Dear Editor,
My heart goes out to those defrauded in the “Ponzi Scheme” fraud. However, there is a more prevalent and ongoing fraud where a property is ‘fake-sold’ by someone to whom it does not belong, and the matter becomes tangled in court, where it takes years to resolve. Something very similar has tragically happened to my mother, the sister of the late former President Cheddi Jagan, who is now 79 years of age. This matter has caused immense suffering, grief and distress to her and to all of us, not to mention high monetary costs to fight this fraud in court.
I would therefore like to add my voice to warn the public that empty properties, old persons and persons abroad are being targeted, to defraud them of their property. It is worthwhile to note that the ordinary citizen is not in the habit of reading the Official Gazette, and these fraudsters clearly know this; furthermore, when one knows one is not selling one’s property, there is utterly no reason to check the gazette, and before one somehow even finds out, one’s property is stolen.
Since my Mother’s matter is still in court, I assume I cannot give details, but generally speaking there has been an attempt to defraud her of her property in Prashad Nagar, a property she has owned since 1960, where it seems, there is collusion across all levels, where several totally faked documents are passed through the system, and even gazetted, to achieve the appearance of being genuine.
Although it would seem common sense to the public that the property-owner should get back his or her property, the way the law is worded, and with the onus of proof, it can turn out that the law ends up not necessarily being on the side of the defrauded. Please note too that many ‘buyers’ are in collusion with the fraudsters to get the property, or even act as fronts for others.
It may be a good idea, if this is not already the case, that the relevant authorities ensure that to weed out the fakes and the fraudsters, all real estate agents should be mandatorily registered – registration without which they are not allowed to do business, or suffer a jail penalty if they still do, and that their transactions be regularly inspected; the same for Notaries; and that the Deeds Registry is thoroughly scrutinized and rogue employees charged and dismissed, on an ongoing basis.
Yours faithfully,
Raymond Ali
