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A YORK businessman who won a battle against extradition to Spain last summer claims in a new book that he was betrayed by Spanish intelligence after blowing the whistle on "Europe’s crime lords".
Paul Blanchard, 76, of Fulford, says in his autobiography 'Wanted: secrets of a mafia whistle blower,' that he was recruited to spy on clients with suspected links to money laundering, arms dealers and terror networks but ended up at risk of 15 years in a Spanish jail.
He claims he exposed how legitimate offshore business was being hijacked by organised criminals, including the Al Quaeda cells behind the Madrid and London bombings, but was then abandoned by Spanish police, who sought his extradition on allegations of fraud, money-laundering, forgery and fraudulent use of credit cards, threats and coercion, perverting the course of justice and participation in a criminal organisation.
The Court of Appeal was told earlier this year that Blanchard had been an accountant working in Spain for Mohamed Derbah but in 2001 he had brought to the attention of Spanish police a timeshare fraud allegedly being committed by Mr Derbah and provided witness statements which led to his arrest. Judges overturned a ruling of 2020 that he should face prosecution in Spain. Blanchard said afterwards that he was now planning to appeal against his UK conviction for fraud in 2008.
In his book, Blanchard tells how he worked as a freelance corporate adviser to Mr Derbah but became increasingly...
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