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

*

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

*

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. ‘

*

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.  

Pancho Campo: CIE Marbella and The precursor of The Wine Academy (part 1) of Spain

Claims of a non-existent affiliation with Middlesex University 

 
CIE Marbella: Middlesex University – 'A University Transfer Program that Works!!'

Following his flight from Dubai around February 2003, leaving behind his Chilean passport as a surety with the court, Pancho Campo settled in Marbella. Looking around for a fresh start the fugitive future MW and his wife, Melissa Butler, decided in conjunction with Melissa's father, James Butler, to establish The Centre for International Education of Marbella (CIEM). James Butler is the founder and past president of the American College of Dubai (ACD), which he set up in 1990.  Butler has long had a home in Marbella.

ACD was originally called the Center for American Education, its change of name to the American College of Dubai was approved in May 2003* by the Commission on Accreditation in the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of the United Arab Emirates. One of the focuses of ACD is its university transfer programme 'that allows students to complete the lower division portion of their undergraduate program followed by a transfer to universities and colleges in the US, Canada, the UAE and elsewhere'.  See report here. 

(*: Coincidentally and ironically this was shortly before son-in-law Campo was convicted in absentia at a Dubai court on 1st June 2003.) 

The intention was that CIE Marbella would offer a range of courses, particularly catering for the growing foreign community in the area. In a article entitled Teaching à la carte by Joaquina Dueñas published in the Costa del Sol News in late April 2004 Campo outlined the project:

'To meet these needs, the Centre of International Education (CIE) in Marbella will open at the beginning of the next school year, but to the surprise of its director, Pancho Campo, 50 per cent of the applicants are Spanish, attracted by the prestige of earning a foreign degree.

At CIE Marbella, students can do the first two years of a foreign degree course without leaving Spain and then go on to complete the course at a university with which the CIE has an agreement, such as Middlesex University in the UK, or Broward University and Southern New Hampshire University in the US. The degrees obtained in this way are recognised in Spain, with the exception of Public Administration, for which a Spanish degree is required.'

Campo would appear to be shooting from the hip here or, at least, getting ahead of himself. There was an agreement with Broward University, Fort Lauderdale but it wasn't actually signed until the following month as David Moore AVP for International Education at Broward College confirmed in November 2009:

'On May 26, 2004, our Board of Trustees approved an agreement with the Centre for International Education, Marbella, Spain institution to provide an American College level program (first two years only) in Spain.  The Business manager of this school was Francisco Campo.'
 

However, there was never an agreement with Middlesex University in the UK, although there were inconclusive discussions about a possible articulation agreement as Lucy Jones, press officer for Middlesex University confirmed on 20th November 2009.

'Further to our conversation yesterday (Thursday 19th), my colleague has confirmed that, as you suspected, the arrangement mentioned in the 2004 web article did not actually happen.

Middlesex University were in discussions with CIE Marbella around 5 Years ago (2004) with a view to setting up an articulation agreement between the two institutions. However, CIE Marbella postponed the launch of their academic programmes indefinitely and so the proposals did not come to fruition.'

This lack of agreement with Middlesex did not stop Campo claiming in June 2004 that CIE Marbella is 'affiliated and recognized by prestigious universities in the United States and Britain as such as Middlesex University in London:

' CIE Marbella es el primer Centro de Estudios Universitario privado de la Costa del Sol, afiliado y reconocido por universidades de gran prestigio en los Estados Unidos y Gran Bretaña como: Middlesex University en Londres o Broward en Florida..'

(Extract from Page 23 of the First International Wine Symposium held in Marbella on 4th and 5th June 2004.)

 Fantasy claims from publicity for CIE Marbella (extract from publicity leaflet at head of post)

No agreement with Middlesex but still completely unfounded claims made in this leaflet: 'has an affiliation with Middlesex. At the end of of my two Years in Marbella I will transfer into the 2nd year of Middlesex' Three-Year Honours Degree in Management' and 'CIE Marbella also provides all the help required for my Middlesex admission and transfer. Best of all, I don't need A levels to begin my studies.' Open for registration/Course Start September 004.

I researched Campo's sortie into academia back in the autumn 2009 and although it does appear on my Pancho Campo MW Timeline it was not published elsewhere. I found details of CIE Marbella on a website called Andalucias Net run by Didier Alarcón, who designed materials for CIE Marbella. Although these brochures and publicity material had been generally available on the net since 2004/5 both Alarcón and Melissa Butler claimed in November 2009 that these materials were proofs and never published. While this may be correct, it is obvious that a designer only works with the information they are given. Furthermore the false claims made in relation to an affiliation with Middlesex University in the publicity material are fully backed up claims made by Pancho Campo himself during 2004.

Part 2 on other claims made by CIE Marbella and The Wine Academy will be posted soon.

 

 

   

   

#Campogate: the Asevin 'contract' - another spoof document

Page 1 of the Asevin 'contract': 11.11.2011

Page 4 of the Asevin 'contract' – only one signature

Pancho Campo and his Wine Academy of Spain* toiled all week to produce a statement. On Monday 5th December there was an announcement on Facebook that there would be a statement within 48 hours. Despite all the fanfare and grandstanding nothing appeared until around midday on Saturday 10th with the publication of a lengthy piece of self-serving bluster by the Dubai fugitive. 

Campo has chosen to to support his threadbare case with some spoof documents. The DO Vinos de Madrid document is the first example – see here. Then there is the so called Asevin 'contract', which like the Madrid paper is not a legal document at all. Page 4 above shows just one signature – Juan Antonio Ruiz Jimenéz – with no indication of where this 'contract' was signed. The space for Melissa Butler (Mrs Campo) remains empty as does Page 5. Did the normally vociferously supportive, Melissa, decide that there was no way she could bring herself to sign such tosh? Amazing that some people in Spain once thought they were afraid of Campo!

Page 2 of the spoof  Asevin 'contract'

 Page 3 of the Asevin 'contract'

The Asevin 'contract' another missing Melissa Butler signature on Page Five

Pancho Campo MW and The Wine Academy of Spain have released their long awaited statement here.           

* The Wine Academy LLC is registered at Watergate One, 1111 Gulfstream, Sarasota, Florida, USA.