Lalla wants police unit against land fraud

ATTORNEY Larry Lalla says a new unit of the Police Service should be set up specifically to tackle land fraud.

Speaking recently at a Law Association briefing on land fraud, Lalla had said that on the law books tough penalties exist against land fraud, including life imprisonment for title fraud and seven years imprisonment for personal identification fraud. He said individuals from any background are vulnerable to land fraud.

“It is topical. It happens quite often.” Lalla advised buyers to fully investigate the vendor selling land to them, and the property itself. Asked if there exists sufficient enforcement against such fraud, Lalla said no.

“The Police Service needs to set up a specialised unit because people are so sophisticated,” he told Newsday. Lalla lamented the current lack of a unit specialising in identity theft.

“We should have specially trained officers. The Police Service needs to keep up with the level of sophistication of these thieves.

Earlier, attorney Barry Sinanan, chairing the briefing, said land fraud was “a very serious problem facing practitioners (lawyers.) “It is very rampant in society today. There is an upward movement in matters reported. It is a matter not to be taken lightly.”

Attorney Ashmead Ali, in his address, said the number of property fraud cases in the UK had risen from seven million pounds sterling to 25 million pounds sterling between 2013 and 2017. He listed the number of fraudulent land transactions in TT in recent years.

In 2014 were 45 reports, all worth $16 million. This rose to 77 reports of deals worth $6 million in 2015. The next year were only 29 reports worth just $696,144. In 2017 were 75 reports worth $17 million.

In parallel to this were a significant number of deeds expunged at the Registrar General’s Department after orders given by judges in court hearings. Some 20 deeds were expunged in 2014, 30 in 2015, 27 in 2016, and 51 in 2017.

Comments

"Lalla wants police unit against land fraud"

More in this section