Danske Bank’s Dangerous Liaisons
The Financial Services Board (FSB), the financial regulator in the Republic of South Africa, had warned back in 2005 that an arrest warrant had been issued in this country against Norman Edwin Steele, as a result of a criminal investigation including fraud.
Mr. Steele, faced with the prospect of serving time at a Durban prison relocated to the Costa del Sol and went on to work with Graydon & Associates, unregulated IFAs operating in Spain and sold, on behalf of Danske Bank, equity-release schemes to mostly British pensioners on the basis of a crafty stratagem that was supposed to release their inheritors from potential IHT liability (Inheritance Tax).
Well, back in time as far as the 19th of June of 2002, the Jersey Financial Services Commission had warned, through a public statement titled “Arrow International Management Services Limited And Norman Edwin Steele“, that Mr. Norman Edwin Steele has not received authorization to conduct investment business within meaning of Law, and that the Commission has also obtained evidence that demonstrates that the above named persons have been conducting illegal investments business from within South Africa.
It finally states that any person who has had investment dealings with AIMSL (the operating company for Mr Steele) since 1 July 1999 should contact Enforcement.
Danske Bank’s guys on the Costa del Sol should have stayed off the sangria when conducting their due diligence on their appointed representatives because, as a result, they ended up engaging the services of one pseudo-financial advisor on an arrest warrant, who was warned to never operate in Jersey, and a further gentlemen, Mr.Graydon, who together with Steele made tens of thousands of euros from selling tax-evading equity-release under the auspices of Danske Bank (although the former was only confirmed to be an expert in “fiscal and accountancy advice and signatory to Introducer/Referrer agreements with a number of highly regulated international banks that offer loan facilities on Spanish located property which can be used for a number of purposes such as equity release”, Mr. Graydon dixit.)
I wonder if Mr. Steele and Mr. Graydon and, by extension, Danske Bank and all other Equity-Releasers (Nordea, Nykredit/Sydbank, Rothschild, etc.), even realized that by encouraging their clients to sign these products to avoid IHT they were indeed pushing their inheritors to contemplate committing tax fraud in Spain which, when over €120,000 of unpaid tax per year, could trigger a conviction of up to 5 years imprisonment and a fine of up to 6 times that of the sum defrauded.
If we read articles 12 and 13 of the Inheritance Tax Act, it clearly stipulates that charges such as mortgages that don’t entail the reduction of the value of the property are not deductible, even though the debts these mortgages guarantee may be deducted if they are real. But which debt, if the money was supposed to be sitting in an offshore account?
Dear Sirs,
I worked with Graydon & Associates in 2002/2004and sold Spanish Inheritance Plans to British Ex-Pats living in Spain. The scheme was introduced by Danske Bank, Denmark and copied by other banks including the NatWest, Barclays and RBOS. The scheme was also approved by Price Waterhouse Coopers, Chartered Accountants and Spanish Lawyers. You report that I had an arrest warrant issued against me in South Africa. This is untrue and when I was made aware of these comments I had my lawyers write to the South African Police and they confirmed it wasn’t true and I can provide a letter from them confirming that. Please take all references to this from your site. Norman