Remigrant accused Linden municipality of fraud

Apr 15, 2014 News

Wilfred Martin, a remigrant of 14 Wismar Hill (Buck Hill), Linden, is very frustrated these days. He says that the house that he has built and which is located on land that has been in his family for three generations, purportedly belongs to someone else, according to officials at the Linden Municipality.
Martin said that on a recent visit to the local municipality he was told that no taxes had been paid for the property since 2009. “So I had x amount of taxes to pay for the property.”

Wilfred Martin stands in front of his house.

“On commencing to pay for the property, the lady there asked me about who was paying for the other property on the lot.
“I enquired what other property, and she said that there were two properties on the lot. I objected, and told her that only one property was on the lot. I asked her whose name was the other property in, and she said that one was Katherine Baird, who was my grandmother and the other was for Ronald Regan.”
According to Martin the property was transferred to him from his grandmother, after it was parceled out and the lot paid for. He was subsequently issued a transport, in his name.
He said that he later applied for a loan through the then Guyana National Cooperative Bank to build a new house after he demolished the original one, which had been on the land.
Building the new house, Martin stated, necessitated the submission of a plan to both the municipality as well as the bank.
“Now after I built the house I lived in it for awhile before going to live in North America. I returned three years ago, after living overseas for twenty-seven years.”
Martin said that he explained to the woman that the property in Katherine Baird’s name was demolished before the present one was built in his name and that he had to obtain a mortgage for it.
“She insisted that it was in Ronald Reagan’s name, and that nothing (taxes) was ever paid on it since it was built.”
Martin said that he was then advised by the woman that he should return with his transport to get the whole thing sorted out.
According to Martin, he subsequently made an appointment and returned with the transport and other relevant documents to see the Town clerk, who told him that there were no records of any plans for the property, at the Town Council.
The man said that he argued that he did submit his plan, because he could not build the house without it. He said that he was then questioned by the Town Clerk where, and he told her that he had submitted the plan at the Council’s engineering Department in Retrieve.
“She then told me that the Engineering Department had subsequently removed and gone to the Linmine Secretariat building and that the fire their destroyed everything.
However, she promised to send two persons to do an estimate of the property.”
After that was done, Martin said that he again visited the Town Clerk, who told him that she had to meet with her attorney and Council members concerning the changing of the property back into his name.
He said that he was also given a slip of paper with the amount of money he had to pay in back taxes.
Martin said that he was advised again to return within a week, and after going back several times was then told that the matter had gone to the Ministry.
“There is widespread fraud. I believe if this was a situation of a simple mistake it could easily be remedied.
My sister had a property which she had paid for in Block 22 and when she came back home, she was told that somebody was occupying the land and that she could be given somewhere else, when she was ready to build.
Martin said that he knows people who had purchased properties and when they returned it was only to see that other people had already built houses on the land.
The distraught man said that he will be seeking the advice of his lawyer, in relation to the matter, as he is prepared to proceed with legal action against the Municipality.
Efforts to contact the Town Clerk for a comment in the matter proved futile.