The Spanish Comisión Nacional de Mercado de Valores (CNMV) has issued a public warning through their website and several national newspapers about the Spanish company Tribu Internacional Invest S.L. not possessing the due permission to offer the financial services it is offering to its clients throughout Europe. The two people involved are explicitly mentioned in the warning.
Tribu was set up by a Dutch man in the Costa del Sol (where else?!) and seems to have made over a hundred victims, people who invested amounts from 8.000 € up to and 200.000 €, money that would then allegedly buy them property or mobile homes somewhere in Spain or even Argentina. Tribu promised outrageous annual returns on the investments.
Earlier in 2008 the Dutch authorities (Authority Financial Markets) had already taken action against Tribu for not having responded satisfactorily to the questions asked, an attitude that recently made the AFM impose an 80.000 € fine on the company which to date has not been paid.
Foreign companies which offer financial services or products in the Netherlands are automatically made subject to Dutch legislation, more specifically the Dutch Law on Financial Supervision which regulates the licences for investments and financial services. In the Tribu case, most victims in the Netherlands were talked into the dealings by local agents who assured them that everything was legal and there was nothing to worry about. |
