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Home > Litigation > The Fortuna Land Case Recommended Course of Action

The Fortuna Land Case Recommended Course of Action

January 18th, 2009

It seems that the Operacion Fuentespino, the name given by the National Police in Spain to the Fortuna Land case (http://www NULL.marbella-lawyers NULL.com/wordpress/legal-case-fortuna-land),  is gathering pace as a significant (although small in comparison with the real figures) number of people who invested in the scheme have decided to group to press charges against the perpetrators.

When approached for advice in respect of how to go about filing I cannot stress enough the importance of coming up with a solid, well-presented and well-argued suit so that there are few options for the defendants’ legal team to stall the proceedings in favour of a more lenient and slow civil case.

This means that a “denuncia” per se, whilst it is a way to inform the authorities that an offence has been commited, does not make the claimant part of the procedure and therefore he will not be entitled to argue the case, counter-argue, propose measures in respect of the suspects (even their freedom), their assets or those of third parties who have somehow taken ownership (for example, Finca Cazadores, now in the hands of a company and an individual), appeal Court decisions, request information from bank accounts in Spain or abroad, propose interrogations or testimony depositions etc.

Whether we like it or not, the above case by-and-large affects foreigners (perpetrators and victims), originated in a little known investment concept in Spain, the land banking business (except for property developers) and would be widely considered as a white-collar crime in most jurisdictions. This is why it is viewed in Spain as anecdotical and would not make it to the headlines, unless of course victims grouped and acted promptly because a slack response is, in my opinion, no response at all.

About Antonio Flores

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

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