Controversial trial of English holiday homeowner suspended

To the bewilderment and dismay of many international observers, an Englishwoman, Serena Wylde, was due to stand trial in Lagos tomorrow (Tuesday) as a result of making a complaint to an official regulatory body of the Portuguese legal profession.

Then this afternoon, the court in Lagos confirmed that Ms Wylde’s trial date has been suspended. The decision followed an urgent application made by her Portuguese lawyer questioning the impartiality of the trial judge.

Shortly before the suspension announcement, the British organisation Fair Trials International issued a statement saying “it beggars belief” that the trial was being held. “The prosecution flies in the face of free speech and puts those in positions of power beyond reproach,” said the organisation's' chief executive, Jago Russell.

Ms Wylde, who owns a holiday home in Praia da Luz, faces a possible nine-month jail sentence because of a letter she sent in confidence in January 2005 to the bar association, Ordem dos Advogados.

In her letter she called for disciplinary action to be taken against a prominent lawyer in Lagos, Pimenta de Almeida Borges. It arose from a dispute she had in 2004 with a neighbour about a gate and a garage. Mr Borges had been acting for the neighbour.

Ms Wylde claimed that she and her neighbour settled their dispute out of court in August 2005 and that Mr Borges was instructed accordingly, but he carried on legal proceedings away. This caused considerable anxiety for both her and her neighbour, said Ms Wylde.

She told the regulatory body in her letter that Mr Borges had acted in “an improper and unscrupulous manner”. She asked that his conduct be investigated. In June 2006, Borges also wrote a letter of complaint to the regulatory body – about Ms Wylde, claiming she had defamed him.

While still investigating the matter, the regulatory body forwarded Ms Wylde's letter to the public prosecutor's office which began proceedings against Ms Wylde for aggravated criminal defamation. The first inkling she had of this was in February 2007 when two policemen arrived at her Praia da Luz home and told her to report to the office of the Judicial Police (PJ).

Mrs Wylde, a 59-year-old businesswoman from Putney in London, has a close connection with Portugal. She has a Portuguese husband and speaks the language. Both of her parents, from whom she inherited her holiday home, are buried in the Algarve.

Mr Borges is the son of a former Supreme Court judge. He comes from a prominent family in Portugal and has described himself in correspondence with the prosecutor 's office as “a well-to-do and cultured individual”. He is seeking €50,000 in damages, although he admits “it is difficult to fix a sum to indemnify the offence suffered by one who exercises his profession with such honour, dignity and seriousness”.

Fair Trials International is taking a rather different view. They believe “this type of criminal action has the effect of placing the legal profession in Portugal above reproach and outside of any effective regulation”.

Fair Trials International added: “Serena Wylde took the responsible route of making a complaint when she encountered what she considered to be inappropriate actions by a lawyer. She did this, not to further her own interests, but to seek to uphold the integrity of the legal profession and to protect others from unprofessionalism. As a result she is being put through a harrowing and completely unjustified ordeal”.

It certainly has been an ordeal for Ms Wylde. She said in 2009: “It is devastating to be charged with a criminal offence. In my case this happened because I told what I believe to be the truth and it has been turned against me by those who don’t want to hear it. This ordeal has made me question every reference point of my daily security, and even my own sanity.”

Britain's former Justice Secretary, Jack Straw said in December 2009 he had discussed the case with Portuguese State Secretary Jose Magalhães and would "follow it up" . Straw said he was using the case as an example of why close cross-border co-operation in justice and home affairs issues was crucial in Europe. "Nobody asked me to intervene - I just raised it because I saw a news item on television about the situation and decided to pursue it," he said.

It was hoped the case would be dropped. But no. The legal action has been brought by the State, with Mr Borges as a civil claimant. Now that it has been suspended, the challenge to the conditions for a fair trial will be assessed by a higher court in Évora. If successful, a different judge will hear Ms Wylde's case

From Boliqueime to Belém Palace
- Algarvian re-elected as President


Aníbal Cavaco Silva, born and bred in the modest Algarve village of Boliqueime, has secured occupancy for the next five year in Lisbon's Belém Palace, official residence of the President of the Republic of Portugal.

Of the two main candidates in Sunday's presidential election, there was never any doubt that voters would go for the centre-right economist rather than his main rival, Manuel Alegre, a celebrated leftist poet. As expected,Cavaco Silva, 71, won emphatically.

Cavaco Silva is well qualified to be Portugal's head of state at this time of extreme financial difficulty. Ironically, it was failure as a schoolboy living in Boliqueime that seems to have set him on the path to academic achievement and political success.

The President was born in Boliqueime just off the N125 main road, north of Vilamoura and Albufeira, in 1939. His family dealt in locally harvested dried fruits. His father also ran the local filling station.

The story goes that the young Aníbal did not shine at school. When he failed an exam as a 13-year-old, his grandfather decided the lad needed a shake up. He is said to have “punished” him by forcing him to work the land with an enxada (traditional heavy hoe). This seems to have done the trick because Aníbal went on to become an outstanding student, graduating with a degree in economics and finance in Lisbon in 1964. He later gained a doctorate in economics in the University of York.

During his subsequent career, he held professorships, senior positions within the Bank of Portugal, served as finance minister and twice as prime minister at the head of the Social Democratic Party.

Former presidents of Portugal have been dictators. Others have been mere figureheads. Cavaco Silva has chosen to use his high office to wield influence while avoiding party polemics and not directly interfering with the running of the country.

During his first term as president, Cavaco Silva has backed the efforts of Socialist Prime Minister José Sócrates to stabilise Portugal's economy without resorting to an EU bailout and all the strings that would entail.

The centre-right party Cavaco Silva once led has become increasingly critical of the socialists' economic performance. Opposition members of parliament are demanding the prime minister's resignation if Portugal is forced to resort to a bailout.

In theory, the next general election is still two years away, but there are doubts if the government can hang in until then. The president's official powers are limited but one of them is the right to dismiss a prime minister and dissolve parliament if he thinks fit.

Carvaco Silva is not without critics, of course. Many Portuguese, especially the young, are disillusioned by his support for the government's austerity measures to tackle the country's budget deficit, thus identifying himself with wage cuts, tax rises and worsening unemployment. Still, it is clear that the majority of Portuguese voters want a confident professional economist to preside during the undoubtedly difficult months and years ahead.

This man of humble birth certainly does not lack confidence. He once said in a newspaper interview: “When I make a decision, I never have doubts, and I rarely get it wrong”.

Did Portugal's PM “beg” for help?

It seems that someone in either the Portuguese Prime Minister's office in Lisbon or the German Chancellor's office in Berlin has been telling whoppers.

Politicians and those around them are generally not held in high esteem when it comes to straightforward honesty, but the story of a reported telephone conversation last week between José Sócrates and Angela Merkel suggests blatant lying rather than political obfuscation. Or could it be that one of Britain's most respected newspapers, the Guardian, has got it all wrong?

The Guardian reported that Sócrates last week phoned Merkel and “begged for help”. Sócrates wanted to know what he should do about Portugal's financial crisis. Quoting “witnesses”, the Guardian said Sócrates sounded desperate and eager to please.

The conversation took place amid the backdrop of Portugal being widely tipped to be the third eurozone country after Greece and Ireland to need a German-led bailout.

Sócrates promised to do anything Merkel wanted, with one big exception. He insisted that Portugal did not want, or need, a eurozone bailout, with the extremely tight strings that would entail.

According to accounts circulating in Berlin, Merkel left Sócrates to wait on the line while she sought the views of two high-powered visitors - Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the French head of the International Monetary Fund, and Giulio Tremonti, the highly regarded Italian foreign minister.

The IMF chief was dismissive. The Portuguese plea was pointless, he said, because Sócrates would not follow any advice he was given. So Merkel gave Sócrates a "cynical" brush-off that the Guardian interpreted as symptomatic of rising tensions within the EU.

Fascinating stuff – except that the story was totally false according to the Portuguese Prime Minister's office. A spokeswoman for Sócrates, Mafalda Costa Pereira, was adamant that the phone conversation did not take place. “It is not true,” she said. A source told the Portuguese newspaper Expresso that the last time Sócrates spoke with Angela Merkel was at the last European Council meeting.

So who's fibbing? We'll let you know in the unlikely event of someone owning up.

Safety and security for tourists

The mass evacuation of tourists from Tunisia has been a timely reminder that Portugal in general, and the Algarve in particular, is a far safer place for holidaymakers than many competing destinations in North Africa and elsewhere.

Riots and violent demonstrations have severely disrupted the capital, Tunis, Hammamet, Douze and other places popular with tourists. This has lead to a state of national emergency, the ousting of widely hated President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and, by the way, the ruination of a great many Thomas Cook, First Choice and independent holidays.

Tunisia was seen as one of a growing number of countries in North Africa and parts of Europe developing new tourist industries and doing their best to lure holidaymakers away from more traditional destinations such as southern Portugal.

The fact is that while some of these emerging tourist destinations have been offering cheaper holidays, lower prices usually mean lower quality and often inferior amenities and services.

Meanwhile, in the face of a slump in bookings due to the international economic crisis and unfavourable exchange rates, the Algarve tourist industry continues to try to keep costs as low as possible while maintaining high standards.

It is in the fields of national and regional security, plus mandatory standards of health and safety that Portugal can claim to be second to none. The Algarve is an important component in a country based on law and order, exuding genuine hospitality to visitors, especially those from its major market, Britain, with which it has a special relationship for centuries.

It is significant that while the Tunisians have just forced their president into exile, accusing him of heinous crimes against his own people, the Portuguese are preparing to re-elect their much-respected president to a second five-year term in office.

Portugal's fully-fledged revolution back in 1974 was characterised by carnations in gun barrels and no direct violence on the part of the revolutionaries. Tourism has developed hugely since then to become the Algarve's number one economic activity in the absence of any further serious political unrest, natural disasters or the climatic extremes that have dogged many other places.

During a visit at the beginning of the 19^th century, the English romantic poet Robert Southey described the Algarve as 'Paradise', with a capital 'P'. Even without political suppression, racial tension, devastating earthquakes, mudslides, floods, oil spillages, volcanoes or war, a small 'p' seems sufficient in these days of global economic crisis.

From Britain alone, nearly 1.63 million visitors a year come to Portugal to relax. In its advice to travellers, the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office notes that “most visits are trouble-free” and “crime remains comparatively low”.

We mustn't gloat because of the misfortunes of others any more than we should be complacent about our good reputation for safety and security. But the events in Tunisia in recent days show yet again that, even amid fairly gloomy economic forecasts for 2011, things here could be a lot worse.

Bailout may bring down
the Socialist government

The guessing game has reached fever pitch: will Portugal have to succumb to a financial bailout or not? While the country's top political leaders stubbornly say no, many commentators say it is inevitable. The answer may decide the future of the present minority Government.

It may all seem a bit academic to ordinary folks faced with 23% value-added tax, pay cuts and worrying employment prospects, but the bailout controversy is becoming pivotal.

Socialist Prime Minister José Sócrates has said repeatedly over most of the past year that he will do whatever it takes to avert the need for an international financial rescue. Responding to new claims that Germany and France are set to push Portugal into accepting a bailout, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, former Social Democrat prime minister and current president of Portugal, says Portugal has no intention of asking the IMF or the EU for financial help.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Portugal has not asked for help and Germany is not pushing Portugal into it. EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner, Olli Rehn, says there had been no formal discussion about a bailout for Portugal and none is envisaged “at this stage”.

Reassuring remarks have also come from Spain where Economy Minister Elena Salgado said this week that Portugal won't need a bailout because it is “enacting reforms that will help save the nation's economy from imploding”.

Greece and Ireland repeatedly denied that they were seeking a bailout before they accepted rescue packages amounting to €85bn and €110bn respectively. Many analysts believe the Portuguese government is trying to avert the unavoidable. To stop the financial crisis spreading further, some commentators reckon that Portugal will need between €60bn and €80bn. They say a bailout looks certain to happen in the first half of this year.

“Economists fear that Portugal's economy cannot grow quickly enough to avoid being forced into a bailout,” according to the Guardian. There is a growing feeling in the markets that Portugal is heading towards requiring a financial rescue as borrowing costs are now at potentially unsustainable levels, according to the Associated Press agency. Just as the Prime Minister was trying to quash persistent talk of a bailout, the Bank of Portugal released its gloomy prediction today, Tuesday, that the economy will shrink by 1.3% this year.

Meanwhile, President Cavaco Silva has reiterated that nothing should be done to make “the government's life more difficult” as it works to avert a bailout. This seems to be a pointed warning to his own supporters who have become increasingly critical of the government's handling of the economy.

As the nation prepares for a presidential election on 23rd of this month, Cavaco Silva's popularity is such that he seems assured a second term. He is being backed by the Social Democrats who backed the Socialist government's austerity measures at the end of last year, but who are now demanding Sócrates' resignation if Portugal succumbs to a bailout.

The leader of the Social Democratic Party, Pedro Passos Coelho, says it is necessary to “turn the page” and elect a new government to bring a fresh approach to Portugal's economic woes.

Maddie, Prince William and a right royal honeymoon muddle

An official invitation to Prince William to come to the Algarve on his honeymoon seems to have gone astray. It is not likely that he would have accepted the invitation anyway because of a much more serious matter, that of Madeleine McCann who went missing while on holiday in the Algarve in 2007.

By an unfortunate fluke of timing, the story of Madeleine McCann last week became intertwined with that of the forthcoming royal wedding. The mystery surrounding the honeymoon invitation (of which more in a moment) is a quite separate issue, though some ardent conspiracy theorists may be able to conjure up a connection.

The story of missing Maddie has obsessed a large section of humanity for nearly four years now. News of the fairytale royal marriage is sure to fixate the entire planet for many years to come. Last week, out of the blue, the two did a sort of pirouette.

Kate and Gerry McCann had already announced that their book entitled Madeleine would be coming out on April 28th, shortly before the fourth anniversary of their daughter's disappearance. Then the Royal Household announced that the wedding of Will and Kate had been scheduled for Westminster Abbey on April 29th.

Obviously the clash of dates would mean that the McCann's book launch would be overshadowed by the glitzy royal spectacular. So the McCanns and their publisher, Transworld, announced that the book launch had been postponed for a fortnight, until May 12th. The new date is still conveniently close to the date Madeleine went missing, May 3rd. Also, it neatly coincides with what will be, or would have been, her eighth birthday.

The timings are not good so far as the Algarve is concerned. Nuno Aires, president of the Algarve Tourist Board (ERTA), told me recently he was “optimistic” that Prince William and his bride would accept the official invitation sent from his office shortly after the original wedding announcement in November.

Nuno Aires first mentioned his intention to invite the royal couple when he spoke with the retiring British Ambassador, Alex Ellis, at a dinner in the Algarve. A written invitation was then sent to the British Embassy in Lisbon for forwarding to the Royal Household.

“We said we would be honoured and delighted to receive Prince William and his wife,” said Sr Aires. He thought having the honeymoon here would be appropriate because of the historic relationship between Portugal and the UK. He had met William during the prince's visit to the west coast as a member of a stag party group in 2006. Like Will, Nuno enjoys surfing. The prince told him, “I feel at home here”.

Many top hotels had let it be known to the tourist board that they would welcome the royal couple and that no expense would be spared in laying on everything they required. The state would be able to provide the highest security arrangements.

But would the royal couple want to be here at a time when the media will also be focusing, yet again, on the most publicised missing child case in human history - and a highly controversial one at that?

Meanwhile, it emerged at the end of last week that the honeymoon invitation sent on 25th November had still not been received by the Embassy. In confirming this, a spokesperson said that the Embassy could not have forwarded the invitation anyway. All gifts or invitations intended to mark the occasion of the royal wedding have to be sent by post directly to HRH Prince William at Clarence House, London SW1A 1BA.

The Embassy spokesperson added: “ It is also important to bear in mind the fact that many thousands of letters and offers of services have already been received by HRH Prince William and Miss Middleton.”

What a shame. A royal honeymoon visit would have given the Algarve tourist industry a welcome boost but, alas, for one reason or another, it doesn't seem to be on the cards. Our best hope is for a bit of private prenuptial surfing involving just the boys ahead of the main stag parties in London and Cape Town.

Expat scam may have endangered lives

Police in Britain are investigating Algarve expats Seamus and Paula Mongomery for allegedly running a £1 million MOT scam that may have put the lives of road users here and elsewhere at risk.

It is alleged they advertised Ministry of Transport road-worthiness certificates for owners of UK registered vehicles and sold more than 1,000 a year, charging £200 a time. Police suspect the scam ran for least five years.

Following their arrest in Essex, the Montgomerys have been released on bail having surrendered their passports.

The retired couple, both in their sixties, were still regularly playing lawn bowls at Alvor until early last month. They have an apartment in Alvor. Acquaintances say they also own a house in the eastern Algarve, which they want to sell. Up until a couple of years ago, the Montgomerys were selling HP sauce, Heiz Baked Beans and other typically British delicacies through their company, Montys Online Grocery Service, MOGS for short.

They offered to take orders for products from Tesco, Sainsbury's and other British stores and deliver them to customers via 18 drop-off points right across the Algarve. A local newspaper reported that “nothing is too much trouble for the Montgomerys” and described their service as “tremendously popular, mainly with British expatriates, but with some Dutch residents as well. ”

After taking part in the 2005 BLIP exhibition the Montgomerys were so enthusiastic that they declared online: “Yes, MOGS will definitely be taking a stand in 2006, we were overwhelmed by the number of contacts we made,we would like a similar position next year.”

Acquaintances described them as “a couple you either liked or disliked.” They were highly regarded by many people at the bowling club in Alvor – at least until this weekend.

Just how the Montgomerys' focus changed from MOGS to MOTs is not clear. It was the MOT business that interested police in Essex. It involved 'genuine' MOT certificates and has exposed a serious weakness in the British MOT documentation system. The police allege the Montgomerys issued certificates to owners without their vehicles ever going though the mandatory tests.

The certificates may be 'genuine' in that they are thought to have been from a batch of stolen documents. For expats in the Algarve, it saved bringing their vehicles back to the UK for testing. Such owners may be as guilty as those who supplied and sold the certificates.

“My son reported this racket to the UK police two years ago,” an expat wrote on an Algarve website yesterday. “They didn't want to know. They said it was out of their jurisdiction.”

The scam was exposed at the weekend by the Daily Mail after the pair were arrested in their mobile home in Maldon, Essex. The service had been advertised with a contact email address and mobile phone number in newspapers in the Algarve where they spent nine months of the year.

The Mail applied for a certificate for a write-off Ford Fiesta. The car had been so extensively damaged that the insurer decided not to repair it. The tyres were bald, the seatbelt mountings rotting and windscreen wipers missing. The MOT certificate duly arrived from Essex in a brown envelope a week later. It was a genuine document, which suggested the test had been carried out by a garage in Bermondsey, south-east London.

“The 12-figure test number quoted on the form had been fabricated and the MOT did not show up on the Vehicle & Operators Services Agency database,” according to the Mail. “The document could, however, have been used to obtain a tax disc at a post office, if shown with a log book and insurance details.”

The Mail reported that officials of the Automobile Association (AA) said the alleged fraud “may have put potential death traps on the road and that is frightening.”

Anyone with one of these bogus certificates needs to be worried. Driving a car with a false MOT certificate is a criminal offence. The vehicle insurance won't be valid. No doubt the GNR will be on to all this. Drivers of UK register vehicles can expect to be pulled over in the weeks ahead.