A THIRTY-SEVEN-year-old realtor and former employee of the Registry of the High Court of the Supreme Court of Judicature have been placed in custody to assist with investigations pertaining to proprietary fraud.

The matter that forms the subject pertaining to the allegation relates to the conveyance of a property and a transport being passed by the Court for the said property, without the knowledge of the proprietor, to an alleged non-existent individual.

The realtor, who has since been arrested and placed in custody, has informed investigators that he was requested by someone, who he has known since 2009, to conduct business pertaining to the alleged fraud, however, he does not know the correct name of the individual, nor does he have contact information for him.

The property at the centre of the matter is situated at Lot B and C, Eccles, East Bank Demerara and the original registered owner by virtue of Transport Number 2491 of 2006 is one Rohit Lall, age 60, an electrical engineer of Lot 42 Eccles Old Road, East Bank Demerara,.

On March 3, 2020, Lall visited the Eccles Ramsburg Neighbour Democratic Council (NDC) to pay his rates and taxes for the said property, when he was informed that the property was transferred to one Mohamed Wazir of Herstelling, East Bank Demerara by way of Transport Number 1532 of 2017.

Upon further inquiries, Lall discovered that the transport was passed pursuant to a Court Order granted by former High Court Judge, Jainarine Singh on September 25, 2008.

A full blown investigation has since been launched into the matter, which led to the arrest of the realtor; as he was the person who took the transport, which is registered in the name of Wazir, along with a copy of Wazir’s identification card to the Eccles Ramsburg NDC to effect a name change for the property.

PURPORTEDLY FALSE

A source close to the investigation disclosed to the Guyana Chronicle that a visit to the premises revealed that Wazir does not reside at the property and the Guyana identification card, in the name of Wazir, used to facilitate the conveyance is purportedly false.

The realtor informed investigators that the transport and the copy of the identification card were given to him by an individual, by the name of “Max” to take to the Eccles Ramsburg NDC to effect the name change for the property.

He also informed investigators that he subsequently made inquiries at the Deeds Registry to verify the legitimacy of the transport before proceeding to Eccles Ramsburg NDC to facilitate the change.

However, the realtor noted that while he has known Max since 2009, he is not knowledgeable of Max’s correct name; neither does he know a way to contact Max. He also revealed that he has never seen nor does he know anything pertaining to Wazir.

The same realtor was charged and placed on $150,000 bail in June 2010, while he was a clerk at the High Court, by then acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson, for allegedly forging divorce papers.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charge which read that between May 1 and June 6 2008 in Georgetown, with intent to defraud, he forged a divorce absolute, knowing same to be forged.

His attorney had noted that the charges against his client are trumped up since his client is a key personnel pertaining to court orders, and applied for bail on the grounds that his client is fully cooperating with the investigations.

Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C., during an appearance on the Department of Public Information programme ‘Government in Action’, on Tuesday last, noted that he is aware of the matter and will be implementing measures to protect property owners from fraud.

Nandlall noted that conveyances progress through a series of transactions before a transport is passed pertaining to a property, and personnel at every stage of the conveyancing process will be investigated for fraudulent conduct.

INVESTIGATE THEM
“If there is a Notary Public involved, who may have executed a Power of Attorney, investigate that component of the transaction. Obviously, the matter was filed at the Deeds Registry, investigate that component, investigate the officers. If it was advertised in the Official Gazette, then let the investigation go as well and let us see where the fraud actually took place,” he said.

Nandlall recommended that as a safeguard, persons should familiarise themselves with the Official Gazette, in which legal notices are published, to acquaint themselves with conveyances.

Nandlall noted that the print edition of Official Gazette being available only at the Office of the President has been a significant disservice to the people of Guyana as it is an important document, and steps will be taken to see that it is distributed countrywide.

However, the Official Gazette is available to be accessed free of cost online at the website officialgazette.gov.gy and the Attorney General encouraged persons to make full use of this service.

Recently, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in the case of Merlene Todd v Desiree Price and Jenifer Jeboo [2021] CCJ 2 (AJ) GY, a case of proprietary fraud, ruled that significant reforms are to be made to the Deeds Registry Act, to prevent such from happening.