The title theft debacle at the Lands and Title Department is like an onion, you can peel off layer after layer - and if you don't cry, you'd have to laugh at how daring and how naked the fraud was, yet it was freely and fully sanctioned by the Lands Department.
We've already told you about a Belize City businessman who had his island stolen from him and a US senator who suffered the same fate.
Both their properties were in the Stann Creek district, both were supposedly sold for twenty thousand dollars, and both transactions were legitimized by the Justice of the Peace Angel Moreira.
Tonight we have another similar case, except that the rightful owners of the property arrested it before the land could be transferred and absorbed as legitimate in the lands registry.
Here's that story:
Jules Vasquez Reporting:
According to this deed of conveyance, on October fourth 2010, Canadian Andre Gervais sold Jeferedee and Lindberg Williams two lots totaling just under an acre of land on the seaside at Dangriga - with all buildings and erections there on - meaning a hundred and fifty thousand dollar house -but both lots went for twenty thousand dollars each.
It would have a great deal only that on October fourth Gervais wasn't even in the country and he never sold his property - and his wife only stumbled onto the fraudulent land transaction while it was still in process.
A family associate who helped detect and reverse the fraud before a first certificate was issued.
Fearing for his personal security, he asked to appear off camera when he spoke to us yesterday in front of the Lands Department:
Voice of: Friend of Andre Gervais
"We had actually come up to the Lands and Titles to pay taxes, and his wife actually saw a corner of this paper sticking out of the folder, and asked them, 'What is this?' And the gentleman behind the counter said, 'Well, it looks like you sold your property to the Williams, Lindberg and Jeffrey Williams, because there are two chunks of land. And she sat there and said, 'Well, that's impossible because we weren't here in this country.'"
They were out of the country but had to prove it in order to get their title restored:
Voice of: Friend of Andre Gervais
"Land and Title refused to release the first certificates which said that the land belonged to these boys now. We proved that this was all fraudulent."
Jules Vasquez
"How did you prove that?"
Voice of: Friend of Andre Gervais
"We ended having to fax a copy of his passport showing what day he was here, what day he left, that there was no way he could have appeared in front of this Justice of the Peace."
Jules Vasquez
"Yeah, because the Justice of the Peace, his signature says that Andre F. Gervais has appeared before me, and he wasn't in the country at that time."
Voice of: Friend of Andre Gervais
"No, and we battled with the Register - I went and told Title that I wasn't leaving until this was straightened out, and I walked out the door with the first certificates of Title."
Jules Vasquez
"You had to insist."
Voice of: Friend of Andre Gervais
"More than insist, I sat at this office for 9 1/2 hours, inside there, and I made it very clear that I am not leaving without my titles."
And they also complained to Dangriga Police:
Voice of: Friend of Andre Gervais
"We went down to the Police Department in Dangriga, to file charges - actually, the Dangriga Police actually laughed Andre out of their office about this, because it is the Williams, and they're very well-known in Dangriga."
But, so far no arrests have been made - even though these dubious Conveyances are two of the few originating documents that bear the name of real persons:
Voice of: Friend of Andre Gervais
"These are the only two that the Williams actually signed - put themselves as the first buyer. They've used the name that they've been using on all the other documents - that's just a fake name."
Jules Vasquez
"Satuaye Mejia..."
Voice of: Friend of Andre Gervais
"That doesn't even exist. They police can look for them until the day they die; they are never going to find him because he doesn' exist."
But phantom players are nothing new in this game; look at this supposed signature of Gervais - and of the witness, an "Jan Smeth" - and of course, that ubiquitous Justice of the Peace, Angel Moreira, his signature is there too - swearing again that this person appeared before him - on a day when Andre Gervais was not even in the country.
Jules Vasquez
"Do you think that there is actual, complicit - between the individuals in this office?"
Voice of: Friend of Andre Gervais
"There has to be, because how else would they stamp it and sign it off? I mean come on; every one of these is the exact same. If you look at both of these, this Jan Smeth, come on. That's John Smith. That's the most anonymous name in the world, and everything is hand-printed. There is no signature."
And then there's the value for the property:
Jules Vasquez
"Being seafront property, it has a market value of above $20,000."
Voice of: Friend of Andre Gervais
"Oh yeah, there's a $150,000 home built on that property. And they said that it's the same thing every time, on everybody that they do this to. People sold them for $20,000. Who the heck's going to sell piece of beach-front property, with a $150,000 home on it, for $20,000? And for them to say that they don't know what's going on; I'm sorry, that's a flat out lie. A flat out lie..."
We were unable to reach the office in charge at the Dangriga Police station to comment on the claims that they have shown unwillingness to question principal persons involved.
But many more cases are appearing, most with the same basic outline and that very popular JP, Angel Moreira.
Interestingly, Chairman of the JP's association Danny Madrid does not have Angel Moreira on record as a member of his association. But he notes that not all JP's are required to be members.
On the other hand, we have heard unofficial but credible reports from Dangriga police that they have questioned Satuaye Mejia and Moreira - who our interviewee in that story claimed were phantoms. Indeed they may not be, but we'll have to wait and see.
We'll keep digging...
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