Bad wash-wash ruling in Spain

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Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 2:41 pm

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/27/cameroonians_cleared/

Quote:

Two Cameroonian cousins of the Lads from Lagos, who took a Spanish property developer for €200k in a classic "black money" ploy, have been cleared of any wrongdoing on the grounds that "not even the naïvest person would have believed" the "surreal and incredible" dyed banknotes scam.

A court in Valencia heard this week how between October and November 2006, businessman "José GG" met two men claiming to be from the Ivory Coast and looking to buy a luxury property in the city.

The pair explained they were transferring cash from their homeland to invest in Spain, but to cover their tracks, had dyed the banknotes black.

This dye, they elaborated, could be removed with a special liquid. They asked GG to finance the purchase of the miracle cleaning fluid, promising a 12 per cent return on his investment.

Suitably convinced by a small demonstration of the magic money laundering, he gave the men two genuine wads of €100,000.

They applied the liquid to the dyed banknotes, wrapped them in aluminium foil, stuck a safe on top of the packages to act as a press and left their victim to supervise the process which, after 24 hours, should have done the trick.

It didn't, and somewhat put out that he'd been left with bundles of worthless paper, GG contacted police. Shortly after, he managed to get in touch with his business partners, and arranged a further meeting. Two other men turned up, to be greeted by police bearing cuffs, while the original scammers disappeared.

In court, the two arrestees – another couple of Cameroonians living in Madrid – were cleared of any involvement in the scam for lack of evidence against them.

Furthermore, the court ruled that the two fugitives were innocent of fraud because according to the law the methods employed must be "sufficient to fool a perceptive and clever person".

In the court's judgement, the scam "would not have fooled a citizen with a normal level of knowledge", and attributed the victim's misfortune to his own negligence.

There's more on the ruling (in Spanish) right here. ®

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 7:01 pm

That SUCKS!

Quote:

...according to the law the methods employed must be "sufficient to fool a perceptive and clever person".

Right. So if they fool a naive or less-than-clever person, that's ok is it? Sounds like they're not interested in protecting the vulnerable/at risk.

Stupid law, and a stupid ruling. Evil or Very Mad

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 7:06 pm

Hmmm. Sounds like the "reasonable person" definition here in the States. Unfortunately, the definition can only be defined by the jury based on their collective experiences. So if the same was determined here it might go the same way, or at least be overturned by a higher court, but that borders on getting political so I'll stop now. Very Happy

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 8:32 pm

Quote:

have been cleared of any wrongdoing on the grounds that "not even the naïvest person would have believed" the "surreal and incredible" dyed banknotes scam.

Well that's good news ain't it - court gives the green light to criminals Mad

Wonders how many wash-wash scammers are now making their way to to Spain!

But hoping that the publicity surrounding the ruling will help to ensure that Spain doesn't have any more victims falling for the scam.

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 9:16 pm

Quote:

sufficient to fool a perceptive and clever person"

So, if I go to Spain, locate a doddering, senile, elderly woman, cheat her out of her money using a scam that no person of normal intelligence would fall for, it is not a crime? Has Spain declared open season on its insane and mentally-challenged population?

Bruin

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 9:38 pm

BRUIN wrote:

Has Spain declared open season on its insane and mentally-challenged population?

Apparently so.

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 9:39 pm

Honestly, Bruin, unfortunately the Spanish justice system sometimes does a very bad job in fraud protection.

In real life, I was tangentially involved many years ago with a case where a Sudanese scammer living in Spain conned a scrap metal company from Greece into believing that he would broker a loan for them that would allow them to make a major investment in equipment and increase their activity seriously. The case went to court after the company had already gotten itself in a rather deep financial hole, and the scammer was acquitted of fraud.
Unfortunately this took place several computers ago for me (my involvement was translation of documents in preparation for the court case) so I can't recount many details.

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:07 pm

It sais in European "Law"

Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illnesses and the Improvement of Mental Health Care (1991) This document adopted by the UN General Assembly......

Quote:

Individuals with mental disabilities also have the right to protection from economic, sexual and other forms of exploitation, physical or other abuse and degrading treatment.

Trouble is getting these "accepted Principles" truley accepted in federated semi-autonomous states where the law of precedent is in force is going to take lots and lots of money.

Don't even ask about the definitions of "mental illnesses". Evil or Very Mad

The law is a purblind donky in a coma. It'll take much kicking and shouting to get it to move.

piecrust

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