Pancho Campo MW and the Spanish Consul

Statement issued by the Spanish Consul in Abu Dhabi: 26th August 2009

Statement issued in both Spanish and Arabic (at the end of this post) on 26th August 2009 by the Spanish consul in Abu Dhabi:

A quien pueda concernir,

D. Vicente Cacha López de la Calzada, Encargado de los Asuntos Consulares de la Embajada de España en Abu Dhabi, por medio del presente escrito y de acuerdo con los antecedents que obran en nuestro archivo certifica que D. Francisco Armando Campo Carrasco solicitó la baja en la fecha de enero de 2002 derivada de su voluntad de trasladar su residencia a España.

De igual y por el mismo motive, nos solicitó la baja consular de su hija, Andreah Campo Butler y un visado para su mujer, Da Melissa Butler, para poder tener acceso al Espacio Schengen.

De igual forma, se deja constancia de que el Sr Francisco Armando Campo Carrasco era titular legitimo de un pasaporte español expedio el dia 27 de febrero de 2002 y válido hasta el 6 de junio de 2008.

En Abu Dhabi, a 26 de agosto de 2009

Vicente Cacho López de la Calzada

Segunda Jefutura/Cónsul

Embajada de España en Abu Dhabi

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I’m very grateful to Harold Heckle, journalist based in Madrid and a fluent Spanish speaker, for this English translation:

To whom it may concern,

Vicente Cacho López de la Calzada, Chargé d'Affairs of Consular Matters at the Embassy of Spain in Abu Dhabi, certifies that according to details found in our archives Francisco Armando Campo Carrasco requested to be signed out at this Consulate on January 2002 based on his willingness to transfer his residence to Spain.

Similarly and for the same reason, he requested his daughter, Andreah Butler Campo, be signed out, and also sought a visa for his wife, Melissa Butler, so she may gain access to the Schengen Area.

Similarly, it is stated that Mr. Francisco Armando Carrasco Campo was the rightful holder of a Spanish passport issued on February 27, 2002 and valid until June 6, 2008.

Abu Dhabi 26th August 2009

Vicente Cacho López de la Calzada

Segunda Jefutura/Cónsul

Embajada de España en Abu Dhabi

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Harold’s comments

This document is bizarre. It's really an unusual and strange document, and the reasons for requesting it must have sounded equally off the wall. Basically it says there is evidence in the files that Campo went to the Consulate and asked to be signed out.

Most people don't bother telling Consular offices to sign them in or out. For example, the British Consulate here knows me and about me, but I have never signed in, nor would I go there to tell them to sign me out when leaving the country. I've never done that in any of the five countries I've lived and worked in. It also says he was issued a passport after he was "signed out" and that the passport had an unusually limited lifespan. I think most passports issued under EU rules are valid for 10 years exactly, albeit they can have extensions if your previous passport still has time left on it at the time of requesting a new one. The principal reason for seeking a new passport with time still owing on a previous one is that you are required by most countries issuing visas to have a minimum of six months lifespan left on your passport before they issue you with a visa. I had to go through that rigmarole to get a visa to Uzbekistan, for example.

But apart from being signed out even before he has a Spanish passport, it is clear here that there is no forwarding address mentioned. All there is, is a willingness to go to Spain. Probably more than a willingness, more like an eagerness...

I can only imagine a very legalistic and complex reason being given when seeking the Consulate to issue this kind of statement.

**

Campo’s explanation to speakers at WineFuture Rioja09 sent September 1st 2009:

‘Before leaving, we informed the Spanish Embassy that we were moving back to Spain in case I was needed to be contacted. ‘

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Melisasa Butler to Charlie Hamilton in the ‘Spanish promoter's arrest sought’ article – 

The National Charlie Hamilton Sep 20, 2009 

http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/spanish-promoters-arrest-sought

"We left Dubai in February 2003 with a valid passport and informed the authorities we were leaving."

Comment and speculation

It is as Harold says a rather curious document and the dates are interesting. It says that Pancho Campo went to the Spanish Embassy in Abu Dhabi in January 2002 and told them he was considering moving to Spain. Campo wasn’t smuggled out of Dubai until about a year later.

Vicente Cacho López de la Calzada issued this statement on 26th August 2009 shortly before the news of Campo’s appearance on the Interpol list broke. The story by Adam Lechmere and myself was published on decanter.com on 4th September 2009, although I emailed questions to Campo on 31st August 2009.

What we don’t know is when Jackie Wartanian filed her complaint against Campo. Hamilton says that according to court papers Campo was charged on 5th June 2002 with breach of trust in relation to the around $600,000 he stole from the company. 

If Hamilton is correct that the dispute arose over ‘a CSM-organised concert that year in Dubai by the Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias’, then Iglesias must have played in Dubai in early 2002. There was certainly an Inglesias concert there that year as the concert can be downloaded but I have yet to find the date it was held. His previous appearance in Dubai was on 1st October 2000.

Was Campo already preparing an ‘alias’ ("court case was a complete surprise to me!")  for his flight from Dubai or did he indicate to the Embassy that he was considering moving to Spain in the context of wanting a visa for his wife?  

The statement in Arabic 

Vincent Pousson, who broke the story about the Murcian payments, now has a blog and his second post covers Campo being nominated as one of Verema's people of the year.