Declan Ganley and Libertas European election scam exposed, more debts outstanding in Spain

Whatever hopes Declan Ganley may have had of starting a new party have been dealt another blow as the Spainish Libertas leader states he has been left high and dry with debts of 100,000 euro. Ganley in true Arthur Daly fashion arrived, said his bags were stolen and handed over 19,950 euro.

Libertas' John McGuirk (aka Journo on Politics.ie) claims no invoices were sent from Spain. John, like Declan Ganley, seems to have a bizarre relationship with facts and it is standard operating proceedure for him and Libertas to deny all claims and facts that upset his/their spin.

However the Spainish party can not say they were not warned they all received emails regarding Ganley and Libertas prior to running up debts which pointed out many facts about the party, its far right allies and members.

One such email from an anti-Libertas activist was replied to with legal threats from Spain.

Well next time you will know better.

For Mr Ganley let's hope there is no next time.
Libertas appears to have been little more than political ponsi scheme designed to gratify Ganley's ego and raise funds and to ruffle the feathers of the enemies of the Christotaliban far right that supported Ganley and his partyi.e. the EU and supporters of pluralist democracy.

Libertas rejects claim it owes group €100,000

JANE WALKER and HARRY McGEE

PARTY FUNDS: A POLITICIAN that led Libertas’s European election campaign in Spain has said the group led by Declan Ganley had not paid an outstanding debt of more than €100,000. Libertas has rejected the claims.

Miguel Duran’s party, Libertas: Citizens of Spain, failed to win a single seat in last June’s elections. “I agreed to lead Spanish Libertas after Mr Ganley came with promises to finance us to the tune of €4 million,” he said.

“He assured me he had funding of more than €70 million for his European operation.

“We ran a cheap campaign because we had no money and had to borrow from friends. I began campaigning in April after Mr Ganley again promised to send money. But there was still no sign of it.

“When he came here his excuse was that his luggage had been stolen. He eventually paid me €19,950 in cash – I don’t know why it was such an odd number, perhaps someone forgot to put the last €50 note in the bundle,” he added.

“He kept on saying the money was on the way, but it never arrived.

“I have since learned that he made similar promises to other European groups and they never received any money either . . .”

A spokesman for Libertas, John McGuirk, yesterday rejected the contention made by Mr Duran that money was still outstanding. “No invoices have been received from Spain. Because there are no invoices, payments were not made.”

Mr McGuirk said the Spanish group had been repeatedly asked for invoices and said that invoices it had received had been paid.

Spanish Libertas, a loose coalition of three small centre-left regional parties, was not anti-Europe, said Mr Duran. He said he is pro-Europe, but he is against the way politicians are running Europe. “I believe in a united states of Europe, but not one ruled by lobby groups and unelected officials. This is what I signed up for. We wanted to change Europe from within, or at least I thought he did too.

“Now I think he wanted to frighten Europeans for his own ends and many of us fell for it.”

Mr Duran (54), a Barcelona-based lawyer blind from infancy, began as a braille operator and rose rapidly to become, at only 32, director general of Once, Spain’s powerful organisation for the blind and disabled. When private television channels were legalised in Spain he left Once to head Tele 5.

But in 1998 he was charged with insider trading and other financial irregularities. He was finally acquitted last year.