Retiree swindled out of 7 acres of land
An American national has had land swindled right under his feet. Sixty-six year old David Cooley is the victim of fraud as his property was sold when someone forged his name to seal the transaction. Cooley is a resident of Lost Reef Resort, in Riversdale, Stann Creek. He told police that on June twentieth, 2000, he purchased seven point two acres of land, estimated to worth one hundred thousand U.S. dollars from Azzam Maarbani, a businessman from Dangriga. The property is located on the coastline in the vicinity of Bocotora Creek and the Commerce Bight Pier in Stann Creek. Two years ago, in March of 2011, Cooley found out that someone had sold his property. He contacted the Lands Department and was shown that on the fifteenth of October, 2010, someone fraudulently signed a Deed of Conveyance in his name to Linbergh Williams. Cooley stated that he was not in the country when the fraud occurred.
Azzam Maarbani. I remember vividly, when he first showed up in Dangriga with little more than the shirt on his back. He spoke passionately about his homeland Palestine and Hezbollah and the struggles he left behind.
Then a few years later he was selling out the Jewel at a hundred thousand US dollars a piece. But, he is connected by ancestry to the first family in the mid-south, so you know…….
Oh boy…..only in Belize!
Here’s a modest proposal to stop thefts like this IMMEDIATELY: ALL REAL PROPERTY DEEDS MUST HAVE A NOTARIZED SIGNATURE, AND A FINGERPRINT.
That’s how it’s done in developed places like California, and it’s almost forgery-proof.
Of course, it must be made a crime to forge signatures and fingerprints, too.
Forged land title should NEVER give legal title to anyone. Let the buyer beware!
FYI, here’s how the applicable law in California reads, from California Government Code section 8206. I think that whole law would be good to be adopted here, because it makes notarial records mean something and gives them integrity that they lack here.
“(G) If the document to be notarized is a deed, quitclaim deed, deed of trust, or other document affecting real property, or a power of attorney document, the notary public shall require the party signing the document to place his or her right thumbprint in the journal. If the right thumbprint is not available, then the notary shall have the party use his or her left thumb, or any available finger and shall so indicate in the journal.”
Seem like that is the trend in Belize, happen to a family member still trying to get his property back