Michael Brown, the British millionaire who was arrested at his mansion in Esporles over ten years ago and later sentenced to seven years imprisonment in the UK for fraud, is to face a Spanish charge of money laundering.
The anti-corruption prosecution service in Palma asked a court of instruction to open a case against Brown, who refused a court request to take a statement from him in the prison where is serving his sentence. The court has now concluded the investigation and the pressing of charges is in the hands of the prosecution service. The investigation has taken almost two years.
Following his arrest in Majorca, Brown was returned to the UK. He absconded and sparked off an international manhunt which ended when he was detained in the Dominican Republic in 2012. He had meantime been sentenced to seven years in his absence.
He was charged in the UK of having defrauded some thirty-six million pounds from clients who had been promised interest payments of up to 50%. He had boasted of having links to the royal family and was of course a major donor to the Liberal Democrats (he gave them 2.4 million pounds).
The prosecution service in Palma wants him to answer charges that some of the product of his fraud was laundered in Majorca. In addition to the Esporles mansion, he had a property in Andratx.