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The self-appointed policeman of the philatelic trade, Albertino de Figueiredo - vice-president of the Monte Carlo Club of the Philatelic Elite, president of ACOFIL, and vice-president of ASCAT - and his bunkum "Foundation for Philately" have stepped into the arena to make a case against illegal and abusive stamps.

In an over-blown lecture to the "International Conference on Illegal and Abusive Stamp Issues, held at Lisbon on September 25, 2003, under the auspices of the Universal Postal Union and the World Association for the Development of Philately" he managed to present a confused and inconclusive view of the problems plaguing the philatelic world.

He presented the notion that many issuing countries are too poor to produce their own stamps and turn to agents and printers to do so for them. He goes on to accuse these agents and printers of producing stamps without authorisation as a source of illicit income.

Turning his attention to "abusive stamp issues" he says that these were created by "unscrupulous businessmen...either with or without the complicity of the issuing countries". Which is it Mr de Figueiredo? With or without?

If it is "with" then you are hardly justified in calling the isssue anything but a legal and above-board stamp issue unless you are going to tell sovereign governments how to run their postal administrations, which seems to be the aim.

He then criticises the subjects portrayed on the stamps as bearing no relation to the culture of the country involved. If this were the criterion for stamp production most sovereign nations including the USA and UK would have a hard time justifying most of the stamps they produce.

The Postal Administrations approve the subject matter before the stamps are produced. It is up to them to reflect whatever they want on their stamps, not Mr. de Figueiredo, the UPU or any other gimcrack organisation dreamed up by a bunch of bureaucrats and a self-serving stamp dealer.

He finishes his examination with the startling statement that "certain countries" issue too many stamps of too high face value to increase their revenue "displaying a blatant disregard for the financial situation of collectors".

Who is it, Mr de Figueiredo, the "unscrupulous businessmen" or the Postal Administrations who are responsible for these so-called abusive issues?

His attack on illegal issues is hard to argue with since they are issued without contracts or by countries with no postal service, though even here his argument is still plagued with vagueness. He deplores the loss of revenue for Postal Administrations in whose name unauthorised stamps are issued, without specifying how this occurs.

If the Postal Administration has issued a contract to an agent, they have received the stamp issue as specified and have lost nothing. If stamps are being produced illegally they would neither use them, nor sell them into the market, and have lost nothing. Please explain, Mr. de Figueiredo.

Implicit in the conclusions he draws is less an attempt to control the criminals than an attempt to garner authority for his tin-pot "Foundation" with the backing of that paper tiger, the UPU, which seems to be rolling over at his command, in order to become some sort of philatelic overlord, dictating what countries can and cannot do with their postal administrations. No doubt the financial benefits of such a position would not be unwelcome to Mr. de Figueiredo.

Ken Lake, a respected reporter with the Philatelic Exporter magazine, has also attacked Mr. de Figueiredo's "ignorant claim" in the March issue of the magazine.