Those fraudulent agreements of sale

Feb 19, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
I write with reference to a letter in SN of December 2, 09, “The Land Law Should Be Amended”.
It would appear that Parliamentary approval is now being pursued to change the present Land Laws with a proposal, that section 22 of the Deeds Registry Act be amended to include either, (i) that a registered encumbrance includes an agreement of sale and that the necessary amendments be made to permit an agreement of sale to be so registered or, (ii) to add an agreement of sale as one of the categories of matters to which the absolute title which a transport confers shall be subject.
The proposal does not include anything to combat and prevent fraudulent Agreements of Sale. Such a proposal to Parliament would further seek to promote fraud and allow attorneys to milk their clients for never ending fees in a new, cumbersome way of claiming to protect their clients.
There seem to be little or no commitment to make the current system function correctly and effectively to the benefit of the nation. The English and Dutch-Roman land laws, have been working effectively for centuries, and this is now under attack. It is no longer ‘harmonious’ in serving the pecuniary interests of Guyana’s attorneys.
A simple and genuine method to protect against fraudulent Agreements of Sale would be to place the onus and burden of proof of ownership on sellers. In addition the seller must provide a valid undertaking that he/she has not entered into any multiple Agreements of Sale for the same land. Such logical steps could hardly be in the attorneys’ best interests.
Without any such proof the attorneys should bluntly refuse to act on any Agreement of Sale. Obviously, the more complicated the matter the greater the amount of money that could be milked from the poor helpless clients by their attorneys.
An MP, who is an attorney, is currently handling a case connected with fraud. He has failed to prosecute a fraud case, when he failed to appear in court to prosecute the matter. The matter was then abandoned. It was due to the foresight of his client that the matter was put on back on the court listing. The attorney seems to have lost all interests in defending fraud, and he is now finding faults with current land laws.
The matter he is dealing with concerns Agreement of Sale, where a false name was used without the knowledge of a person she later married in order to get a travel visa.
Further the deceased vendor had no authority to enter into any such Agreement of Sale. The attorney is fully aware of the name of the true vendor as he has acted on the vendor’s behalf by securing Prescriptive Title to the land.
Clearly other motives are being pursued by the attorney in his proposal to change the current land laws, without ensuring that all Agreements of Sale are properly tested for fraud and deception. This is one of the prime obligations of the Land Court according to a recent pronouncement by Dr Roger Luncheon. Dr Luncheon has announced that testing for deception and fraud, would become more rigorous than before. The Lawyer’s proposal however, would override such fraud prevention steps.
Mac Mahase

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