This is a reproduction of an article written by Mr. Juan Carlos Marino Montero on the Mozambique EUROPA stamps made in 2004. This article was designed to blame others for what he did which was to create and have printed the illegal EUROPA issues in the name of Mozambique and other countries. I have evidence showing this to be fact in the study of the various countries that were effected. The article actually gives insight as to what was produced. The original article was posted originally on the now defunct stamp-scandal.com website owned by Mr. Montero. The site was taken down due to massive lies and accusations the owner posted on the site. You will find in this article that the accusations and "documentation" does not collaborate with what is known and what exists in present times (2022). The Mozambique set has been established to be illegal by all the major catalogs except Michel. I have added notes to reference in italics.

Mozambique Postal Authority Corruption

The rampant corruption in the Mozambique Postal Authority, led by Dr. Maria Angelica Dimas has been a long-running saga, linked to much of the unmitigated chicanery current throughout the philatelic world.

Immediate setup to make you think the postal administration of Mozambique is corrupt.

The story we have uncovered begins with the previous incumbent of the Director of Post Office, Dr Pedro Lopes Murima. He granted a contract to Marino Montero International philatelic agency to produce stamps on behalf of the Mozambique Post Office.

The contract was for the production of stamps on the theme of the History of the XXI Century.

A complete lie. Not one stamp on the theme of "History of the XXI Century" is listed in ANY catalog and one was denounced in a 2008 circular. This "contract" was supposedly made in 2003 when Montero made the first set which he and his little mafia still sell to this day.

In 2004, Sorbourne Limited, trading as Filatelia International, the company belonging to George Katz, approached Marino Montero International to allow them to produce a commemorative issue, under the terms of their contract, for the Europa 50th Anniversary.

This is where he "twists" the story to look like Mr. Katz approached him. It is the other way around as documents showing Montero getting permissions to use the "copyright" EUROPA logo Katz designed were given to Montero. NOT the other way around. Documents recovered from the Internet archive.

The contract stipulated that the total issue for each stamp would be 180,000 of which 108,000 would be released on the open market, and 5,000 souvenir sheets of which 4,000 would be released on the open market. Marino Montero International were paid €20,000 on this basis.

By March 2006, it was common knowledge in the philatelic world that Sorbourne Limited, trading as Filatelia International, had printed 500,000 of each stamp and 500,000 of each souvenir sheet.

This criminal disregard for the terms of the contract was compounded by the printing of an additional unauthorised 500,000 imperf of each stamp and 500,000 imperf of each souvenir sheet.

This only shows you the massive numbers of the illegal stamps that were produced. Mr. Montero lost his own agencies due to exposure of him producing illegal stamps in the name of Niger, Mali and other countries. He lost his "stamp agencies" France Philatelie and France Philatelie(2000) at that time, thus he created Marino Montero International in 2002. He was using Mayfair International all the way to 2007 to print stamps.

This isn’t the only example of contract abuse by Mr. Katz. His own printer implicates him in the falsification of contracts for Azerbaijan and Georgia – see email here. The Azerbaijan contract allowed for the production of 500,000 CTO which Katz transformed into 500,000 mint, executing a massive fraud against the Azerbaijan government.

The sheer quantity of stamps produced beggars belief. Imperf versions of the stamps alone would account for 6,000,000 stamps.

Here he tries to paint a picture of criminal activity that Mr. Katz was doing. There is no evidence of fraud. An email can be forged.

Those responsible for this travesty needed a way to make sure that no whiff of illegality surrounded these stamps.

Enter our old friends at the Michel Catalogue.

The influence of Sako Khatchikian with catalogue editor, Wolfgang Maier – an influence probably increased by Khatchikian’s purchase of the majority of the 2006 catalogues – ensured that the stamps appeared in the 2006 Michel Catalogue, turning the original 20,000EURO investment into a catalogue value of 160,000,000EURO.

Sako Khatchikian’s influence also ensured the appearance in the 2006 Michel Catalogue of illegal stamps supposedly from Benin , along with many others that should not be there.

I have found evidence showing that during the time influence to Michel catalog was going on. There has been influence from numerous sources including Montero. All of them want to insure their stamps get listed and Montero was no exception.

On the 9th of May 2006, ironically the very date of the Europa 50th Anniversary, news of the Forum Filatelico scandal broke in Spain.

Marino Montero International, acting as a responsible member of the philatelic community, attempted to ascertain whether the Europa 50th Anniversary stamps had been supplied to Forum Filatelico. After all, where could this huge quantity of stamps have gone? There aren’t enough collectors in the world to absorb that many stamps.

George Katz responded by informing Marino Montero International that the stamps had been supplied to Jesus Sanchez, owner of Primadart S.A., in Switzerland, which did nothing to allay the fear that there was more involved than just printing a lot of stamps.

It was fast becoming apparent that the scale of the financial irregularities involved in the Forum Filatelico scandal was breathtaking and a bland assurance that everything was alright was less than comforting.

The scandal was in Spain and involved Forum Filatelico and Afinso. The heads of Afinso were convicted in 2016 for tax evasion, fraud and money laundering as were heads of Forum Filatelico convicted in 2018. All were located in Spain. Mr. Katz was not on the list namely because he was not part of the Spanish division of Forum Filatelico. All the convicted criminals were in that division. Not to say, Katz may have profited from it.

In June, the situation became more complicated. Dr. Maria Angelica Dimas, the director of the Mozambique Post Office, sent a letter to Armando Lapa, the Portugese sidekick of Algirdas Satas, declaring that the Europa 50th Anniversary stamps were illegal.

Satas, the man responsible for the production of illegal stamps bearing the names of over 90 different countries, has a long running vendetta against Marino Montero International, which might explain why the letter found its way rapidly from the hands of Armando Lapa to almost every stamp dealer in the world.

Here we have the pot calling the kettle black. It is the other way around. Montero is the one proven by UPU circulars, evidence collected showing his sales of illegal stamps through his MMI website, and evidence kindly provided on various stamp venues like eBay and Delcampe. There is no provable evidence that Satas made illegal stamps for over 90 countries. Although there is evidence of selling them on Satas and of course his agency Stamperija is an abusive stamp producer, there is no evidence of actual production of illegal stamps. The one with the vendetta is obvious, yes? Try to find anything by Satas against Montero, you will find you cannot. Try to find anything by Montero against Satas and you find a lot!

At no time during this entire process had anyone made contact with Marino Montero International to explain the situation or give them a chance to challenge the actions of Dr. Maria Angelica Dimas.

She has a track record for trying to use her position for her own benefit. When she took over the office of Director of Post Office, she demanded that Marino Montero International pay for a round trip for her to the United Kingdom. There was no reason for her to travel to the U.K. We suspect that once there, her business would have been conducted mainly in Harrods and Harvey Nichols.

All this makes you wonder if someone didn’t pay her to write the letter.

Here we have hearsay from a bitter man who was kicked from a contract he breached in 2004. He was given a contract in 2004 for one set of stamps and could not even resist the urges to make more illegal stamps from that one set of which from that point on, he was permanently kicked from having any more contracts with Mozambique. Satas gained the contract in 2007 and has carried it ever since. Ms. Maria Angelica Dimas has evidence showing her to be the postal director through 2009. This article was written in 2007 and taken down in 2008.

Later in June the owner of Marino Montero International was threatened by thugs at his property. We wonder who sent them?

This story does not appear very correct. I note the stamp-scandal website went down for a couple weeks and then reappeared with a completely different page style and was completely revamped. Why would he not just start it as it was after just two weeks. My take is he was just lying about being threatened and was simply changing the website to a new version. Funny how it never came back after 2008 yes? As for the "thugs", do we have any police reports on the matter?

Meanwhile, Satas was busy producing his usual bundles of illegal stamps, including a Europa 50th Anniversary issue for St. Thomas & Prince which breached the official logo copyright held by Sorbourne Limited, trading as Filatelia International.

Where’s the honour amongst thieves?

Indeed where is it? The only illegal EUROPA stamps made in the name of Saint Thomas & Prince were all made by Mayfair International owned by none other than....Juan Montero. The huge 2005 set that was produced in the millions is proven simply by the document showing Montero getting permissions from Katz to use his stupid logo. I have preserved other rants by this guy against St. Thomas threatening legal action and everything else. To this day, nothing happened and all of his garbage in the name of St. thomas are still illegal and NOT listed by the catalogs nor the UPU WNS system which he claims was sent proof of legal issue.
In regards to EUROPA issues made by Satas. The only EUROPA stamps of the time were all produced by Mayfair International. The logo is right on them!

As a result of all this nefarious activity, Mr. Sanchez, owner now of the Europa 50th Anniversary stamps, asked Mr. Katz whether they were legal or not.

Mr Katz asked Marino Montero International for reassurance on this point, who, of course, reassured him that the contract was good and any stamps produced under it were 100% legal. After all, as explicitly stated in the contract, it could not be cancelled.

Wait a minute! I thought Katz was the one who had the contract! That is what Montero said above right?

All this made it too late to include the stamps in the 2007 Michel catalogue, which had suddenly become virtuous and excluded the issue from its pages.

What were Sanchez and his cohorts to do?

What was Montero going to do? According to the above, He says the contract is good, meaning he is the provider of the "stamps".

The Michel Catalogue published an article in the February 2007 issue of Michel Rundschau indicating that, having received a letter from Maputo reversing the declaration of illegality, the stamps would be reinstated in the 2008 edition of the catalogue.

Maputo? That is the capital of Mozambique. Who was it?

Did someone pay for this letter?

So, to summarize, the stamps have gone from being legal in 2004-6, to illegal in 2006-7 to legal again for 2007-8.

Do you see how he is trying to manipulate you into thinking the EUROPA illegal stamps are legal? This line does show you one thing though. It shows you that the EUROPA illegal stamps were made in 2004.

Where is the UPU? Where is ASCAT?

We could ask the new president of ASCAT, Hans W. Hohenester, who has recently replaced Carlos de Figueiredo, currently embroiled in the investigation of the alleged embezzlement of the savings of 400,000 Spanish families through the AFINSA/Forum Filatelico organisations.

Mr. Hohenester should be able to offer a great deal of insight into this matter in his role as president of the company that runs the Michel Catalogue.

Here, is yet more unfounded accusations.

We at Stamp Scandal consider the behaviour of the Michel Catalogue a disgrace and call for Mr. Hohenester’s immediate resignation from ASCAT. His probity is tainted and he should step down.

There is that "we" again. There is no "we" at stamp-scandal. Only Montero.

As for the UPU, once again corrupt African Post Office administrations use them as a tool for making money from honest dealers and agents.

The corrupt administrations take money for contracts, then issue declarations that the stamps produced are illegal. Then they take some more money and declare the stamps legal.

The UPU just sits by, wrings its hands and lets them do what they want.

Vendetta against all the African administrations he victimized with illegal stamps. Especially the countries that exposed him.

Mozambique has been cheated of millions of dollars of revenue by George Katz and his cronies. The agent has been cheated of legitimate income.

They have been cheated by this Montero who to this day is selling the counterfeit EUROPA issues himself and through his little mafia.

Yet nobody does anything.

We call on the President of Mozambique to follow the example of Montenegro and bring the full force of the law to bear on the miscreants in his Postal Administration.

Show the world that there is one African country that will not put up with this corruption.

Sack them or imprison them, but make a stand before it’s too late.

Looks like that did not happen yes? We see again, the complete bias of this individual and the determination to blame everyone but himself for the EUROPA counterfeits. I have found, he writes these rants then forgets what he said and contradicts it. The proof he made the illegal stamps is all over the place. From the EUROPA illegal stamps made with the Mayfair International logos for St. Thomas & Prince to the documents he himself provided on his stamp-scandal website which I am sure he did not realize was being preserved forever by the Internet Archive. Just like certain other "articles" I have torn apart, this one is no exception. It shows how far these criminal producers and distributors of illegal stamps will go to defray exposure and hurt their competition and any person who gets in their way. The only "truth" about this article, is that it shows how massively the EUROPA counterfeits were produced and why they are worthless.

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