Smokescreen’,

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

they contacted a Spanish researcher to get an overview of what the book was about. The book went on sale in Portugal in 2014 but was only on sale for one day, as Francisco Marco, Metodo 3's boss, managed to obtain an injunction restraining its sale on grounds of ‘breach of confidentiality’. It still can’t be bought in Portugal.  

The book is by two people who were employed by the controversial, corrupt and criminal detective agency in Barcelona, Metodo 3, or ‘Method 3’. One of them, Julian Peribanez,

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

worked extensively on the Madeleine McCann investigation. He came to England more than once, worked very closely with Brian Kennedy

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

and his English investigator, money laundering expert Gary Hagland,

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

and even interviewed witnesses such as the Jensen sisters. 

Chapter 13 of ‘The Smokescreen’ is entirely about Metodo 3’s involvement in the search for Madeleine. The Madeleine Foundation therefore commissioned an approved and certified Spanish-English translation of this chapter, at a cost of £202.05, to provide an accurate translation.  

What follows are a few notes on the chapter. 

Despite some of the comments in the chapter, Julian Peribanez still maintains that the McCanns are wholly innocent and that their search for Madeleine is genuine. 

However, he maintains that they were deceived by Francisco Marco, the now disgraced ex-boss of Metodo 3,

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

which went into liquidation at the end of 2011. He gives chapter and verse on those deceptions. 

What becomes very clear on reading this chapter is that Brian Kennedy was the mastermind behind the whole Metodo 3 operation. And that is not surprising, for in an article published many years ago, Brian Kennedy explicitly stated that he spent several months of the year in his Spanish villa. This turns out to be in Barcelona, the very place Metodo 3’s head office was based.  

An obvious question that arises from reading this chapter is: how well did Brian Kennedy know Metodo 3 before Madeleine disappeared? Furthermore, did he know about the controversial and corrupt nature of Metodo 3? One of the Metodo 3 men he employed, Antonio Giminez Raso, was remanded in custody in Barcelona on 18 February 2008 on serious criminal charges of assisting a 27-strong vicious drug gang to carry out major drugs crimes.  

Giminez Raso was a former inspector in the Catalonian regional drugs and child trafficking department but was either sacked, or left under a cloud, in early 2005. Julian Peribanez would have worked alongside him during the Madeleine McCann investigation. Giminez Raso was eventually acquitted of the charges against him, but not before the trial judge had publicly scolded him for being ‘far too close’ to members of the gang.  

Peribanez’s chapter is angry. Much of what he writes comes over as seeking some kind of ‘revenge’ against Francisco Marco, perhaps for some perceived offence or unfairness against him. It sounds much like a typical story of ‘thieves falling out’. I can hardly imagine Peribanez as the epitome of integrity, while at the same time taking Marco’s shilling and when, for example, he clearly knew that Marcos was lying through his teeth about how many staff he was employing, was submitting false invoices and the like. 

He does not therefore come over as a ‘witness of truth’. However, there are some valuable insights on some factual issues. I will list some of them here; they can be explored more fully in reading his account in Chapter 13 of ‘The Smokescreen’. 

First of all, there is a short section of the chapter written by Antonio Tamarit, which discloses some significant issues:  

1 Tamarit says that he was first contacted by Francisco Marco, boss of Metodo 3, whilst he was ‘on business’ in Tangier, Morocco - in October 2007. He gives no further details: ‘on business’ is so vague it could mean anything or nothing

2 Notice that Tamarit was told to stay in Tangier and meet someone from the government funded security risks company, Control Risks, but ended up meeting with Brian Kennedy. Tamarit thinks that Kennedy had nothing to do with Control Risks, but I suggest it is far more likely that Control Risks and Kennedy were working closely together. Indeed, Kennedy may well have been giving the orders to Control Risks – and quite possibly way before October. 

3 He states that he was invited to meet with Brian Kennedy in Manchester. This might well refer to the house in Knutsford, Cheshire, which Brian Kennedy bought in 2007 for the purpose of acting as a base for his investigation, and part of which was seen on screen in the 2009 Channel 4 documentary (the ‘Mockumentary’). The existence of this base was first disclosed to Tony Bennett by Brian Kennedy’s lead investigator in England, Gary Hagland.

4 He then adds that he was not sent to Manchester after all, but that Marco’s mother, Marita Fernández,

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] 

and José Luis Marco Llavina, her nephew - Metodo 3’s accountant -  travelled to Manchester instead. He makes this important declaration: “[Neither] had carried out any investigative work for many years…they made a big point of emphasising that where [the Madeleine McCann] operation was concerned, they were not motivated by money; however, in reality they ended up making a fortune by means of deception and dishonest trickery”. Later he adds: “Método 3 was swindling [Madeleine’s Fund] which…was supported by hundreds of unsuspecting people whose sole objective was to find Madeleine…inflated expenses, invented items, false invoices, etc.” 

 5 People who have followed this case closely for many years will recall a search for Madeleine in the Rif mountain range, Morocco. Tamarit informs us that this was based on information from “two clairvoyants, one in France and one in Morocco”.      

6 Tamarit explains how he visited numerous places in Morocco ‘looking for Madeleine’. He gives no detail about how exactly he set about this. Peribanez in his section of the chapter describes this alleged ‘search’ as ‘bizarre and insane’.
The section of the chapter by Julian Peribanez is longer, and he discloses several more subjects of interest:

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

CONTINUED


The section of the chapter by Julian Peribanez is longer, and he discloses several more subjects of interest:
 
1 He says he spent ‘six years’ working for Metodo 3. As he was apparently still working there when the firm was raided and closed in late 2011, this was presumably from 2005 to 2011. Antonio Giminez Raso was also probably recruited in 2005.

2 He says that Metodo 3 ‘became involved in the search for Madeleine’ in October 2007. However, that is contradicted by Brian Kennedy’s man in England, Gary Hagland, who says that he and Metodo 3 were already involved in September. I suggest it’s very likely that Brian Kennedy had been in contact with Francisco Marco well before then.

3 He writes about an early meeting between the McCanns, Brian Kennedy, and Marita Fernández and José Luis Marco Llavina ‘in Manchester’. There is nothing whatsoever about this in Kate McCann’s book: ‘madeleine’.

4 Then he talks about a second meeting, this one apparently at the headquarters of Brian Kennedy’s Latium group in Wilmslow, Cheshire. Peribanez says that at this meeting he met: Brian Kennedy, ‘lawyer Edward Smethurst’, Madeleine’s parents Gerry and Kate McCann and  ‘another lawyer who was a former police officer’. It would be interesting to know who that was! Also present were Francisco Marco and José Luis Marco, his cousin, or ‘half-brother’ as he has been described elsewhere. Once again, there is no mention of this in Kate McCann’s ‘very truthful’ book.

5 The account of that meeting is very interesting. After it, they all went off to have an evening meal at Brian Kennedy’s home - the palatial Swettenham Hall, once owned by the McAlpine family.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Peribanez says that “Kennedy and Madeleine’s parents were lovely people…” but also makes remarks about Marcos’s real purpose for being involved - to make a lot of money.  

6 He says that the ‘searches’ for Madeleine took place only in Morocco and Portugal and that Metodo 3’s claims to have searched elsewhere were lies.      

7 He explains that Brian Kennedy actually ‘relocated’ to Portugal for a while to control what was happening in the investigation – hence the video we have of Brian Kennedy and Peribanez walking around the streets of Praia da Luz, LINK: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

8 He states that claims that Metodo 3 had either 20, or 40 people working on the Madeleine McCann investigation were an outright lie, there were only three.  

9 Furthermore, claims of having a ‘bank’ of multilingual telephonists to staff the telephone hotline were also bogus. And when calls came in, he says they were from: “Fortune tellers (Spanish playing card and Tarot readers), necromancers, palmists, individuals who had dreams...and others who offered interpretations of those dreams.

10 Peribanez refers to a conversation he had with Francisco Marco and his cousin/half-brother José Luis Marco in the Petit Paris restaurant in Barcelona

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

when he was told that Brian Kennedy had terminated the contract with Metodo 3. But he doesn’t give a date. It is commonly assumed that the initial Metodo 3 contract was for just six months and lasted from about October 2007 to March 2008. However, there are statements which confirm that the McCann Team and Brian Kennedy continued to use Metodo 3 on a part-time basis until at least March 2009.

11 Peribanez describes the day when Scotland Yard arrived to collect boxes of evidence from the offices of Metodo 3 and gives an explanation of how a photograph of that event was taken.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

12 Peribanez gives a useful account of how false invoices were created, saying that his boss “…obtained some El Corte Inglés travel invoices and subsequently falsified them by changing the details. These invoices can be found stored inside Método 3’s computers which were seized and are located at Barcelona Court no. 14 (Juzgado 14 de Barcelona). For the time being, they remain there by virtue of an action filed by Montserrat Turu against Francisco Marco for breach of confidentiality”.

13 The chapter concludes with a bitter attack on his former boss, Francisco Marco, and a fascinating explanation of what happened in December 2013 when he attempted, in turn, to alert Brian Kennedy, then Edward Smethurst, and finally the McCanns themselves as to how they had all been deceived wholesale by Marco about the scale of his operation - and how Marco had created masses of bogus invoices. None of them were interested in what Peribanez had to say. Peribanez gives a blow-by-blow account of how he corresponded with them all, including reproducing the letters to and from Edward Smethurst. It must be noted, though, that it took until December 2013 for Peribanez to tell the McCann Team about these issues.   

Can we believe Peribanez’ version of events? He says he was an honest, sincere investigator. But he admits that Francisco Marco and his family, who ran Metodo 3, were thoroughly dishonest and clearly ‘on the make and on the take’ with no interest in or experience of finding missing people or children.

He says that Brian Kennedy and the McCanns were lovely people who had the misfortune to be thoroughly deceived by Marco sand his family.

His central claim is that Brian Kennedy, senior lawyer Edward Smethurst and the McCanns were sincere but naïve in believing that Metodo 3 really could find Madeleine, but were lied to by Marco

As we ponder whether this scenario is credible, we think back to December 2007, when Francisco Marco lied, lied and lied again by saying that he knew who Madeleine’s kidnappers were, that Madeleine was alive, that his men were ‘closing in on the kidnappers’, and finally that ‘Maddie will be home by Christmas’.

He told these outrageous lies in December 2007. In any normal situation, once these lies had been exposed, they would have been instantly sacked.
 
But not in this case. The McCann Team continued to employ Metodo 3 until March 2009 - another 15 months 

Anyway, have a look at the translation and see what you think. 

A.S.                                     

THE TRANSLATION:


[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

CONTINUED

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

ENDS

---

Did the McCann's ever sue Metodo3?

Google.Gaspar.Statements wrote:

---

Did the McCanns ever sue Metodo3?

NO.

Nor did they sue Kevin Halligen and Oakley International.

Why not I wonder?

Now who was it that chose the parcel of rogues that was Metodo 3 to work for them?

And who was it that chose the parcel of rogues that was Oakley International?

I believe these decisions were made by a full Board of Directors of the private company, 'Find Madeleine'.

The begged for money - and pensioners sent them their weekly pensions and children sent them their weekly pocket money.

For what??!!??

To be spent on corrupt criminals - Francisco Marco, Antonio Giminez Raso, Kevin Halligen, all of whom must have been laughing their ways to their respective banks - while supposedly searching for a missing 3-year-old British girl.

Surely the Department for Business and Regulation, and Companies House, must now mount a full investigation to see if any of the Directors are fit to run a public company?

They manifestly failed at all stages of this private investigation to do 'due diligence'

Tony Bennett wrote:

Google.Gaspar.Statements wrote:

---

Did the McCanns ever sue Metodo3?

NO.

Nor did they sue Kevin Halligen and Oakley International.

Why not I wonder?

Now who was it that chose the parcel of rogues that was Metodo 3 to work for them?

And who was it that chose the parcel of rogues that was Oakley International?

I believe these decisions were made by a full Board of Directors of the private company, 'Find Madeleine'.

The begged for money - and pensioners sent them their weekly pensions and children sent them their weekly pocket money.

For what??!!??

To be spent on corrupt criminals - Francisco Marco, Antonio Giminez Raso, Kevin Halligen, all of whom must have been laughing their ways to their respective banks - while supposedly searching for a missing 3-year-old British girl.

Surely the Department for Business and Regulation, and Companies House, must now mount a full investigation to see if any of the Directors are fit to run a public company?

They manifestly failed at all stages of this private investigation to do 'due diligence'

Whatever our respective opinions on what happened to Madeleine and who is responsible for her disappearance, I should think anyone will find it difficult to disagree with this. Where has all the money gone? I believe the fund committed itself to being "open and transparent". I trust then they will tell -and show - us, the public from whom they have asked money since 2007 "to search for Madeleine", just how much has been spent on exactly what.

Oh... what was that pink thing that just flew past my window?

@Tony Bennett wrote:  Surely the Department for Business and Regulation, and Companies House, must now mount a full investigation to see if any of the Directors are fit to run a public company?


A limited company designed to mimic a charitable organization?  Under the circumstances, I would have thought that members of the board consisting of family, friends and colleagues, is a conflict of interests - i.e. quasi illegal?

What a scam this case this. A scam involving a missing child ffs. The SCAM of the Century, a case I've never seen the likes of in my life.

So they hired this corrupt firm of PI's, who had no experience in finding missing children, and didn't sue them when they were scammed of £500,000, money that should have been used to search for Madeleine.

Why didn't Brian Kennedy and Edward Smethurst pursue this?

They didn't even sue Kevin Halligen who scammed Madeleine's Fund to spend on a lavish lifestyle.

Instead they spent their time suing and financially ruining Goncalo Amaral, making him get divorced which has affected their young children, for writing 'The Truth of the Lie' which was based on the police investigation, a detective that DID try to search for Madeleine, despite being sent on a wild goose chase by the parents who refused to cooperate with the investigation!

No doubt all the newspapers will be reporting on this.

NOT.

Because they're all in on it too, including Government appointed Clarence Mitchell who gave up his government job to be the McCann's spokesman and who gives the most LUDICROUS stories to the media and Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt who, together with Rupert Murdoch's SKY news, hounded Brenda Leyland to DEATH!

This case stinks to high heaven and back again.

I wonder if Natasha Donn of the Portugal Resident will report on this?

@hogwash---"So they hired this corrupt firm of PI's, who had no experience in finding missing children, and didn't sue them when they were scammed of £500,000, money that should have been used to search for Madeleine."

If one didn't know better, one would suspect that TM used Metodo 3 as a cutout to distribute 500k in hush money.

And didn't one of the McCanns bogus PIs, ex copper Arthur Cowley, set up a bogus company? What was that all about?

Why so many frauds and bogus people involved in this missing child case?

And why are the McCanns being protected at all costs by the likes of, errrr, the UK government and the UK Police?

The McCanns have had MILLIONS of pounds donated to them by the public to find their daughter and yet they do NOTHING at all about all this fraud.

NOTHING!! All they're interested in is SILENCING people and banning books.

Surely one could be forgiven for thinking this is all about money laundering and NOTHING to do with Madeleine at ALL!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

hogwash wrote:And didn't one of the McCanns bogus PIs, ex copper Arthur Cowley, set up a bogus company? What was that all about?

Why so many frauds and bogus people involved in this missing child case?

And why are the McCanns being protected at all costs by the likes of, errrr, the UK government and the UK Police?

The McCanns have had MILLIONS of pounds donated to them by the public to find their daughter and yet they do NOTHING at all about all this fraud.

NOTHING!! All they're interested in is SILENCING people and banning books.

Surely one could be forgiven for thinking this is all about money laundering and NOTHING to do with Madeleine at ALL!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Yep.
Just like Gerry's inspiration Lance Armstrong.
Winning at all costs, no matters the casualties.
It not his fault though....its just what natural born winners do....he cant help it !

The real truth of the lie can be read, not in the book written by Goncalo Amaral, it is beyond doubt Kate McCann's autobiography titled simply 'madeleine'.  I quote ..

.... We had one particularly bad experience with a man named Kevin Halligen (or Richard, as we knew him). Halligen was the CEO of a private-investigation firm called Oakley International which was hired by Madeleine’s Fund for six months from the end of March 2008. Oakley’s proposal and overall strategy were streets ahead of all the others we’d considered and the company came highly recommended. As the sums of money involved were pretty hefty ....

.... Several months later, one of the investigators subcontracted by Oakley contacted us to demand payment for his services. [Henri Exton per chance?]  We had already settled Oakley’s bill for this work months before, but apparently the company had not paid him.  He was not the only one. Over time several more unpaid subcontractors came to light. We were upset that, although a lot of hard work had been done on Madeleine’s behalf, it seemed money provided by her fund might not ever  have reached the people who had earned it ....

Thank you Jill, thank you PeterMac!

 

If you need a gaggle of crooks to perform a bogus search, you could do a lot worse than follow in the footsteps of TM.  They're absolute trailblazers [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]'

pennylane wrote:Thank you Jill, thank you PeterMac!

 

If you need a gaggle of crooks to perform a bogus search, you could do a lot worse than follow in the footsteps of TM.  They're absolute trailblazers [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]'

You can add to this Jim Gamble's spouting that the UK authorities were all too eager to help and there was no single co-ordinating force. The Chief Constable of Leicester Police, Matt Baggott, introduced extraordinary secrecy orders on his officers, this is the disappearance of a little girl in Portugal and UK police officers are forced to sign a secrecy order imposed upon them.

aquila wrote:

pennylane wrote:Thank you Jill, thank you PeterMac!

 

If you need a gaggle of crooks to perform a bogus search, you could do a lot worse than follow in the footsteps of TM.  They're absolute trailblazers [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]'

You can add to this Jim Gamble's spouting that the UK authorities were all too eager to help and there was no single co-ordinating force. The Chief Constable of Leicester Police, Matt Baggott, introduced extraordinary secrecy orders on his officers, this is the disappearance of a little girl in Portugal and UK police officers are forced to sign a secrecy order imposed upon them.

It's really shocking!  

Due to this crime happening abroad, and hence not easily containable, it has shone a very bright light on how prevalent and determined corruption within the British Establishment is.

Posted by portugalpress on February 13, 2016

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

For reasons not immediately clear, social media has started buzzing again over the allegedly corrupt practices of one of the private detective agencies hired by the parents of Madeleine McCann, shortly after the little girl vanished from a tourist complex in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

Much has already been written - both in the UK and abroad - of the money billed to the Madeleine Fund by Barcelona agency Metodo 3.

Quoting Spanish newspaper ABC, Diário de Notícias confirmed two years ago that Metodo 3 detectives “affirmed that they had clues pointing to a pedophile ring which had kidnapped the child, and for the journeys made to Portugal, Morocco and the United Kingdom, the agency charged 70,000 euros, without presenting any results - because in reality there never was any investigation”.

A source from ABC told the paper that Metodo 3 “guaranteed and charged for five investigators” on the case, “when in reality there weren’t even three”.

For the journeys to Portugal, “the agency charged as if four people were travelling”, when only one had, and this person “did not even speak Portuguese”.

As DN affirmed in 2013, Metodo 3’s practices eventually came under police scrutiny - not over the agency’s handling of the Madeleine case, but over allegedly illegal wire taps on political parties “and other irregularities”.

What seems to have stirred up new controversy is the online publishing of a previously banned book in Spanish by former Metodo 3 private eyes Julián Peribañez and Antonio Tamarjit.

Entitled, La Cortina de Humo (the Smokescreen), its section on the Madeleine investigation has been translated into English.

The bottom line is that one of the writer’s claims he tried to alert the Madeleine Fund to the kind of fraud that he claims had been perpetrated against it, so they could all work out a “strategy whereby they - the parents of the little girl, in whose innocence we have always believed - would not suffer any harm from this intrigue”.

Bizarrely, Julián Peribañez’ concerns met with what he described as a “wall of silence”.

It is this wall that seems to have set tongues wagging across social media - where blogsite and fora fixation on what has become the millennium’s greatest mystery shows no sign of abating, despite the fact that it is nearly nine years since Madeleine disappeared without any verifiable trace.

Why would there have been no interest in discovering the extent of fraud of a fund which both writers contend was “supported by hundreds of unsuspecting people whose sole objective was to find Madeleine”?

The controversial Complete Mystery of Madeleine McCann forum is also asking why Metodo 3 was hired in the first place, adding: “If you are reading this as a guest and are not yet a member of CMOMM, why not join us, get yourself briefed on one of the most mysterious cases of the century and maybe even help us in our quest to find out what really did happen to Madeleine McCann.”

Since the CMOMM published its “exclusive” on what it calls the “corruption and criminality inside Metodo 3”, twitter posts have been picking it up and once again this apparently eternal mystery enters new ground.

For anyone who can read Spanish, La Cortina de Humo can be found on Amazon and via Spanish website casadellibro.com.

For those who can’t, the translation of Chapter 13, concentrating on Metodo 3’s investigation of Madeleine’s disappearance can be found on CMOMM.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

WE KNOW WHERE SHE IS - SHE'LL BE HOME BY CHRISTMAS

Who are Método 3?

Francisco Marco
Método 3 are a small Spanish-based, family run, detective agency set up 21 years ago (according to the Telegraph) or 23 years ago (according to the Daily Mail) by Maria Marco, known as Marita and also known as Marita Fernandez Lado, 57. The current director-general of the agency is her son, Francisco Marco.
 
At the time Método 3 were hired, Mr Marco insisted he had a '"100 per cent" success rate and had reunited 23 missing children and teenagers with their families. Yet, in November, he refused to discuss his claims with The Sunday Telegraph, insisting he was ''too busy with his investigation" to discuss it.
 
In 2003, Marco said in an interview that as far as his agency was concerned ''Our focus is companies''. In fact, the primary line of work for Método 3 is to investigate company fraud - which explains why their senior employees are all lawyers.
 
It was initially reported that the firm had up to 40 detectives working on the case. However, company accounts reveal a section of Método 3 made a net loss of £61,500 in 2005 and had a full-time staff of just 12. In November, they claimed they now had 27.

     
When were Método 3 hired and why was it kept secret for nearly 2 months?

Metodo 3 were hired on a 6 month contract in the early part of September 2007. Although the specific date has never been made public, it is almost certain they were hired in the immediate days following the McCanns' return to the UK, after being made arguidos.
 
The McCanns lawyers, advisers and PR contacts would have ensured that no time was wasted in setting up an 'alternative' investigation. Officially to continue the search for Madeleine but also as a snub to the Policia Judiciaria and also to muddy the waters over who was actually doing the investigating. This has been borne out by many UK press reports which have appeared to have difficulty differentiating the official investigation from Metodo 3's efforts.
 
Given the significant nature of hiring private detectives, at such huge cost and apparently from public donations to Madeleine's Fund, it is perhaps surprising that they were not announced until 24 October 2007, and did not get a mention in Gerry's blogs, until 26 October 2007!
 
The event appears to have been of less significance to Gerry than 'collecting conkers' on 28 September 2007, going 'for a run' on 01 October 2007 and the news that Calum, the website operator, had just been on holiday for a week on 16 October 2007!
 
On 15 September 2007, John McCann issued a statement from the board of Madeleine's Fund which stated:

''On behalf of the extended McCann family and the Madeleine Fund, I would like to say how grateful we are for people's generosity and support.

The main objective of the Madeleine Fund is to leave no stone unturned in the search for Madeleine.

To that end I would like to announce that the Fund will finance a broad range of initiatives in advertising to remind everyone that Madeleine is still missing. These adverts will focus on Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe and will consist of billboards and other media. This financing of advertisements will complement previous efforts by the Fund and many motivated individuals – family, friends and people touched by our cause.

I hope that the general public will continue to support us in this.

It is so important that we remember: "don't you forget about me"- our lovely wee Madeleine.''

It is almost certain that Metodo 3 would have been hired by this date and that makes John McCann's statement even more extraordinary. He is making a public statement to announce new advertising initiatives, unlikely to cost more than £80,000, yet, it would appear, the board of directors are failing to make public the fact that they have just committed £600,000 of Madeleine's Fund - which they have been put in place to administer - to Metodo 3.

It may be within their rights, as a limited company, to announce and keep secret whatever they like. However, given the board's desire to make public their commitment to finding Madeleine, there would appear to be more than hint of deception about concealing such important information. Especially as the official Find Madeleine site states that 'An experienced Fund Administrator has been appointed to ensure the highest standards of transparency and accountability'.

Of course, the reason it was announced on 24 October 2007 was to tie in with the Antena 3 interview, broadcast on Spanish television that night - the first interview by the McCanns since receiving their arguido status.

It enabled both the announcement of the agency and Metodo 3's telephone number to receive maximum coverage from a global audience. That impact was seemingly valued higher by the McCanns' team than the 'transparency' of revealing when they were hired and for how much.

So, what were Metodo 3 doing for nearly two months before the McCanns announced that they had been hired?

Were they receiving £50,000 per month from Madeleine's Fund, and an undisclosed sum from the McCanns' wealthy backers, just for keeping secret?

It is more likely they were working stealthily to get witnesses on board to support the McCanns case. According to Clarence Mitchell, Metodo 3 have been active in Portugal, which is illegal under Portuguese law, but Mr Mitchell claims Alipio Ribeiro has been turning a blind eye to it.

How much is is costing and who is funding Metodo 3?
     
How much is it costing?
 
It had been widely reported that Metodo 3 were being paid £300,000 for their six month contract @ £50,000 per month. However, the Daily Mail stated in its report of 10 February 2008 that the £50,000 figure is for expenses only.
 
The Telegraph reported something similar on 27 November 2007 when it said:
 
'The agency is believed to charge up to £2,000 a day and, with a six-month contract that will include expensive travel and technology costs, the final bill is likely to be as much as £750,000.'
 
Who is paying for Metodo 3's services?
 
Following a great deal of confusion caused by Madeleine's Funds' own brand of secrecy, the answer appears to be as follows:
 
£8,000 monthly fee - paid by 'wealthy supporter'
£50,000 monthly, flat-fee 'operational costs' - paid by Madeleine's Fund
Any excess over £50,000 per month - paid by 'wealthy backers'
 
The 'wealthy supporter' is almost certainly Brian Kennedy, although this is not explicitly confirmed in the Daily Mail report. It is widely reported that Kennedy was heavily involved in the hiring of Metodo 3, so it would be natural to assume that it is he who is providing the bulk of the additional costs.
 
The 'wealthy backers' are reported to 'include double glazing tycoon Brian Kennedy and Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson'.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
 ----------

People still labour under the misapprehension that the initial high power support offered to the McCanns, dwindled very early on during the summer of 2007.  I argue that perhaps the public fanfare faded but the support didn't.  Has anyone been apprehended for the crime?  No!  Are the authorities any nearer to apprehending anyone for the crime?  No!  Is there an unsolved crime?  Yes!  I wager the McCanns are still being protected now as they were back in 2007 - there's a limit to the amount of sensational coverage a case like this can attract without arousing too much suspicion.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

In the interest of balance and disclosure this is the next book that has been purchased with a view to it being translated if there is anything about Madeleine in it that needs to be examined.

It is available on Amazon.es

I see his book is called 'El Metodo' - or 'The Method'.

To be honest, I think I know quite a lot already about Francisco Marco's 'method'.

It involved serial lying, for starters

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


There's five pages about Madeleine, within this 580 page book which is confirmed in the index, that are now being reviewed for translation.

I suppose significant differences between this version of the truth and the other one would be, and should be, brought out as should even vague acknowledgements that the other one was more or less correct.

Email from PeterMac:

First glance it looks a load of rubbish.

Whole page and half about being handed the kiddy porn film, and rushing to the loo,
"white as a sheet" and more self serving nonsense, including graphic details of what he saw . . .
only right at the bottom of that page, 454  to say 
Pero no es ella.  But it is NOT her.

Well quite !


He specifically DENIES -  bottom of 455 - saying that Madeleine would be back with her parents before Christmas, saying this is a mistranslation
BUT
We have the you tube clip, in which he states at 1:23
I know the kidnapper and we know where he is. We know who he is, and we know how he has done it.
He says this in English. No question of mistranslation. 


Joseph Moura on Tanner with Francisco Marco Xmas statement

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

He talks of Portuguese police and the Moroccan police not being happy about his operating on their territory, so so comes up with the idea 
As our people crossed the two borders, we appeared in the media saying we were followed a track / clue in another country. So we intended that the press and the police would leave us to work quietly.   (get on with our work in quiet)


Tantalisingly, on 452, para 2 he says
"Someday I'll explain if we believe that Maddie is alive or dead, and if she was killed, who we think did it.


Apart from that it seems empty or any interesting comment, and devoid of facts. Nothing about money, numbers of people, lists of places visited, lists of numbers of calls received . . . nothing.

Peter

The lady who translated the Peribanez chapter for us was asked to review the Franciso Marco book to see if it was worth translating. Here is her résumé:

Dear all

Yes, you are right in that this is complete rubbish, and it is written in a soppy and sentimental style. I think he is trying to give the impression of being an upright, concerned and thoroughly decent family man, but the end result sounds insincere and phoney, and his writing is littered with clichés. (All my opinion, of course!)

 He starts off by explaining that he took his family away for a 2 day break to a hotel over Easter in 2013, which he could barely afford as he had had no income since the company closed down, but he wanted to spend time with them in order to make up for never having had time to dedicate to them over past years. He introduces the Madeleine theme by mentioning that his wife is worried because they are in a hotel complex and the children were out in the play area: "Paco, you know what happened. That was a hotel complex as well."

He says that the only thing for which he could reproach the McCanns was having left Madeleine alone and out of their direct sight. He mentions the McCann parents' suffering due to their unfair treatment by the press, which he says is the fault of the Portuguese police, which he describes as inefficient and Manichean.

It has been a long time since he has heard from / about them; he still remembers Kate's white skin and living-dead eyes as she fought desperately to find her daughter. When the English entrepreneur Brian Kennedy rang in 2007, Marco knew immediately that this investigation would either bring them international fame or result in a huge failure. They nevertheless accepted this assignment, as Marco's mother looked into Kate's eyes and saw "desperation".

He says that one day he will explain whether they believe that Madeleine is alive or dead and, if she has been killed, who they believe was responsible. He says that Nacho Abad, who was at that time a journalist from Telecinco, and he had always thought that one person (in particular) was involved in her disappearance.

He acknowledges that he failed, and says that they were always searching for a living child, which was what they had been contracted to do by the desperate family. Thus the focus of their investigation was sightings and people who could provide clues regarding her whereabouts. They also researched the reasons for her disappearance in depth. However, they were contracted six months after the abduction, with all the world media concentrating on a little blond girl with a distinctive eye marking. He says they looked into more than twenty alleged sightings and millions of leads, monitored various suspects and infiltrated Moroccan and French paedophile gangs. They also busted two internet paedophile networks, leading to arrests. Nevertheless, Maddie is still missing. He says that there is no doubt that their mistake was allowing the those advising the family to direct the "communication strategy".

The Portuguese police did not want them to carry out investigations on their territory, and the Moroccan police were monitoring them as well, and therefore each time they sent a team to Portugal they pretended they were actually in Morocco, and vice versa.

He says that he will not go into everything they did and the results, which the Portuguese police ignored, because Scotland Yard are investigating and are confident that one day the mystery will be solved.

He then describes one of the worst moments in his life, which came about as a result of the Madeleine investigation. Whilst he was at his computer working on examining the Swiss bank accounts of a Spanish businessman who claimed to be insolvent, his assistant came in with a pen drive saying that this material had arrived by way of a tip-off about Maddie and consisted of a video allegedly showing Maddie which had arrived via a hidden server. He sprang up and rushed to the bathroom, white as a sheet and feeling sick and saddened when he realized what adults are capable of doing to innocent little children. The sick images, which sent alarm bells ringing in him, continue to haunt him today.
"What is this crap?" he comments as he comes out of the bathroom.

He tries to resume his work but is troubled by recurring images of a male member next to a little blond girl which keep returning to his mind like a boomerang; he cannot understand the vile hatred in those who have deprived children of their childhood. He then says that he is going home, due to the adrenalin provoked by these disgusting people.

He is unable to sleep for more than two hours that night, then the following morning he attends the premises of the Cyber Crime Squad, saying: "Arrest these sons of bitches!" The officer asks whether Marco has this material in his computers, to which he replies no, because he is aware that merely possessing it would constitute a criminal offence. He states that an email arrived yesterday which said that Madeleine McCann was in the images, but it is not in fact her.
The officer asks him how he is feeling, and he replies: "Like sh**."

They draft a criminal complaint and the first arrests are made several months later. The police carried out searches and made 13 arrests, charged 10 other individuals and seized a large amount of computer material during a major operation. The network was dismantled on 15th December 2008. The police have this year made 408 arrests of individuals linked to paedophilia and over 2,000 people have subsequently been linked to the production, distribution and sale of child pornography. He adds that the arrests were carried out by the Cyber Crime Unit, "the very same unit that were investigating me at the current time, having forgotten about all the favours I had done for them in relation to the fight against criminals in our country". He says that if Método 3 had existed solely in order to achieve those 13 arrests of individuals, so that hundreds of children can play in parks, walk around neighbourhoods and cities and grow up and be educated without experiencing childhood trauma, then its existence would have been worthwhile.

He then goes on to deny ever having said that Maddie would be home for Christmas. He claims to have replied "If only / god willing!" ("Ojalá") when asked whether Maddie would be found before the Christmas period. From that point onwards, and as a result of an incorrect translation into English, the story became mixed-up and it was presented as a fact that I had stated that the little girl would be back with her parents in time for Christmas. "Never before had a badly translated word caused so much commentary and so many misinterpretations."

I hope the above résumé is of interest to you.

Kind regards

Christine

------------

Related link: Francisco Marco who says when talking about Maddie McCann: "I know the kidnapper, and we know where he is. We know who he is, and we know how he has done it . . ."

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

SOCRATIC QUESTIONING OF THE METHODS OF METODO - PART ONE

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

SOCRATIC QUESTIONING OF METODO'S METHODS. PART 2

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thursday, 10 March 2016

SOCRATIC QUESTIONING OF METODO'S METHODS. PART 2

The first must be that everyone involved genuinely believed that M3 were a reputable firm:
that they did have experience in tracking down 300 missing people,
that they were able to put 20 to 40 operatives on the front line of enquiries,
that they were making enquiries in various countries - and
that all the invoices for work and travel were genuine.
It would follow therefore that the fraud committed by M3 on the 'Fund' is a serious crime, which should be reported and investigated. But several problems arise from this view. The Directors of the Fund include amongst others a highly experienced Commercial law specialist solicitor, a Consultant at the height of his career, an accountant (retd.), another solicitor and Coroner (retd.), and behind the entire thing, a hugely successful multimillionaire businessman.  And the Contract can only be awarded after Due Diligence by one of the leading London firms of solicitors, who specialise in Charity law and are fully aware of the pitfalls, AND by the leading firm of accountants who do the same thing.


Bates Wells Brathwaite make this wonderful claim on their website, where they talk about General trustee duties:
Carrying out due diligence;
Monitoring the use of funds;
Keeping records of actions taken.
And the Fund's accountants Haysmacintyre are even more boastful, and under the circumstances even more risible:
We see the big picture and spot the tiniest detail.
They have Partners with specialist knowledge of Fraud - consider Phil Salmon is a Chartered Tax Adviser and has specialised in VAT for over 23 years. He became a partner at Haysmacintyre in 2013 and heads up our VAT Department. Like many indirect task specialist, he started his career with HM Customs & Excise, initially as a visiting VAT officer, before moving on to specialist fraud teams.


Is it likely that NOT ONE of these people even raised an eyebrow, that not one murmured something about wanting a list of the names of the operatives, that not one asked for a breakdown of the invoiced amounts. Is this credible?

They just paid out half a million pounds of someone else's money and then did nothing when it was revealed they had been defrauded..?
And that not ONE of them had a pang of conscience about the fate of the little girl M3 were supposed to have been looking for during all the years that had been wasted?

Can we really just accept that all these people are jointly and severally guilty of gross incompetence and professional negligence?
And further, that once the fraud was exposed, and the details communicated to the Directors of the Fund - not vaguely, but with concrete examples and details of where the evidence is located - that not one of them raised an eyebrow and sent so much as a polite email asking for their money to be refunded..?


Haymacintyre again:
Trustees are responsible for preventing and detecting fraud ...
WHAT IS AN ANTI-FRAUD POLICY?
A good anti-fraud policy should Ensure:
- There are appropriate measures to prevent and deter fraud.
- There are necessary procedures to detect fraud.
- Employees are encouraged to take responsibility and report any suspicions of fraud.
- All instances of suspected fraud are investigated.
- Appropriate disciplinary, civil or criminal proceedings are undertaken.
- All suspected fraud is reported to the appropriate authorities.

But they didn't. Why not. Gross professional negligence, incompetence, stupidity..?
But strangely that may be their only defence, since the second broad option is far more serious. It would follow, if none of the above were incompetent, negligent or stupid, that they were operating to instructions specifically to ignore what they were being told. In other words:
THERE WAS NO FRAUD
It would follow that everything that happened was wrongly interpreted by an honest detective as being fraudulent, when in fact it was part of a wider overall plan of which he knew nothing, and only gradually becoming aware. Certainly his interpretation of Marco's words and actions, and subsequently of Brian Kennedy's and Gerry McCann's refusal even to reply to his email in which he details his thoughts are most telling.


Why anyone would go to the lengths of pretending to do a search across an entire continent, and submit false documentation to move half a million pounds from one account to another, when in fact the expenses actually incurred were significantly smaller is an open question and one which it might be dangerous to speculate upon.


But we are then drawn to a posted comment we remember from many years ago. A native Spanish speaker phoned M3 and spoke to Marco direct. There is no question of  'loss in translation' or misunderstanding. His report is quite clear and has been in the public domain for a long time:


It took me a while but in the end I managed to speak to the Managing Director in clear Spanish. I asked how it was that a Detective Agency of their standing could make such a ridiculous assertion making it known 'they knew Madeleine was held in Morocco and they were going to get her'. He tried to wriggle  out of it but in the end he said 'DONT ASK ME. THAT'S THE PARENTS' STRATEGY'.

Now we have This Chapter of This Book and as with a jigsaw puzzle - it fits perfectly.  The two lawyers who set up the Fund all those years ago are:
Rosamund McCarthy - advises a wide range of charities, foundations and public benefit organisations (national and international) on establishment, campaigning, governance, philanthropy, fund-raising and Enterprise activities. She also advises on mergers, restructures and incorporations. Her clients include start-ups, Household name charities, international foundations, campaigning bodies, membership bodies, royal charter bodies and corporate foundations. Rosamund enjoys working across a broad range of sectors including children and young people, the arts, education, health, human rights, the humanities, international development and faith-based charities.
Rosamund is recommended by Chambers and Legal 500, was nominated as a Super Lawyer in 2014 and appears in the 2015 edition of  Best Lawyers in the UK.
Publications and lectures:  contributing author to 'The Fundraisers Guide to the Law'.

Philip Kirkpatrick has been with BWB for the whole of his career, qualifying in 1995 and becoming a partner in 2000. He then became co-head of the Charity and Social Enterprise team in 2011. Philip advises charities and social enterprises on numerous aspects of charity, corporate and commercial law and has extensive experience in: constitutional and structural work including mergers, incorporations and other reorganisations, joint ventures and other forms of collaborative working, fund-raising and trading, charity formations, charity financing, business establishment, acquisition and sale, public sector contracting and legal governance.

These are not back-street firms from a small town in Leicestershire. These are the top lawyers and accountants in this sphere.
AND COLLECTIVELY THEY DID NOTHING  - Who told them not to?