Find Maddie fund dries up as donations shrink- Sun 23.01.15

The rest of the article is behind a paywall if anyone has a subscription???


Find Maddie fund dries up as donations shrink

EXCLUSIVE

By NEIL SYSON

Last Updated: 23rd January 2015




THE public appears to have turned its back on the 'Find Madeleine' fund with donations dwindling in the last financial year, latest accounts have revealed.

The charity raked in £1.8million at its height shortly after Madeleine McCann, three, vanished from a holiday home in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007.


http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/6286813/find-maddie-fund-dries-up-as-donations-dwindle.html

candyfloss wrote:The rest of the article is behind a paywall if anyone has a subscription???


Find Maddie fund dries up as donations shrink

EXCLUSIVE

By NEIL SYSON

Last Updated: 23rd January 2015




THE public appears to have turned its back on the 'Find Madeleine' fund with donations dwindling in the last financial year, latest accounts have revealed.

The charity raked in £1.8million at its height shortly after Madeleine McCann, three, vanished from a holiday home in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007.


http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/6286813/find-maddie-fund-dries-up-as-donations-dwindle.html

Any one know when it received charity status,they can't even get that right.

A lot of people do seem to be under the misapprehension that the Fund is a charity.

A friend of mine believed the official story although she thought the McCanns looked like rather unpleasant people. After  quite a few phonecalls during which i'd quoted various official sources there was finally a silence when i said that the Fund was a Ltd. Co. 

The penny dropped at last.

Oh dear...looks like the could be hoping for a quick public whip-round to pay for their costs in the libel trial!

But who the heck is going to give them money when they know about the millions being spent on the SY investigation? People will surely question what on earth they want the money for, as it's not for searching...not that it ever was!

I'm so surprised by the timing of this....not!

With events of the other day pointing towards a (hopeful!) victory for Amaral in Portugal and the final verdict in the £1.2million McCann moneyspinner case coming up soon, if (WHEN) Amaral is victorious, they will be hoping this kind of article will have dripped into the public's consciousness and then it'll be back on the breakfast sofa circuit all "We're skint because of that evil policeman" blah de blah de blah. "Please look for Madeleine give generously"

In my opinion, or call me psychic.

Here's the full article:

Find Maddie fund dries up as donations shrink
By NEIL SYSON
22 January 2015
thesun.co.uk
© News Group Newspapers 2015

EXCLUSIVE

PUBLIC donations to a fund set up to find missing Madeleine McCann dwindled to just £21,000 in the last financial year, latest accounts reveal.

The Find Madeleine campaign made £21,264 from fundraising in the 12 months to March 31, 2014. That figure compares to £70,250 the previous year and £306,393 the year before that.

It raked in £1.8million at its height shortly after Madeleine, three, vanished from a holiday home in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007.

The £21,264 of donations last year were made up of £2,744 in wrist band and T-shirt sales, with the rest collected.

But administration costs such as accountancy fees and an audit swallowed up £21,005 of that cash.

Accountant Cormac Marum, of Harwood Hutton Ltd in Beaconsfield, Bucks, said: "It is not surprising the documents show donations are slowing with the passing of time."

But papers filed with Companies House in London last week show the charity's account still currently has a healthy total balance of £753,056.

That is through unspent money brought forward from previous years and around £1million from mum Kate McCann's 384-page best-seller Madeleine: Our Daughter's Disappearance and the Continuing Search for Her.

Madeleine disappeared from her bed in the family's apartment on May 3, 2007, while Kate and dad Gerry were eating at a nearby tapas restaurant.

In the latest twist in the case, former suspect Robert Murat was questioned twice by local cops in Faro last month as the McCanns bid for the Portuguese authorities to reopen the case.

IT consultant Mr Murat, 41, was the last of ten people – four Brits, a German and five Portuguese – grilled as witnesses in the Algarve at Scotland Yard's request.

A spokesman for the McCanns, who are from Rothley in Leicestershire, said: "Kate and Gerry and the board of directors remain extremely grateful to everybody who has helped in the search for Madeleine by donating to the fund."

Just last month Kate and Gerry, both 46, said they had been "amazed" by the support they have received.

The organisation, which has six directors including Kate and Gerry, pays for a 24/7 helpline for tipsters to call.

It also provides "part-time admin support" to the Portuguese inquiry and Scotland Yard's probe Operation Grange. This includes a Portuguese translator and "media liaison".

But the fighting fund was bruised by paying for witnesses to attend former cop Goncalo Amaral's libel trial in Portugal.

The ex-investigator produced a book and DVD claiming Kate and Gerry faked an abduction and concealed Madeleine's body. The couple have always denied the accusation.

News UK & Ireland Limited

Ignored wrote:I'm so surprised by the timing of this....not!

With events of the other day pointing towards a (hopeful!) victory for Amaral in Portugal and the final verdict in the £1.2million McCann moneyspinner case coming up soon, if (WHEN) Amaral is victorious, they will be hoping this kind of article will have dripped into the public's consciousness and then it'll be back on the breakfast sofa circuit all "We're skint because of that evil policeman" blah de blah de blah. "Please look for Madeleine give generously"

In my opinion, or call me psychic.

Or it's going to be back to cardboard boxes, , such as were dotted around the OC in 2007. 

Then perhaps some prominent members of SY can help launch balloons and assist at similar events. 
Gerry could propose a sponsored bike ride from Portugal to G.B. ( it was cancelled because it was too dangerous for our Ger, seems a number of people didn't like him). 

Public has had enough imo, been there, done that, got the T -shirt.

canada12 wrote:Here's the full article:

{Snipped}

It also provides "part-time admin support" to the Portuguese inquiry and Scotland Yard's probe Operation Grange. This includes a Portuguese translator and "media liaison".

But the fighting fund was bruised by paying for witnesses to attend former cop Goncalo Amaral's libel trial in Portugal.

The ex-investigator produced a book and DVD claiming Kate and Gerry faked an abduction and concealed Madeleine's body. The couple have always denied the accusation.

News UK & Ireland Limited

Thanks for that, Canada. And we can see immediately how the expenditure of the fund is prioritised, the biggest dent made in sending the lame 'witnesses' to the trial.

And what of this 'part time admin support' to the investigations (ROFL). Portuguese translator.... bet he's busy converting all the findings of the PJ into English, not. And the ''media liason", wonder just who that is these days.

So we have witnesses sent to Portugal to protect the Mcs, a translator to obtain as much information as possible to aid the Mcs and a Media spokesman to spin and protect the Mcs.

So how much of the business' expenditure went on the search? Anything at all?

As ever, my opinion and interpretation.

Part time admin support to the Portuguese Enquiry and Operation Grange - don't think so.

How will they ever pay Amaral's damages?

These are my thoughts too paracetamol, although if this case results in Dr Amaral's favour, could it be the McCanns are stating they have very little funds available in the event of any counter action.

costello wrote:These are my thoughts too paracetamol, although if this case results in Dr Amaral's  favour, could it be the McCanns  are stating they have very little funds available in the event of any counter action.  

Would GA not have to instigate a counter-suit as it is the Macs who have sued him? Or is it possible the judge will award reverse damages?
If he does counter would the Macs` house and cars be counted as their assets or will it only be the fund? Maybe they will be made to hand over a monthly sum a la TB.
Even if there is no counter the fund will be swallowed up by any costs that come from an unsuccessful suit.

I believe that, so far, they have not had to pay any legal fees whilst on the trail of libel, book banning and subsequent damages.

I understand that all their fees have been stacked up pending the damages decision. At that point the lawyers of the plaintiffs are due to be paid, costs being awarded by the judge against the defendants. Or not.

In the event that all the costs are not awarded against the defendants, and imo they can't be, then the plaintiffs will have to cough up. In that event, the plaintiffs, ie all the family members will have to find the money and the Ltd Company has the mandate to 'help' them financially.

In my opinion.

I would be interested in knowing what the outcome of the fund would be with regards to bankruptcy. I may be wrong here but a "Ltd" company is easier to dissolve rather than a Sole Trader so to speak.

I should think that if they get counter-sued, their personal assets would be at risk. They initiated the legal actions as individuals, not as the Fund.

Is it a coincidence that the paucity of the fund has been made public just as the damages trial takes a swing away from them?

All that money sent in envelopes, bucket donations, collections.... How was it all audited? Is it all accounted for within the ltd comany, or are there other reserves, perhaps held under a different company name or otherwise? Who knows what access to money people have? Pure speculation and not factually based, of course. Just my own theoretical questions.

I don't see the point of counter-suing. Dr Amaral is vindicated. He doesn't need to set foot in a courtroom ever again.

He will be able to recoup any financial loss with far less risk, and less stress to himself although not the McCanns, by writing a sequel to The Truth of the Lie detailing events since he published the first book.

Even if the McCanns win a nominal payout, they will take a huge hit financially so I think that the recent news about the dwindling fund is a last desperate attempt to wring donations from the more gullible. Like Ixta pointed out, the McCanns initiated legal action as individuals so if the fund isn't sufficient to pay all the legals bills, the McCanns should be responsible for the shortfall. IMO.

Counter- suing is what your heart would tell you to do but after the costs are deducted from the fund and the Macs are asked to make up any shortfall there would be nothing left in the coffers and it would tie GA up in court for years again.
He doesn't strike me as a vengeful man and I have always believed he wrote the book to vindicate his position and not as a spite to the parents.
He will think with his head as he did when he refused to settle out of court and the sequel to his book will be ready to launch as soon as it is prudent to do so.
I will be first on the list to purchase it.

Given what was written about Amaral in the MSM I would think if any suing were to take place it would be against them,Murat,Tapas lot were successful on less.

The more you think about,have they fooked up big time,was the attempt to settle out of court done with the knowledge they are on their own,no big donors,nothing to fall back on.Were they advised that to bring the litigation against Amaral would be done off their own backs and they thought he would roll over,if they did it was some mistake.

Poe wrote:I don't see the point of counter-suing. Dr Amaral is vindicated. He doesn't need to set foot in a courtroom ever again.

He will be able to recoup any financial loss with far less risk, and less stress to himself although not the McCanns, by writing a sequel to The Truth of the Lie detailing events since he published the first book.Even if the McCanns win a nominal payout, they will take a huge hit financially so I think that the recent news about the dwindling fund is a last desperate attempt to wring donations from the more gullible. Like Ixta pointed out, the McCanns initiated legal action as individuals so if the fund isn't sufficient to pay all the legals bills, the McCanns should be responsible for the shortfall. IMO.

I agree. He must be fed up with courts and legal wranglings over the past 8 years and he should consider his health as well. I hope, during all this time, he has been writing another book detailing the whole affair.

I also wonder if Goncalo is vindicated in this damages trial, a publisher will publish The Truth of the Lie in English.

If his health is up to it I think he should pause for events and then drag them right back in again....it may smack of vindictiveness but boy does he deserve his day.