Portugal,Spain and the Canary Islands are being linked in child abductions

Jeremy Vargas vanished from his home in Gran Canaria just eight weeks before four-year-old Madeleine went missing in Praia da Luz.The missing seven-year-old boy is being linked it with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Detectives hunting for the boy have told his parents they are now working closely with police in Portugal.
This development adds weight to Kate and Gerry McCanns' insistence that their daughter was abducted, and that they were not responsible.
The link between the cases was revealed as dive teams searched a murky reservoir for Madeleine's body.
Jeremy's mother Ithaisa Suarez, 24, told yesterday of the striking similarities between the two cases - and her belief that both children may still be alive.
She said: "The specialist police team from Madrid have told me that they have been in contact with the Portuguese police investigating Madeleine. They are working on the theory that people involved in child trafficking are behind these cases."
Jeremy was playing on wasteground behind his home when he disappeared on March 10 last year.
Ithaisa insists both Jeremy and Madeleine, four, were snatched to order and likely sold on by a ruthless gang.
She was the first mother in similar anguished circumstances to write to the McCanns, both 39, when Madeleine disappeared last May. The two griefstricken families exchanged a series of letters.
Ithaisa wants to meet Kate and Gerry, as well as the parents of missing Mari Luz Cortes from Huelva, Spain, to present a united front in drawing international attention to their plight.
She said: "We need to stick together and make sure people understand we have not given up on our children being found."
Clarence Mitchell, the McCann family spokesman, said: "We are very grateful to the Vargas family for their continued support.
"Kate and Gerry have Jeremy in their thoughts an awful lot of the time."

Yesterday, divers continued to search a reservoir for Madeleine's body following a tip-off from an underworld source to a lawyer.

The search at Barragem do Arade - 40 miles from Praia da Luz - is being funded by Marcos Correia, who claims he was told she was murdered and thrown into a lake last May.

Correia, who would not reveal his source, said: "I am convinced this is the place."

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40,000 Spanish estate agencies have gone bust.

figures released by the Spanish Estate Agents' Commission, around 40,000 Spanish estate agencies - nearly half the total - were forced to close last year, coinciding with a 40% decline in property sales.
As a result, it is estimated that around 100,000 estate agents lost their jobs during 2007.

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Clifford Hobbs Tracked down on Spain's "Costa del Crime"

"For years Hobbs has tried to run from us but today's outcome demonstrates that you can't run forever," Scotland Yard's Flying Squad head, Detective Superintendent Bob Cummings, said. He also thanked his Spanish counterparts. One of Britain's most wanted men, tracked down on Spain's "Costa del Crime" by police, was jailed on Friday for his part in a cash van robbery and armed escape from a prison van at the gates of a London court.
Clifford Hobbs, 47, had been on the run for almost five years after escaping from a Securicor prison van in June 2003 by armed men who had posed as postmen who ambushed it as it waited for the court gates to open.
He had been due to attend court after the theft of 1.5 million pounds from another Securicor van earlier that year.
Hobbs, described by news media as one of the country's "premier league" gangsters, had fled to Spain's Costa del Sol.
The area, along the country's southern coast, has long attracted Britons seeking sun and sand alongside British-style pubs and fish and chip shops -- including those fleeing justice.
Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency and Spanish authorities have recently tried to crack down on British criminals living there, publishing details of the most wanted, including their prominent scars and tattoos.
Hobbs, described by London police headquarters as one of the country's most wanted, now faces up to 18 years in jail for possessing a firearm, his escape and conspiracy to steal.

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Wilber Varela aka JABON aka SOAP

The boss of Colombia's biggest remaining cocaine cartel was killed by gunfire in Venezuela in an apparent settling of accounts between drug gangs, Colombian security forces said on Friday.
The body of Wilber Varela, known as "Jabon" or "Soap," was found on Wednesday in a hotel room in Merida state in neighboring Venezuela, said a Colombian police source who asked not to be identified.
"We have intelligence information that the person found dead in Venezuela is Jabon," the source said.
Varela, a former police sergeant wanted for extradition by the U.S. government for helping to smuggle tonnes of cocaine to the United States, was one of the last Colombian drug kingpins at large after last year's arrest of Diego "Don Diego" Montoya.
The two had battled for control of the Norte del Valle cartel, a violent rivalry that left hundreds of people dead.
The U.S. government had offered a $5 million reward leading to the arrest of Varela, who got his nickname from a brand of soap with the same name.
The Norte del Valle gang, based near the western city of Cali, is the only Colombian cartel that still controls all areas of the business from cultivation of coca plants to production of cocaine and its exportation.

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Darli Velazquez-Armas : Bounty hunters in Spain

Spanish police have arrested a suspected cocaine trafficker who was wanted in the United States and had undergone facial surgery to avoid detection, nabbing him after a foot chase through a cemetery, officials said Monday.
Darli Velazquez-Armas, a 33-year-old Cuban citizen, was arrested last week in the Canary Islands in a raid coordinated with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Interior Ministry said.
According to U.S. court documents, Velazquez-Armas was arrested on Jan. 30 in a DEA sting operation involving 130 kilos (290 pounds) of cocaine shipped to Miami from Ecuador.
A U.S. grand jury indicted him on drug trafficking charges. He pleaded not guilty and posted a $1 million (€700,000) bond Feb. 20, and was required to surrender his travel documents. His trial was scheduled to begin April 16. Velazquez-Armas failed to appear at a March court hearing, and was declared a fugitive on May 14.
Spanish authorities caught up with him in June in a Madrid suburb, but he escaped a dragnet after ramming his car into a police car.
Velazquez-Armas was later spotted in the town of Vecindario on Gran Canaria, one of Spain's Canary Islands, where he had continued to engage in drug trafficking, and officials put him under surveillance, the Spanish ministry said.

Last Friday, police chased him from Vecindario to the capital city Las Palmas. At one point the suspect got out of his car and fled on foot through a cemetery. He later attempted two carjackings before police finally arrested him in an industrial area, and even then he tried to grab an officer's gun, the ministry said.


When a drug trafficking suspect skipped out on a $1 million Federal bond, the bail bonds company traced him to Spain by going through his garbage for clues.
Just weeks after posting a $1 million bond, Darli Velazquez-Armas skipped bail. On March 10th, 2007 Federal authorities were alerted that something was wrong when Velazquez’s electronic monitoring bracelet sent a failure signal that the defendant had failed to report home. The huge bond was posted in the U.S. Southern District Federal Court in Miami, Florida. The $1,000,000.00 Federal bond was underwritten by a California bail bond insurance company.
Within days of jumping bond investigators for Bail Yes Bonding, a Miami based Nationwide bail bond company discovered that Velazquez had fled on a private plane to the Dominican Republic out of Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport located in Southwest Miami-Dade County, where from there the case went cold. Veteran bounty hunter Rolando Betancourt was hired by the bail bond company to track down and capture the fugitive. Betancourt went to work in Miami on several leads focusing mainly on the defendant’s parents and ex-wife, all of which had signed as indemnitors on Velazquez's bond. Betancourt directed teams of investigators across several states, coordinating all aspects of the investigation. "We really pulled-out all the stops on this case” said Betancourt, pooling our resources and working closely with government agencies as is typical today for high-risk fugitive recovery operations. Betancourt went as far as renting a garbage truck to make un-scheduled garbage runs at the defendant’s Miami home. One day, fearing they had been spotted, they were forced to pick up the neighbor's garbage down whole length of the street, “It was a real smelly mess”, recalled Betancourt, “but it had to be done”. The early morning garbage runs paid off, amongst the bags of debris were shredded documents that investigators were able to reconstruct yielding a cache of information including used calling cards, bank records, and pages from a First Class in-flight magazine belonging to a European Airline, leading the investigators to believe the defendant was somewhere in Europe, quite possibly the Country of Spain.
In June after weeks of grueling 24 hour round the clock surveillance of various locations Betancourt received a tip that members of Velazquez's family were planning an overseas trip, he was able to follow the defendant’s ex-wife to Miami International Airport were she, her two children and other members of the fugitives family had gathered to board an Iberia flight destined for Madrid, Spain. Betancourt always prepared for the un-expected did not hesitate to buy a ticket to Madrid and as luck would have it was seated next to one of the defendant’s family members. Prior to departing Betancourt coordinated with DEA agents in Miami and the U.S Embassy in Madrid who alerted the Spanish authorities of the situation. Upon arriving at the Madrid airport, Spanish Police were there to escort the bounty hunter off the plane. At the Iberia baggage claim area the suspect’s family were pointed out to the Spanish authorities and the family group was followed for nearly an hour in early morning rush hour traffic to a luxury Chalet in an exclusive suburb of Madrid. Surveillance was established at the residence with the coordination of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Madrid Country office and members of the Spanish National Police SNP Fugitive Unit. Shortly thereafter Velazquez was observed getting into a brand new Toyota Land Cruiser SUV with his entire family. Velazquez recklessly broke through the Police dragnet after which a high speed chase ensued through the narrow, winding streets of Majadahonda a suburb of Madrid, ending only when Velazquez ran a female SNP agent off the road causing her to crash her motorcycle. Velazquez then fled on foot, the bruised and injured agent was unable to pursue him because a passenger in the fugitives vehicle blocked her as she was getting up from her downed motorcycle. Left behind were the fugitive’s two crying children, the ex- wife, a hysterical sister, brother in-law and two nephews. One of the nephews was placed under arrested for aiding in the escape of the fugitive and other related charges. Betancourt was of course upset, but this mishap only fueled his conviction to go after the defendant even harder, thus sealing Velazquez’s fate.

After a week of searching Madrid's inner neighborhoods and following up on the smallest of leads, the battered bounty hunter returned to the United States empty-handed. Betancourt was determined to finish the case, but in reality he knew, he was starting all over again from day one. After weeks of extensive surveillance of the defendant’s known associates, and another transatlantic trip, small leads began to trickle in indicating the defendant might still be hiding out in Spain. Betancourt was requested back to Europe for a third time by the bail bond company mainly due to this new information which also coincided with the approaching Fathers Day weekend were it was believed that the defendant would attempt to contact his children. Betancourt being a seasoned bounty hunter targeted several Madrid neighborhoods offering rewards for any information of the defendant. After several frustrating weeks of scouring most of the cities in Southern Spain with no results, Betancourt returned to the U.S. and called upon the resources of Interpol, the DEA and other law enforcement agencies while continuing to direct teams of investigators who were pursuing leads in Florida and elsewhere. With some of Betancourt’s European assets and their arsenal of sophisticated high technology systems he soon discovered that the defendant was not in Spain at the moment, but was visiting other countries in Europe and would most probably be returning to Spain in the near future. Betancourt was again dispatched to Europe were upon further investigations he concluded that the most likely final destination would be Las Palmas, in the Grand Canary Islands. Betancourt's hunch proved right, actually arriving in Las Palmas two days ahead of the defendant. After seven days of canvassing targeted neighborhoods throughout the majestic Island and seemingly endless 24 hour street level surveillance, Betancourt telephoned the Miami bail bond company saying that he was certain that Velazquez was near with a sense that he was walking the same streets as the defendant. “I felt it was now only a matter of days or hours, before I would run into him, we were breathing the same air ...” said Betancourt. Late afternoon on Thursday August 9th, he spotted the elusive fugitive at a luxurious home in the town of Vecindario just south of the Las Palmas Airport. Velazquez, now sporting a full mustache in a feeble attempt to change his appearance, was casually talking with a neighbor, dressed in his favorite color of brown as his hunter silently walked passed him confirming it was indeed Velazquez, Betancourt called DEA agents in Miami, Florida who immediately alerted their DEA counterparts and U.S. Embassy officials in Madrid Spain. After an all night surveillance of the defendant’s hideout the Spanish National Police where dispatched to aid in the apprehension of the defendant. While the Spanish Police were setting up surveillance of the home the fugitive Velazquez was seen leaving the residence and entering a waiting vehicle with other individuals later identified by authorities as Velazquez’s Spanish attorney, her husband and their eighteen year old pregnant daughter. The vehicle was followed and when Spanish Police attempted to stop them a chase ensued covering a distance of several kilometers ending when they made a wrong turn into a dead end street. Velazquez by now a veteran of these situations, again fled with flair, this time running through a cemetery and attempting two carjacking's ; one a vehicle occupied by two women and a motorcycle, almost causing the driver to fall off. Velazquez then jumped onto the back of a passing truck, hanging on for his life, while in hot pursuit was a determined Spanish Police officer who was able to grab him and pull him off the moving truck, Velazquez and the officer stumbled to the ground, as they scuffled Velazquez attempted several times to disarm the officer, as wayward shots were fired, the officer now fighting for his life eventually was able to subdue the defendant taking him into custody. Velazquez suffered several fractured ribs and facial cuts requiring stitches. He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment before being booked into the local jail. Authorities fearing that Velazquez poses a serious security threat have dispatched a Spanish Naval Vessel to pick up and transport the dangerous drug kingpin to the mainland, were local authorities are expected to hand over the defendant to U.S. Marshals Service Agents in Madrid for extradition to Florida were he will stand trial for drug trafficking and possible bond jumping charges.

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Latin Kings from New York to Madrid

Shouting "Latin Kings out!" and "We're going to get them, we're going to kill them", some 600 young people from Alcorcón met up on Avenida Alcalde José Aranda in response to the brawl between Spaniards and Latinos that left 7 hurt, three seriously injured, and another seven arrested [the latter from] the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia.Constantino Mendez, Madrid's security chief, says he plans to assign more police in the city to rein in Latino gangs that have turned to murder to settle scores.
An 18-year-old from the Dominican Republic died from stab wounds on Nov. 5. A 17-year-old Ecuadorian was killed in September. The deaths have raised the specter of an emerging gang-war culture in the city, said Mendez, the central government representative overseeing security in the capital.
``We want to eliminate the risk that these groups represent,'' said Mendez, 55, in an interview in Madrid on Nov. 14. ``They're causing social alarm.'' He said about 750 youths may be members of gangs inspired by groups such as Chicago's ``Latin Kings.''
A rising number of the 20,000 police in Madrid province, more than 70 percent of who are deployed in the city, will focus on curbing gang feuds, he said. Delinquency among immigrant youths is a concern because Spain relies on foreign labor to help fuel economic growth, said Octavio Una, director of sociology at Madrid's King Juan Carlos University. Spain's economy has outpaced the euro-region average of 1.7 percent for a decade.
Riots in neighboring France, where immigrants from North and West Africa and their descendents torched 9,000 cars in more than two weeks of civil unrest, should spur European countries to study how well youths from immigrant backgrounds integrate into their societies, Una said.
``Spain is concerned about this phenomenon of youth gangs,'' he said in a phone interview on Nov. 10. ``We live in an aging country that needs immigrant labor and peaceful relations.''
At 3.7 million, the non-Spanish population accounts for 8.5 percent of the country's 43.5 million inhabitants, up from 2.3 percent in 2000, according to the Madrid-based National Statistics Institute.
The unemployment rate in the third quarter was 8.2 percent for Spanish citizens, compared with 10.2 percent for foreigners, according to the government statistics office in Madrid. The jobless rate for immigrants is falling at a faster pace than for Spaniards, the institute said.
One in every six of Madrid's 3 million inhabitants is foreign born. The immigrant population has more than tripled since 2000. Ecuadorians make up the biggest part, accounting for 28 percent of ``Madrilenos'' born outside Spain, the Madrid city government's statistics show.
Latino gangs may have committed three murders this year, Manuel Moix, Madrid's chief prosecutor, said in an interview on Oct. 19.
Spain ranks eighth in Europe in terms of murder rates, below countries such as France, Germany and the United Kingdom, according to nationmaster.com, which compiles figures from sources including the United Nations Survey of Crime Trends.
Latin Americans, who make up the bulk of immigrants, have close cultural affinities with Spain, where a growing economy provides job opportunities, said Mendez.
Still, gang wars are new to Madrid and come against a backdrop of declining violent crime overall, said Moix. Murders in the city dropped to 44 in 2004 from 63 in 2003.
Mendez's strategy for tackling the gangs involves more rigorous policing of areas where members meet. Spain will expel gang members if prosecutors can prove they're violent, said Mendez, who has set up a 12-member police unit to oversee investigations into gang membership.
``Members often have problems of failure in school and lack of affection in the home,'' he said. ``That's also where we have to work.''



The Latin Kings are out there right now throwing their weight around a little bit, and we're going to make sure they feel our attention in a very special way in the next several weeks," said Chief Edward Flynn, adding that the effort will not be a sweep of Latino men, but arrests of specific gang members.
Flynn's remarks came during a 5 p.m. news conference announcing the arrests earlier in the day of two suspects, ages 17 and 21, both of whom he said had prior records. The 17-year-old was on probation for a robbery, Flynn said.
The two are expected to be charged in the robbery and killing of Lodewikus "Vic" Milford, 43, after a robbery early Saturday in Walker's Point. Milford, the director of compensation and benefits for Miller, was returning to his car with three women after they had visited a nightclub when they were robbed about 1:10 a.m. Saturday, police said. After they all gave up their wallets and purses, Milford was shot inside his SUV in a parking lot near S. 2nd and W. Walker streets.
Flynn credited the department's homicide and gang units and District 2 police officers for arresting the suspects just a few days after the crime. He also said Miller's $10,000 reward was a "significant factor" in helping detectives break the case.
Milford's killing was tragic, but the circumstances surrounding the crime are also rare in Milwaukee, Flynn said. Some 80% of the homicides in the city in 2007 involved a victim who had a criminal record, he said.
Flynn said he understands that the slaying had a profound impact on the Walker's Point area, but he believes the neighborhood is safe.
"My message to them is that justice will be done in this case. Don't lose heart, and don't lose faith," Flynn said.
Flynn said both suspects were arrested around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. At least one of them was arrested after officers surrounded Jo Jo's tavern and an upstairs apartment at S. 6th and W. Maple streets.
A relative of the 21-year-old suspect said police were at his home Tuesday night asking about his whereabouts, what he was wearing and searching for evidence. The relative said she had not seen the man since Sunday, and that he had not seemed particularly agitated or said anything about the slaying.
The relative said the man is on an electronic-monitoring bracelet. Court records show that he was convicted of a felony drug charge in 2006 and received a stayed prison sentence of three years. One of the conditions of his probation was to not possess any firearms, according to records.
Miller Brewing Co. spokesman Julian Green said a memorial service is being planned for Milford's family, friends and co-workers at 1 p.m. Friday.
Federal prosecutors have indicted large numbers of Latin Kings several times over the past two decades for drug peddling and homicides, including 49 people in a 2005 case. A 2007 U.S. Justice Department drug trafficking intelligence report indicated that other members keep stepping up to take positions of authority in the gang.
Two Latin Kings members were charged in November in the shooting of two police officers near S. 15th St. and W. Greenfield Ave. during a shootout that wounded five people.
Flynn said police will keep up the pressure on the gang. "Their behavior has been intolerable, and we have a responsibility to our citizens to stop them," he said.
"Let's send a message here," said Mayor Tom Barrett. "If you commit a crime in this city, if you disrupt our neighborhoods, terrorize our residents or businesses, or create fear in our streets, we're coming after you, we will find you and hold you responsible."

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Enrique and Leopoldo Faura managing directors of constructors Grupo Mirador

Sewage rising up into the shower, sinking swimming pools and houses without electricity or gas, these are only a few of the problems plaguing buyers of their so-called 'dream' homes in Mollina.
Patios unpaved, gardens strewn with bricks and rubble, and cracks and mould that keep appearing in the walls, to say the owners are unhappy would be an understatement.
But this is just what a series of neighbours claim they are left with two years after they took possession of their properties on the Mollina Hills urbanisation on the edge of the fast-growing town, ten minutes north of Antequera.
'We came out here thinking that this would be our dream home,' said Nino Bondonno, who moved into the four-bed property with his partner Pauline Bartlett two years ago.
'But what we are confronted with is a house riddled with problems surrounded by a building site. We are absolutely gutted.'




A group of 20 British nationals complained that the homes they had made down payments upon have gone unfinished.
Now, the two managing directors of constructors Grupo Mirador – brothers Enrique and Leopoldo Faura – will declare in front of judges on January 24 on charges of fraud.
Also charged was agency Palmera Properties, which was marketing the three-bedroom terraced houses.
The charges relate to the 90-home Mirador de Fuente Piedra complex near Antequera.
In April 2003, the group of 20 buyers paid deposits of up to 88,000 euros each on the off-plan property.
Five years later, the group has not yet taken ownership of their homes.
As part of the agency fee, Palmera Properties – which also marketed an uncompleted housing complex in La Alpujarra retained a commission of 3,500 euros when the clients made their initial down payments.
During the investigation, judges heard how the clients were offered a banker’s guarantee – a surety that protects the buyer in case homes go unfinished – with the Panama-based Caja Hipotecaria Centro Sur, which is currently under sanction by the Bank of Spain.
Fuente de Piedra mayor Cristóbal Fernández, the municipal architect and council secretary have been ordered to appear as witnesses.

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300 residents of Mijas affected by urban planning fines

300 residents of Mijas affected by urban planning fines and demolition orders on houses built on land not zoned for building met last week in front of the municipal auditorium to establish a pressure group aimed at defending their interests. They elected a representative for each area of the municipality affected, which are Puerto de Los Gatos, La Alquería, Entrerríos, Macorra, La Majadilla, Alberquilla, Candelaria, Fuente Algarrobo, Atalaya, Valtocado and Osunilla, and decided to place the matter in the hands of lawyers, whose task it will be to study the possibilities of having the properties in question legalised. Most of them have been built on land that has belonged to their families for many generations, by people who were either not aware of the Urban Planning Law of Andalucía, or chose to ignore it. Many of them had the actual documentation relating to the fines imposed on them by the authorities, ranging from 5,000 to 130,000 euros, while others had in their possession court orders giving them a set date by which their properties must be demolished. On the contrary, they were warned, further legal measures would be taken.
For many of these residents, losing their homes would mean losing everything they have. They are mostly unable to pay the high fines, having mortgages or bank loans to pay back, and most of them not being in the high income bracket. This is the case of Diego Gutiérrez, who lives in the Entrerríos area of Mijas. “They issued an order to appear in court, and if they knock my house down, I’ll have no place for myself and my family. We’ll be destitute, on the streets,” he said. Others, such as Justo Alcázar, claim they have been living without any water supply for almost two years. “The Town Hall cut my water off. I have a demolition order on the garage I built on land that has been zoned for building,” he tells us. Another resident of Entrerríos is angry because he invested all his savings in converting a garage into a small house on land that was in his family for generations. “In May of last year, they sent me a demolition order and fined me 65,000 euros. The house was finished at that point. Now they say it has been built on land not zoned for building, and against the territorial planning laws. I don’t understand what is going on,” he said.

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Costa de Cabanas development

Fugitive solicitor Michael Lynn is at the centre of a new fraud probe after Hungarian police received complaints about his property dealings there.
The lawyer who fled Ireland owing €83m in multiple-mortgage debts was in Budapest as recently as Tuesday in a desperate bid to keep his property empire float.
Police have launched the fraud investigation following the collapse of a 156-apartment development owned by the fugitive solicitor into which Irish SSIA investors have ploughed their savings.
An Irish Independent investigation has found:
l Lynn began selling off his foreign companies weeks before he absconded last December. l He recently gave one Hungarian colleague power of attorney over his affairs "for the whole term of my incapacitation".
l Complaints were filed with the police in Budapest after the 156 apartment Sziv 61, owned by Lynn's Croi 61-- translated as Heart 61 -- was abandoned by builders in December.
l Lynn's wife, Brid Murphy, is expected next week to challenge a raid on the home she shared with Lynn at St Albans, Sandymount, by the Dublin Sheriff's office.
The news from Hungary will come as a major blow to individual Irish backers, who have already laid down tens of thousands in deposits for the Sviz 61 apartments and townhouses.
Builders walked off the Sziv 61 site last December, unaware that Lynn had in fact sold it on November 30, and complained to police after "questionable" agents claimed they were representing the Mayo-born lawyer.
"A few questionable companies and civilians turned up 'representing' Michael Lynn and handled in some fake authorisations that they could act on behalf of Lynn," said Attila Toth, the head of the Plan 60 building company.
"We rejected these authorisations and reported it to the police as our lawyers thought it was a question of forgery and fraud."
Documents filed with the Hungarian companies registrar show Lynn sold on Croi 61 on November 30. It was bought out by Raspotec, which shares Croi 61's Hungarian address and is ultimately owned by Cyprus-based Morgar Trading.
Mr Toth, however, was not made aware of any changes of ownership.
The builder now says the equivalent of €1m in fresh funds is needed to complete the development. Failing this, he plans to pursue Croi 61 for the equivalent of about €370,000 in penalties.
News of the Hungarian police probe comes as the Irish legal community braces itself for fresh "revelations" about the scandal that are expected to unfold in the High Court on Monday.
The Dublin Sheriff's office recently broke locks to get access to Lynn's Sandymount home. Officials removed several items, including boxes of "reasonably good" French wine; chairs, tables, mirrors, a washing machine, tumble dryer and microwave.
Seized
The items were seized on the back of High Court orders obtained by the banks last month, but his wife Brid has claimed that, as a joint owner, she was not given due notice of the raid and is seeking the return of items owned by her.
Lynn's Hungarian dealings were uncovered during an extensive Irish Independent trawl of the Mayoman's overseas companies.
The review of his main holding companies reveals the solicitor remains the sole owner of several companies in his main markets of Bulgaria and Hungary.
The ownership structure of Lynn's Portuguese operations, which are behind Costa de Cabanas -- his largest remaining development -- remains unclear as they don't have to file ownership information.
Accounts for Lynn's eastern European holding companies show the largest company has accumulated profits of less than €400,000, which will provide little comfort to banks and investors who are owed millions.
Apartment
In Hungary, Lynn's Kendar property firm was supposed to be building out Sziv 61, 49 apartments in Budapest's Eotvos Street and 105 apartments in Budapest's Amber Square.
Sziv 61, which translates to Heart 61 in English, is owned by Hungarian registered Croi 61.
Croi 61 was founded by Michael Lynn in 2005 and owned by the Mayoman until November 30.
Lawyers tidying up Mr Lynn's Hungarian affairs have previously said that money for Amber Square seemed to be "completely gone" while Eotvos is expected to be built out.
In Bulgaria, local representatives insisted before Christmas that a ski development in Bansko would be completed. The office did not answer calls this week.
Meanwhile, files at the Sofia court house show Lynn is the sole owner of Kendar Bulgaria.
Calls to Portuguese manager Nuno Paulino were not returned this week.
Mr Paulino is responsible for building Kendar's most prestigious project, the 282- property Costa de Cabanas development in the Algarve, in Portugal.

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Viva Estates agency hit by recession

Viva Estates agency that claims to be the Costa del Sol’s largest has laid off 120 of its 160 staff.has shut 95 per cent of its offices in a bid to fight the current recession.
The company has seen sales figures drop by over two thirds since 2003.
In 2007 the agency achieved just 550 completions, in comparison to 1,500 in 2003.
In a desperate bid to save the business, it has shut 13 out of its 14 offices, including flagship branches in Puerto Banus, Fuengirola and Alhaurin, and cut back on its huge UK advertising bill.
Blaming the collapse on the internet and the corruption scandals that have engulfed Andalucia,
“The boom brought a lot of cash to the Costa del Sol and every Tom, Dick and Harry coming in to try and make money.
“But most clients now use the internet and where offices were getting an average of 60 walk-in clients a month five years ago, last year they got just six
“With various town halls raping their coffers to the tune of hundreds of millions of euros it has not helped.”
The company is now functioning on a skeleton staff of 40 from the main office in El Rosario, between Marbella and Calahonda.
“I am optimistic that we will still be here when the market comes back. I lived through the last boom, when no-one had any money and everyone drove old bangers.

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