£100,000 donated to Madeleine McCann campaign ‘stolen to fund lavish lifestyle’, whisteblowers claim

£100,000 donated to Madeleine McCann campaign ‘stolen to fund lavish lifestyle’, whisteblowers claim

Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2015/10/26/100000-donated-to-madeleine-mccann-campaign-stolen-to-fund-lavish-lifestyle-whisteblowers-claim-5462667/#ixzz3pmdy9DYq

Up to £100,000 of the fund to help find Madeline McCann was stolen by someone connected to the hunt and used to fund his lifestyle, two whistleblowers have claimed.

According to The Sun, the two whistleblowers wrote in sworn affidavits that a man close to the search for the three-year-old defrauded the public and tricked Kate and Gerry McCann into believing the cash was being used to help find their daughter.

The pair say that the unnamed man forged travel and hotel receipts to hide the deception.

‘What made the fraud so disgusting was money came from people who shed tears over her disappearance and wanted to do their little bit,’ The Sun reports one of the whistleblowers as saying.

The fund, which was launched in May 2007 when Madeleine disappeared from Praia da Luz, Portugal, reached more than £2million, and included donations from celebrity backers.

‘Madeleine’s Fund takes extremely seriously any suggestion monies intended for the search have been obtained fraudulently,’ a spokesman for the McCanns said.

‘Kate, Gerry and the other directors of Madeleine’s Fund will co-operate fully with authorities to ensure these claims are fully investigated.’

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Kate or Gerry McCann.

mara thon wrote:£100,000 donated to Madeleine McCann campaign ‘stolen to fund lavish lifestyle’, whisteblowers claim

Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2015/10/26/100000-donated-to-madeleine-mccann-campaign-stolen-to-fund-lavish-lifestyle-whisteblowers-claim-5462667/#ixzz3pmdy9DYq

Up to £100,000 of the fund to help find Madeline McCann was stolen by someone connected to the hunt and used to fund his lifestyle, two whistleblowers have claimed.

According to The Sun, the two whistleblowers wrote in sworn affidavits that a man close to the search for the three-year-old defrauded the public and tricked Kate and Gerry McCann into believing the cash was being used to help find their daughter.

The pair say that the unnamed man forged travel and hotel receipts to hide the deception.

‘What made the fraud so disgusting was money came from people who shed tears over her disappearance and wanted to do their little bit,’ The Sun reports one of the whistleblowers as saying.

The fund, which was launched in May 2007 when Madeleine disappeared from Praia da Luz, Portugal, reached more than £2million, and included donations from celebrity backers.

‘Madeleine’s Fund takes extremely seriously any suggestion monies intended for the search have been obtained fraudulently,’ a spokesman for the McCanns said.

‘Kate, Gerry and the other directors of Madeleine’s Fund will co-operate fully with authorities to ensure these claims are fully investigated.’

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Kate or Gerry McCann.

The only one of their hired detectives that was said to have used money from the Kate and Gerry to fund his own lavish lifestyle was Kevin Halligen and he was reported to have been paid £300,000. Who else could this have been? The reference is to an individual, so not Metodo 3 and probably not Cowley and Edgar. Unless there was another person hired to search, who has not been named, it probably comes down to Halligen and if he ripped off £100,000 what happened to the other £200,000?

Now that I've had a chance to catch up on what surely must have been yesterday's news, I have to wonder why the whistleblowers took their sworn affidavits to the Sun and not to the police. It appears the Sun passed the information to the McCanns and now they are co-operating FULLY (sure!) with authorities to ensure the claim is investigated. I've always thought that, without the discovery of Madeleine's body despite the dog alerts, investigators should be following the money trail. Perhaps they are because there was chatter on twitter a few days ago that the McCanns were being interviewed under caution (unconfirmed as far as I know).

It brings to mind the O.J. Simpson case where there wasn't a conviction on the double murder charge but eventually a conviction was obtained on much lesser charges resulting in a very long prison sentence.

Edgar and Cowley may have been employed separately, even though they appeared to work together.

jassi wrote:Edgar and Cowley may have been employed separately, even though they appeared to work together.

Thanks. So, this may refer to one of them.

AnnaEsse wrote:

jassi wrote:Edgar and Cowley may have been employed separately, even though they appeared to work together.

Thanks. So, this may refer to one of them.

I wouldn't like to say that, but they are certainly the sort of person who would be likely to be able to claim the type of expenses mentioned. The fund may have employed other detectives or even lawyers that we have no knowledge of who might make these sorts of claims.
Assuming that the report is true, whoever, the man was ( as stated in the Sun) he obvious paid expenses by the Fund for services rendered.
Similarly the whistle blowers must have been involved with the detailed working of the Fund.

jassi wrote:

AnnaEsse wrote:

jassi wrote:Edgar and Cowley may have been employed separately, even though they appeared to work together.

Thanks. So, this may refer to one of them.

I wouldn't like to say that, but they are certainly the sort of person who would be likely to be able to claim the type of expenses mentioned. The fund may have employed other detectives or even lawyers that we have no knowledge of who might make these sorts of claims.
Assuming that the report is true, whoever, the man was ( as stated in the Sun) he obvious paid expenses by the Fund for services rendered.
Similarly the whistle blowers must have been involved with the detailed working of the Fund.

Actually, I doubt it would be one of them because they spent most of their time sitting in an office in Knutsford and apart from doing the odd appearance for the press, they didn't seem to do very much at all.