Daily Maddie

THE FUND

BACKGROUND



Less than two weeks after Madeleine McCann disappeared, the family and friends of the McCann family set up a company called Madeleine's Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned Limited. Without properly setting clear objectives and policies from the start, the company was set to become the vehicle for the "official" find Madeleine campaign—whatever that actually meant. It has become a typically British thing to have financial campaigns to assist people in well publicised times of need. Usually there is no specific company set up to do this. The British banks are past masters of setting up and administering bank accounts for needy causes and tend to do so without intervention by outsiders. What made the Madeleine Fund and subsequent campaign so distasteful to many is that little of the money has been used for its intended purpose which was to find Madeleine. The company has several family members on its board of directors and this and many other factors have helped to fuel rumours as to the integrity of the management and disbursement of the donated money. Also, it is unknown who the shareholders are as they have never been divulged. The bottom line is a lot of benefactors would like to have actually seen some real stones turned over by the McCanns in the search for Madeleine.
Madeleine's Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned Limited registered number 06248215 is registered in England at 2/6 Cannon Street, London, EC4M 6YH. Their VAT number is GB 243 8054 69. That address is where the company's solicitors Bates Wells & Braithwaite London LLP (BWB) are based. In addition to providing legal services for the company, BWB also provides the function of company secretary. The company is classified as a "PRI/LTD by GUAR/NSC" Company (Private, limited by guarantee, no share capital) and its nature of business is defined as (SIC(03)). The company accounting reference date is 31/March and the first accounts are due on 31 January 2009. The next Company Return is due on 12 June 2008.

The company auditors are Haysmacintyre, Fairfax House, 15 Fulwood Place, London,WC1V 6AY. Instead of using local firms to perform the legal and auditor duties, the directors have chosen to use expensive, high-end, London based firms. In a situation where members of the public have donated small amounts of money, it is not unreasonable to question whether or not it is prudent to be having such a lavish infrastructure in the running of what is essentially a very small company. In line with most things set up by the McCanns since May 3, their penchant for spending vast sums of money seems normal to them.

Madeleine's Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned Limited is NOT a charity. It is a private company and as such, the directors can pay who they like without having to follow any rules or guidelines. What donors may not fully understand is that their money has effectively little or no regulation on what or how it is spent. Yes, the company has published policies dictating how the money can be used, but the directors are not regulated by any outside body so they can create and modify any policy to suit themselves. Apart from satisfying legal requirements in terms of running a limited company, the directors and company are answerable to nobody - especially the people who donated good money to find Madeleine.

Directors

1. Peter Hubner; a retired consultant;
2. Brian Kennedy, a retired head teacher;
3. John McCann, a medical representative;
4. Esther McVey, managing director of a public relations & communications company;
5. Doug Skehan, clinical director in cardiology at Glenfield Hospital;
6. Philip Tomlinson, a retired solicitor and former coroner in Leicestershire;
7. Michael Linnett, a retired accountant



The company secretary is also a company - BWB Secretarial Services

At the end of October, Clarence Mitchell confirmed that the Fund paid for two of the McCann's mortgage payments saying on the Sky News site, "The fund has always had the ability to assist the family financially if necessary, and they've only used it to pay for two mortgage payments earlier this year. The story continued; the use of donations had previously been called into question after it was revealed about a third of the money had been used to meet the McCanns' living costs, publicity fees and to pay staff.

Considering the McCanns are believed to earn in excess of £120,000 a year it seems inconceivable that two high-earning doctors should be so strapped for cash that they Why were two supposedly wealthy doctors so hard up that they needed donations from the public to pay for their mortgage and living expenses?
This thing stinks