1 April
The RGP continue to seek the expertise of an expert paediatric pathologist and say they are keen for this to happen on Thursday.
There has been and continues to be a lot of speculation in this very unfortunate event, but the Investigating Team are not prepared to at this moment in time to elaborate on this, other than to stress that the scene of investigation has not been an easy environment to work in and that the deceased's did have wounds to their bodies.
Again, due to the fact that the family is an extended family and certain family members have as yet not been notified with formalities expedited, "we are not in a position to be able to release the identities of the deceased," they said. The Royal Gibraltar Police is grateful for the assistance so far afforded to us from other law enforcement agencies and continue to work hard in order to establish the real facts surrounding this most unfortunate and untimely event. "Equally, we are also very grateful for the support offered to us by members of the public in assisting us with enquiries," said the RGP.
01-04-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR
Death of Solomon Seruya
Solomon Seruya was not everyone's cup of tea politically, but whatever political differences there emerged, often quite controversial, it was possible to have a friendly relationship with him. He was born on 16 December 1926.Certainly he was an intelligent person and highly charged politically.
He was an elected member of the then Legislative Council (1956-69) being a member for tourism and later minister for economic development. Ambassador of Israel to the Philippines (1976-78), he was also president of the Chamber of Commerce 1986-90.
May he rest in peace. Our condolences to his family.
GOVT 'SADDENED'
The Government said it was extremely saddened to hear of the passing of prominent Gibraltarian Solomon Seruya, OBE; "Sol" to his many friends. Mr Seruya entered politics as a young man through the AACR and served as Minister for Economic Development under Sir Joshua Hassan in the 1960s.Later in life, Mr Seruya moved to live in Israel with his family, where he became close to Labour Party Leader Shimon Peres. He joined the party and was subsequently appointed Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines.
When Spain became a democracy, after the death of General Franco, diplomatic relations between Spain and Israel were established and Mr Seruya was a strong contender to become the first Israeli Ambassador to Spain. The opportunity passed him by, however, and he returned to Gibraltar.
After serving for a period as President of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr Seruya retired from public life. He never totally retired, however, and often participated in public debate through conferences, both in Gibraltar and Spain, articles and letters to the press.
A more meaningful biography of Mr Seruya would reflect the very full life he enjoyed with his loving wife, Frances, who predeceased him, and his daughters Dona, Susan and Lillian together with his many grandchildren.
The Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, said: "The Government wishes to express its heartfelt condolences to his family on behalf of the people of Gibraltar. There is no doubt that Gibraltar has lost one of its great personalities, an elder statesman who was always ready to provide wise advice in confidence and with charm and a ready smile, who will be sadly missed and long remembered by all the community. Sol had been a member of the predecessor of our Parliament in the 1960s and I will therefore be calling for a minute's silence to honour him when we reconvene today at 5 pm. Our flags are today flying at half-mast as a sign of respect for his passing." GARCIA: SOL WILL BE MISSED The Leader of the Liberal Party and Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia has said that he was very saddened to learn about the death of former politician Sol Seruya.
He said: "Sol will have his place in history as one of Gibraltar's political personalities. He started out in politics within the AACR and first stood for election as an independent in 1954 by which time he had left the party. Ever since that time he made a mark on Gibraltar's political scene, culminating in his appointment as Minister for Economic Development in the Coalition Government of 1965-1969. He will also be remembered for developing the piazza in John Mackintosh Square.
"Sol was a friend, and even though we did not agree on everything, we would often discuss local and international politics whenever we met. It was a pleasure to see him at the Literary Festival in 2013 for my talk. "He will be missed and I would like to express my most sincere condolences to his daughters, family and friends." 01-04-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR
EU Parliament Told Nations Specialising in Financial Services Are Not Tax Havens
For many years, Gibraltar has attempted to shake off the 'tax haven' claim that has often come our way. Only a few weeks ago, an article in the Spanish government controlled newspaper ABC, was probably the 'straw that broke the 'proverbial' camels back'. Where in a pro-active move, never seen before, saw the Government of Gibraltar take the Spaniards legally to task on this issue. As you might expect tax haven allegations against the Rock, has mostly come as part of the anti-Gibraltar political campaign from successive Spanish governments, although the current PP administration have taken the issue to new levels.Rock Fending Off 'Tax Haven' Claims From London and Madrid! Quite rightly, the Gibraltar Government got fed up with the situation and decided to sue the ABC newspaper over a front-page report it published last month, where it made a series of totally unsubstantiated claims that were inaccurate and defamatory against Gibraltar. The ABC not only described Gibraltar as a "tax haven" but also reported there were "15 organised crime gangs" in Spain that had links to the Rock, citing so called security service sources.'Yet Gibraltar is not only trying to justify and fend off the 'tax haven claims' from a Spanish perspective, but also, surprisingly so, from a UK one' Last month UK labour leader Ed Miliband, I presume, in an attempt to impress British voters on this matter, opened his big mouth so wide, that his foot fell in, when he threatened leaders of UK overseas territories and crown dependencies. That if Labour won the general election, they would have six months to agree to publish a register of the true owners of shell companies or be referred for global blacklisting, he warned.
It must have slipped Miliband's mind, when he made such a sweeping statement of every overseas territory using the same broad brush, that Gibraltar in fact has some 132-tax information exchange agreements with 75 countries around the world. But I suspect, it was no more then a pre-election gimmicky style political statement from Miliband, who again demonstrated he is not up to date with many Gibraltar related issues. As you might expect, this caused a quick reaction from the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo who lashed out at the nervous looking and thoughtless minded red Ed, accusing the labour leader of fuelling Spanish attacks on Gibraltar by wrongly suggesting the Rock was operating as a "tax haven.
Fabian Picardo also saying that the Spanish press was already using the unfair slur by the labour leader "as a rod with which to beat us" and called for a public clarification from Mr. Miliband, this never came. But as the saying goes: who needs enemy's when…you obviously know the rest? Gibraltar like other similar jurisdictions, like our Mediterranean cousins in Malta, have borne the brunt of the countless assault by the EU. Even to the point, of the EU taking the Rock to the European Courts on taxation matters, when they examined the issue of regional selectivity, which didn't get very far anyway. Although for Gibraltar, the politically motivated Spaniards continues in their brainless 'tax haven' ploy.
EU Parliament Told Nations Specialising in Financial Services Not Tax Havens! Malta recently also played its part in fighting back against the 'tax haven' image it can't shake off when it took the issue to Brussels…The European Parliament were recently told that EU member states operating financial services cannot be accused that they have become 'tax havens' simply because they specialise in this sector!
Former Maltese Prime Minister Alfred Sant and now Labour MEP and on the EU Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs said in a recent speech in the EU parliament, that suddenly it seemed as if countries which specialise in the provision of financial services, should be considered a threat to the integrity of the EU. Adding, 'A recalibration of this approach is needed. We have witnessed big public relations and political exercises to project the unacceptable activities of "tax havens" in Europe and elsewhere.
Beyond obvious excesses in tax adjudication, which cannot be justified - no matter who does them and how these exercises have actually targeted the financial services sectors of a number of EU member states. Most of them, with the exception of the UK, are among the European minnows' Dr Sant spoke on the importance of financial services in EU member states after the European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici presented a statement on 'Tax policy-decision adopted on the Tax Transparency policy'.
'The fact is that financial services remain necessary in a globalising world that has accepted neoliberal rules when ensuring that financial flows across nations and continents are managed efficiently. Sant ending, by saying "that financial services migrate towards given countries and not others reflects an international division of labour without which some countries would be perpetually in growth mode, others in perpetual stagnation.
Increasingly, it is taken for granted that there must be something shady in policies, which encourage the provision of financial service, to claim that the provision of financial services implies the encouragement of tax avoidance or even evasion, is manifestly false" EU Can't Make Up Its Mind What is a Tax Haven This newspaper has reported before, the problem with the EU is that it can't make up its mind or agree on the definition of a so-called 'Tax Haven'. For years the EU has been looking for a common definition of a tax haven and also tried to create a blacklist to punish anyone doing business with them. This was a key recommendation adopted by the EU Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee before last years EU elections, when there was another drive against tax fraud and evasion.
Politicians of High Tax Nations Try to Smear Tax Havens I agree with the thoughts of 'Dan Mitchell' well known American libertarian economist and senior fellow at the Cato Institute, who is also an expert specialising in fiscal policy, particularly tax reform, international tax competition, and the economic burden of government spending, who says that: "Politicians from high-tax nations and other opponents of tax competition try to smear tax havens, but outside of John Grisham novels, tax competition and tax havens have nothing to do with dirty money. Not a single so-called tax haven is on the FATF's non-cooperative list. According to the US State Department, money laundering is much more prevalent in nontax havens. All the major tax havens have had their money laundering laws vetted by the IRS. And all the major offshore centre's are members of the Egmont Group, meaning they actively cooperate in the fight against dirty money".
The real issue, Mitchell added " is whether governments should compete for jobs and capital in a world of tax competition, or whether they rig the rules against taxpayers with policies of tax harmonization, International bureaucracies such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and European Commission, acting on behalf of uncompetitive welfare states such as France and Germany…who want to hinder tax competition by compelling low-tax nations to act as vassal tax collectors for high-tax nations" Another real problem is that most EU countries, apart from having varying standards as to what constitutes a 'tax haven' also have different rules on dealing with them. There are even some EU countries that are not convinced the standard used by the OECD to define a jurisdiction as a tax haven, particularly the latter organisations black or grey list…which is the case with Spain over Gibraltar.
01-04-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR
This was the worst crime scene of my life, says Yome
An RGP statement confirmed there were "wounds of violence" to the four individuals found dead at 2 Boschetti steps on Monday morning with the postmortem due to be carried out today."It was a very gruesome scene; the worst crime scene in my own experience. Like everybody else it was very emotional but we need to be professional and work through it," said RGP Commissioner of Police Edward Yome.
Details are still limited to press speculation about how the family of four consisting of a 31-year-old British man, Spanish woman aged 37, and two young children arrived on the Rock.
"We are currently waiting upon the arrival of the pathologists from England and once these forensic experts examine the bodies we will be in a better situation to give more concrete facts," Yome said. "We can confirm that the four victims have been found to have wounds of violence but we are trying to be sensitive about the information given because there are family members who are on their way or have not yet been contacted so it is for this reason we haven't informed the public about the identity of the individuals concerned." Speculation plea After certain sectors of the Spanish and British media reported the family had only arrived in Gibraltar a few days before and was stabbed to death, the Senior Investigation Officer, Acting Superintendent Wayne Tunbridge warned against "misinformation".
He told a packed press conference yesterday: "Once we have information to give to the press, we'll give it to the press. The information you require is from us; we are the source of information but we can't give you any more at this stage. I'm not going to confirm or deny this information." In this light, Yome urged the international press "not to speculate and wait for the information to come from the investigating team" with press conferences to be held over the coming few days." He also continued to ask for speculation to be ceased on social media as this did not help the investigation either.
Inquiry In response to questions over why the bodies of the children were removed to the hospital, he said: "You've got to understand that in forensic strategy we've got to take all the considerations and included in that the times for experts to come from the UK. You will be aware that the weather is quite warm and because of forensic strategy suggests they should be taken to the morgue it is my decision is to take that strategy.
"Two adults are still at the scene and examinations are continuing at the scene," he said yesterday. These bodies were then due to be removed later in the day after further investigations and photographs were carried out.
Tunbridge stressed that numerous lines of inquiry were still being followed to ascertain the exact details of how the family came to be at the rented accommodation and did not want to put out a statement on this matter until this was ascertained. Despite this, no other people were being looked for in connection with the deaths. He confirmed that the RGP was in close communication with the authorities in Spain and UK that have been "extremely helpful passing on relevant information to us and also carrying out enquiries".
Yome said he had the required resources to deal with the scenario and within the family liaison section to handle any counselling needs that in relation to the investigation. "I would like to thank the public so far as they are coming forward and if anyone has any other information they can call us on 200 72500." 01-04-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR
