serious and persistent breaches of Gibraltar’s financial services legislation.

Financial Services Commission has today, pursuant to Section 11 of the Financial Services (Investment and Fiduciary Services) Act cancelled the licences of the following licensed firms and persons ;
Gibland Secretarial Services Limited ; Licence No FSC00171B
Gibland Nominees Limited ; Licence No FSC00175B
Equity Nominees Limited ; Licence No FSC00174B
Equitar Management Limited ; Licence No FSC00172B
Gibter Management Limited ; Licence No FSC00173B
Cabor Trustees Limited ; Licence No FSC00430B
Meridian Trustees Limited ; Licence No FSC00890B
Marrache, Benjamin John Samuel ; Licence No FSC00736I
Marrache, Solomon S ; Licence No FSC00176I
The decision has been taken following an investigation into the affairs of the licensed entities and persons which in the opinion of the Commission have disclosed serious and persistent breaches of Gibraltar’s financial services legislation.
The Commission,while investigations continue, has taken immediate measures to safeguard the interests of the existing clients of these firms and has appointed Mr Frederick White Managing Director of Grant Thornton (Gibraltar) Limited of 6a Queensway, Gibraltar (Tel. 200 45502) as Authorised Administrator of all the above companies pursuant to the provisions of the Financial Services (Investment and Fiduciary Services) (Temporary Administration of Companies) Regulations 2010.

The Authorised Administrator will work closely with the clients of these firms in assisting them to transfer their business to other licensed entities at the earliest opportunity having regard to the particular needs of individual clients.

Marrache & Co Gibraltar bank account supposed to hold the company’s cash in fact had a balance of less than nine Euros and no credit facility.

Two senior executives at a prominent Gibraltar law firm, brothers Benjamin and Solomon Marrache, appeared before the Magistrates Court yesterday charged with false accounting in respect of E1.8m of client money.The two men were arrested on Tuesday and spent the night in police cells before being ferried to court in a police van.The two Marrache brothers were ushered by police through a side entrance to Central Police station just before 10am and appeared before the magistrate in a crowded courthouse a short while later.Attorney General Ricky Rhoda, appearing for the Crown, urged the magistrate to impose stringent bail conditions for fear that the two men might flee the jurisdiction.Keith Azopardi, the defence lawyer representing the Marrache brothers together with Samantha Sacramento, said there was no risk of them leaving Gibraltar because both were of previous good character and had strong family ties here.Stipendiary Magistrate Charles Pitto granted bail but set tough conditions on each defendant, in the form of two sureties to the value of £300,000 for each brother. The court also set a further financial condition of £150,000 in their own recognizance for each defendant.In simple terms, failure to appear at future court hearings could cost the defendants and their guarantors up to £900,000 in total.Both men also had to hand in their travel documents and agree to reside at their respective family homes, as well as report twice weekly to police.By the end of the day yesterday, a number of persons had stepped up to provide £600,000 in sureties for the release of the two men.At an hour-long hearing in the evening, Mr Pitto questioned the guarantors closely but accepted the sureties. The two brothers were released from custody later that evening.Yesterday’s developments in court were the opening shots in what will undoubtedly develop into a lengthy and complex case.Mr Rhoda said the sums of money involved “could be quite substantial”.He said the two men were currently facing “holding charges” and that more charges could follow at a later stage. The Attorney General also said there could be further arrests as a result of an ongoing police investigation.Earlier this week police raided several commercial and residential properties linked to Marrache & Co and seized documents and computers.Prosecutors allege that in January this year, the brothers falsified documents to conceal a shortfall of E1.8m of funds belonging to a company called Portino Comercio Internacional. One document, a letter signed by Solomon Marrache, purported to show that the money was held by the brothers on the client’s behalf. Another document, a letter signed by Benjamin Marrache, purported to give authority to Natwest bank to transfer the client’s money to a bank in Ireland.But prosecutors said that the Gibraltar bank account supposed to hold the company’s cash in fact had a balance of less than nine Euros and no credit facility.

1,000 British nationals are imprisoned overseas on drugs charges, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said.

1,000 British nationals are imprisoned overseas on drugs charges, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said.Hundreds of travelling Britons are being caught out by strict foreign laws against drug trafficking, the Government warned.The majority are held in Spain (207), followed by the United States (141), Thailand and France (both 79).
Minister Chris Bryant said travellers should be "extremely wary" of getting sucked into drugs because they face long jail terms in harsh conditions.He said: "The message is clear - we can't get people out of jail in other countries, so if you don't want to waste your life away in a tough foreign jail, be sensible and keep clean."
His comments came after a British drugs smuggler was executed in China last December despite widespread criticism of his treatment.Mentally ill Akmal Shaikh, 53, a father-of-three from London, was killed by lethal injection after being caught carrying 8.8lb (4kg) of heroin into the country in 2007.Of 2,582 Britons held overseas, 1,057 are held on drugs charges, according to figures released by the Government.Many countries take an extremely hard-line with drug smugglers, with the death sentence used in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.Other countries, including Cyprus, India, Venezuela, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates, can impose long sentences, even for small quantities of drugs.