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HAITI

Swede gives millions to help Haiti children

Swedish businessman Roger Akelius is to donate 100 million kronor over a 25-year-period to a children’s charity in the wake of Haiti’s devastating earthquake.

Published: 16 January 2010 09:47 CET
Swede gives millions to help Haiti children

The charity SOS Barnbyar was overwhelmed when they heard the news.

“It’s the biggest amount of financial support from one donation we have ever had,” charity head Marcus Norberg told newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.

The money is to be used to support and educate around 400 Haiti children who live in two separate villages where the charity has set up facilities to help homeless and orphaned kids.

The villages are situated close to Port au-Prince and Cap Haïtien in the northern part of the country.

Akelius, who currently lives in the Bahamas, explained that with his property and insurance businesses booming, his impending 65th birthday prompted him to plan how his money will be used in the future.

“Because I live fairly close to Haiti I have been carefully following the events unfold and what is happening with the children in connection with the earthquake,” he said.

While the charity is receiving donations for immediate and emergency assistance, Akelius’ millions will be used to the long-term benefit of children cared for in these two SOS-Barnbyar villages.

“It means we can help them even more and offer high school education which we aren’t always able to do,” added Marcus Norberg.

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HEALTH

Spain’s ‘2,000-tumour man’ sentenced for scamming donors

A Spaniard known as "the man with 2,000 tumours" who lied about having terminal cancer was handed a two-year jail term Monday for scamming donations from thousands, including celebrities.

Published: 8 February 2021 15:46 CET
Spain's '2,000-tumour man' sentenced for scamming donors
De Cedecejj - Trabajo propio, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=99402644

Paco Sanz, 50, appeared regularly on television and social media between 2010 and 2017, claiming to have nearly 2,000 tumours as a result of Cowden syndrome.

Saying he had only months to live, he appealed for donations via his web page, through text messages and even a charity gala.   

Although he did suffer from the syndrome, all his tumours were benign and posed no threat to his life.

Prosecutors say the former security guard collected just under €265,000 ($319,000) before being arrested in March 2017 in the eastern Valencia region.   

Among those who sent him money were popular television presenter Jorge Javier Vazquez and Spanish footballer Alvaro Negredo.    

Prosecutors accused Sanz of “taking advantage of his illness” to “obtain illegal funding”.

They said he presented the disease as being “much more serious than it really was” and of falsely claiming he could only be saved if he got experimental treatment in the United States.   

In reality, he travelled to the US to take part in a free clinical trial and “all his costs were covered” by the firm running it, prosecutors added.    

In video obtained by Spanish media at the time of his arrest, Sanz could be seen joking with his girlfriend and family members about the lies he was telling.

As his trial opened in Madrid on Monday, Sanz pleaded guilty to fraud, receiving a two-year jail sentence, while his girlfriend was sentenced to a year and nine months for being his accomplice.

But they are not likely to serve time behind bars, as sentences below two years are usually suspended in Spain for first-time offenders convicted of non-violent crimes.

The trial will continue so the court can determine how much money the pair owe in damages.

READ ALSO: Fraudster parents of sick girl jailed for charity scam

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