Antonio Flores’ Blog

If I was unsure as to whether I did the right thing by accepting to post the filming of this trial, I suppose I have definetely waived goodbye to Morroco for good once this footage is published. Or perhaps not, because as, after all, any spy worth his salt would expect the order of the boot if he came back to their bosses with this material, largely irrelevant for most, but interesting for the approximately 80 Irish investors  that have lost their deposits to Asilah Invest and Simple Property Solutions, or Joseph Znaty Mirmaran and Karl Morris. Mind you, the story is familiar, both denying having the funds…

But for all our preconceptions, not unfounded should I add (Morocco is ranked in the position 89 of Coruption perception Index 2009) , the Morocann legal system has worked wonders for my Spanish friend and his brother. When Manolo and his brother decided to invest €100,000 at Asilah Marina Golf (located in a typical fishing atlantic village), through a Marbella-based real estate agent, he placed his trust in the bona fide nature of the individuals involved. As has happened so many times though, the developer turned out to be rogue, the agent washed his hand of the project and an acting lawyer was not to be found (quite simply, they never hired one).

So when Manolo found out that the developer had been remanded in custody at the Tangiers prison for fraud, he and his brother decided to take the plunge and pursue the chap through the city courts, in spite of the common perception of these being corrupt, opaque, inefficient and always prone to interference from the King, should his interests be at stake.

And the plunge worked because, three months after they pressed charges for swindle and missapropriation against the developer at a Police Station, the Criminal Court in Tangier summoned both parties for a “conciliatory attempt”, urging them to reach an agreement. Already jailed in the Satfilage Prison, the prospect of serving further time in this horrendous penitentiary where, according to two Spanish former inmates rats resemble warthogs and cockroaches are likened to caimans (some cells enjoy the services of a cat, but he too has to attend the call of nature so it, naturally,gets worse ), worked  in favour of Manolo and his brother as a tangible agreement was reached. The prison-freeing settlement consisted in registering a charge against a plot of land in the Malaga province (Alcaucin), as a guarantee for an undertaking of repayment of the deposits within 24 months. Well, better than sex we thought, all things considered!

Would this have happened in Spain? No chance. If you were lucky enough, you would suing the developer, at the criminal courts, for missapropriation, hoping that he would come forward with a proposal to settle the debt (probably with another property considering that money would be gone), if he felt that the legal tide could turn against him by application of current case law (that ultimately could see him interned, after 5-6 years). If you were unlucky, you would be stuck with a civil claim against the developer alongside hundreds of creditors, within an insolvency procedure (i.e. Aifos), for years, and if you were terribly unlucky, you would also be cold-called by some Fuengirola-based legal services boiler/recovery room (e.g.. Ramirez and Ramirez, Legal Property Solutions, Bratley and Sharp etc.) by whom you would be ripped off again.

Documents

• Asilah Case Documents

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About Antonio Flores

Antonio Flores is the head lawyer at Lawbird, a Spanish law firm specialised in property and litigation. More on Antonio Flores.

Litigation Simple Property Solutions