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When Monaco opened its new consulate-general in London recently Prince Albert
summoned the press to the Ritz Hotel to hear his appeal for more Brits to settle
in the Principality, joining the 2200 already there who make up the third
largest expat community after the French and the Italians. An official suggested
that the ideal settler would be "a man in his forties with a wife, two children
and lots of money". So what awaits the new arrival in what the OECD has once
again denounced as "an uncooperative tax haven" (a description fiercely
contested by the Monegasque authorities)?
First there's the look of the place
which about the time Prince Albert was in London Michael Winner described
quite unfairly, in our view as "a hideous overdeveloped piece of tat". What
has to be reckoned with, though, for anyone not seriously working, is a likely
existence of stifling boredom, a routine of endless cappuccinos, the occasional
highlight of one of those Celebrity Lunches and intense gossip about other
people's conjugal crises and sexual realignments. Gossip on the telephone can be
dangerous, remember, since calls may be monitored (as a former police chief once
told us, "only bad boys need worry about that"); anyone seeking further
information on this point could try calling Monaco Telecom's new English
helpline on +377 99 66 33 00.
As the Prince stressed, security is guaranteed
in his realm and both residents and visitors are constantly under the attentive
eye of the dozens of cameras which scan public areas on behalf of the Sûreté Publique. The legal system exemplifies those famous "ancient traditions, customs
and practices" and attracts some criticism elsewhere. Anyone who upsets a person
with pull in high places may be asked to leave pronto. The curiosities of the
system were illustrated by the recent outcome of two cases we've reported on.
Fraudster William Fogwell, former friend of the Family, had his five-year jail
term confirmed plus a half a million euro fine. It's still obscure why, having
been allowed to leave Monaco, he returned voluntarily to face his judges. His
victims, he took some €165 million off them, remain enraged that none of their
money seemingly has been recovered. As an odd postscript to this affair
Fogwell's lawyer announced that he was suing the judge for misconduct.
Meanwhile
poor sad Marc Giacone, the cathedral organist who had been threatened with
prison for making schoolboyish fun on his website of Prince Albert and other
notables, was finally let off with a fine. A wise move for the Grimaldis in PR
terms. And a last piece of advice: when Loadsamoney arrives in Monaco he
shouldn't go for a Chelsea tractor (congestion charges may be on the way) but
take the bus or use one of the free bicycles now provided.
From
Riviera Reporter 124 - Dec 2007/Jan 2008
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Perhaps the obscurity of my voluntary return to face my judges would be lessened if my statement during the trial had been reported: "I returned in order to bring some truth to a story exaggerated through gossip and innuendo for reasons known only to those who perpetuate the story and to lay to rest the falsity perpetrated by the fee-earning professionals which further victimises my former clients by leading them to believe that 165 million euros is hidden somewhere mysterious and that by continuing to re-run the story their lost investments will be returned to them. But the losses are indeed losses from legitimate trading activities on the international financial markets, just as the recent losses of hundreds of millions of by leading French financial institutions are losses and not referred to by anyone as fraud, nor the managers of those institutions as fraudsters.
I also object, as I have done in the past, to any implication of involvement by the first family.