{"id":108414,"date":"2020-11-07T17:24:49","date_gmt":"2020-11-08T00:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=108414"},"modified":"2020-11-07T17:24:49","modified_gmt":"2020-11-08T00:24:49","slug":"sri-lankan-morality-40-50-of-land-deeds-20-of-the-birth-marriage-and-death-certificates-are-reportedly-forgeries-will-the-president-address-this-thieving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/11\/07\/sri-lankan-morality-40-50-of-land-deeds-20-of-the-birth-marriage-and-death-certificates-are-reportedly-forgeries-will-the-president-address-this-thieving\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lankan morality – 40- 50% of land deeds, 20% of the birth, marriage and death certificates are reportedly forgeries; Will the President address this thieving?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The\nRegistrar General of Land Registration Mr N C Withanage stated in March 2019 that\nalmost 40 \u2013 50% of the land deeds in Sri Lanka are likely to be forged\ndocuments. He also said that it has been proven that over 1\/5th of the birth\ncertificates, marriage certificates and death certificates in the country are\nalso forged (https:\/\/www.newsfirst.lk\/2019\/03\/17\/50-of-land-deeds-in-sri-lanka-forged-registrar-general\/#:~:text=COLOMBO%20\n(News%201st)%20%E2%80%93%20The,the%20country%20are%20also%20forged<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we\nare to take the Registrar General at his word, in the land of Theravada Dhamma,\nthe citadel of the most ancient Buddhist doctrine, and a fertile ground for\nChristianity and Islam, almost one in two Sri Lankans are stealing land that\nbelongs to someone else, changes their identities to someone else, probably\ncommits adultery on a mass scale by forging marriage certificates and also\nbrings alive those who have died with forged death certificates. As far as\nknown, only Jesus Christ rose from the dead. It is nearly 18 months since the\nRegistrar General made this observation. The situation could be different now.\nHopefully it has not worsened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This issue is such a blemish on the character of\nSri Lankans, it is hoped that His Excellency President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will\ntake urgent measures to rescind the Bim Saviya land registration Act which\ndoes not give people access to court if their lands are affected by\nfraud and to direct the Minister of Justice to address\nthe legal issues pointed out in this article by the Sri Lanka Study Circle, an\ninformal group of concerned professionals from different walks of life. A\nspecial request to His Excellency is to launch a campaign through the Lands\nministry to give wide publicity about land fraud and how citizens could verify\nthat the eRegister contains an accurate record of their land deeds. A major\nanomaly in the eRegister that needs to be heeded, and addressed is the fact\nthat what is in the eRegister would be inaccurate if the registration process\nhas used fraudulent\ndeeds in the first place.   \n  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is\nalso suggested that the graduate employment program be extended to the Land\nRegistry with a special unit formed to assist the hundreds and thousands of\nvery ordinary citizens who will need assistance to have their land deeds\nchecked in the eRegister.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Rajapaksa has to be commended for reiterating\nthat the MCC Agreement will not be signed during his administration. In a news\nitem in Newsfirst\n(https:\/\/www.newsfirst.lk\/2020\/11\/01\/mcc-wont-be-signed-even-in-my-dreams-president\/),\nhe had stated that MCC\nwon\u2019t be signed even in my dreams\u201d. This statement is of special relevance as\nmany have been speculating as to what might have been indicated or even\npromised to the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his recent visit. In\nthe minds of many, the MCC Agreement is the passport for US intervention in Sri\nLanka, and certainly as far as Bim Saviya is concerned it is the pathway for\nthis intervention to occur. The MCC Agreement and Bim Saviya are closely\nlinked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nare however some incongruences in the land registration process as defined in\nBim Saviya, and the ownership of land that has been reported. A report on the Land Tenure Considerations\nin Sri Lanka\u2019s Proposed National REDD+ Strategy by the Sri Lanka UN-REDD\nProgramme in April, 2016 which states that in Sri Lanka, 82.25 percent of the\ncountry’s land is owned by the State while only\n17.75 percent is privately owned, reflecting a history of centralized\ncontrol over land.<\/strong> <\/strong>If this is the ground\nreality, the question arises as to why Bim Saviya has stringent requirements\nfor issuing titles for State land, and in fact whether titles are needed in the\nfirst places unless the end motive of Bim Saviya is to privatise State land. Considering\nthat the land component of the MCC Agreement and land being registered under\nBim Saviya are linked, and all intellectual rights pertaining to what is in the\neRegister is to be assigned to the company to be formed under the MCC Agreement,\nit does appear that the end objective of the Bim Saviya project is to privatise\nState land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nreport mentioned above is not clear as to whether land that belongs to\nreligious institutions like Christian Churches, Buddhist temples, Moslem\nmosques are accounted for and if so, which category they fall into.\nPotentially, these traditional lands could also be privatised depending on\ntheir categorisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nland registration process has been an abject failure as it has managed to\nregister less than 5% of the 11 million land blocks that were to be registered\nsince 2007. The fault is not with the Registrar Generals department, but with\nthe law that governs the registration process. This law, called the Bim Saviya\nhas turned out to be a Bim Malluma!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nwriter, in an earlier article titled Bim Saviya -Is it serving Sri Lanka or a\nforeign interest?\u201d and published in the Sri Lanka Guardian and Lankaweb,\nexplored the history and the reasons for this failure. Two key reasons need to\nbe highlighted. Firstly, because Bim Saviya is based on a foreign law, the\nAustralian Torrens Title system and its unsuitability to meet Sri Lankan\nhistorical and community heritage. Secondly, the impractical, arduous, process\nthat requires every lot to be visited by staff from the land registry to see\nfor themselves and ascertain ownership\u201d. Less than 5% of the lots have been\nregistered in 12 years. It will take more than two centuries to register the\nbalance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the\nfraudulent deeds are to be exposed, and rightful owners identified through the\ntracking of the history of land ownership has to be done, and then, genuine\ndeeds be registered. Bim Saviya has to reflect Sri Lanka\u2019s land ownership history.\nThis is not the case with Bim Saviya as it is set to erase the history of land\nownership with inadequate and inappropriate methods to establish land\nownership. There is absolutely no argument or a reason to keep Bim Saviya\nunless there are and were ulterior motives to retain it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The extent of land fraud may eclipse the value of the Bond scam. In an\narticle written by eminent lawyer Kirthimala Gunasekera titled Build\na protective wall around your land-ownership deed – Some insightful information\nfor those who own land and those who wish to buy land\u201d published in the Sunday\nTimes on the 15 Jun 2014\u201d, the inroads made by fraudsters has been exposed\nquote An alarming feature of these incidents is that fraudsters have\nreportedly been successful in infiltrating the sacred inner sanctum of the land\nregistry to destroy and deface the vital documents safely stored to support and\nprotect the land rights of land owners. The CID has frequently warned the\ngeneral public that its investigations have often failed due to the victims not\nbeing able to substantiate their (the victims’) case with evidence that\nnormally should have been available with the custodian, the Land Registry; the\n‘evidence’ having been altered, defaced, missing or torn\u201d. She also quotes the\nfollowing The Sunday Times in a recent article headlined ‘You may have deeds\nbut you may not be the owner’\n<\/p>\n\n\n

[http:\/\/www.sundaytimes.lk\/120902\/news\/you-may-haveland-deeds-but-you-may-not-be-the-onlyowner-]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nexposed the shocking news of vital documents missing from the Land Registry and\nhow a fraudster duo of mother and daughter had sold a 14 perch land for Rs. 6\nmillion to 8 different people\u201d.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms\nGunasekera suggested several precautionary measures to safeguard one\u2019s legal\nownership of land. A summary is noted below<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A] Vital documents from the Land Registry<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obtain\ncertified copies of the duplicate, and the extracts from the respective land\nregistries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duplicate\ndeed: A Notary attesting a deed is mandatorily required to file a copy of the\ndeed referred to as the Duplicate copy with the Land Registry together with the\nreceipt paid for stamp duty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extracts\n– All deeds are recorded chronologically in pages bound together into volumes\ncalled registers. Extracts are copies of pages or sheets of paper from these\nvolumes where the deeds are registered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

B] Vital documents from the service providers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As stated\nearlier the idea is to build a wall of protection around your ownership deed\nwith documentary evidence. Therefore, owners need to be vigilant to register\ntheir names not only in the Land Registry, but also with the relevant service\nproviders as these service providers will provide evidence of ownership and\npossession when required. They are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The\nlocal authority, (Municipal Council, Urban Council or Town Council where the\nland would be situated). Retain the tax receipts issued for payment of taxes\nand obtain the ownership certificate in the name of the owner after due\nregistration of ownership. 2. The Water Board 3. The Electricity Board 4. The\ntelephone authorities 5. The Elections Department 6. Any others such as\nreceipts from contractors, house keepers, repairman for repairs, clearing, fencing\nand renovations etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C] Vital identification documents<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do not\nrush to buy land: Land purchasers rush to complete transactions especially when\nthey find bargains. They fail to have consultations and face-to-face interviews\nwith owners, agents, witnesses, surveyors and even notaries. Beware of people\nposing as notaries. They also impersonate notaries long deceased. Check from\nthe list of notaries maintained in land registries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms\nGunasekera mentions an instance where a lady had been swindled to the tune of\nRs. 42 million by a person. She bought the land relying on the identity card to\nidentify the owner. She subsequently wanted to sell the land, but the\nprospective purchaser diligently searched the identification of the owner and\nfound that the land belonged to the UDA, and the woman had bought the land from\na fraudster who had pasted a forged folio in the register including his name as\nthe owner. The suspect had cheated about 110 people previously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

D) Exercising due diligence<\/strong>: Buyers need to exercise\ndue diligence. When buying land, enquire and find out from neighbours as to ‘\nwho owns the land or the house’. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Land\nfraud is a subject taken seriously by other nations. They have developed\nadvanced integrated systems of transacting laws with ‘owner identification’\nmethods for solicitors over the course of the past decades and also adopted\nbiometric solutions to identify owners to prevent land fraud. Many nations have\nintroduced electronic identity data bases to land registries to register and\nprotect the identity of land owners. They take the thumbprints, iris and\ndigital photos of those participating in transactions at the time of notarising\ndocuments to ensure that fraud does not take place. The internet carries an\nextensive range of information from different countries that can be searched\nunder the relevant names given to the data bases. They are Enjoa – new\nelectronic notary logbook used in the US, e-Tanah in Malaysia, Bhoomi project\nin India, Loucha Pathap in Manipur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It does\nnot appear that Sri Lanka has taken land fraud seriously. Perhaps fraud per se has\nnot been seriously treated and land fraud just a malady within a malady.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka\nhas now nearly completed an electronic registration process (eRegister).\nHowever, unless this register has strong inbuilt safeguards, fraud would still\ngo unabated considering the prevalence of Cybercrimes. The law that is linked\nto this register, Bim Saviya, has numerous shortcomings as has been detailed\nand  combination of this trifecta, an\nineffective law, lack of system security for the eRegister, and the lackadaisical<\/a> indifference to land fraud\nseems like ideal conditions for perpetuation of land fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More\ninformation on land fraud could be obtained by writing to\nlandrightsasia@gmil.com or by telephoning 0712730616. For the benefit of land\nowners, senior Attorney at Law Ajithaa Edirmanne, a member of the ‘committee on\nland fraud’ has uploaded a slide presentation titled ‘Protect Your Property\nfrom Land Scam’, which can be accessed at\nhttp:\/\/ajithaa2.wordpress.com\/2014\/03\/20\n\/protect-your-property-from-land-scams\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sri Lanka Study Circle have noted the following. Firstly, they are\nunambiguous that the eRegister   has to   be   compulsory\n  and should be secured and that it requires to be\n  governed by a law familiar to   land owners and lawyers.\nBim Saviya is neither and it is an impractical impossibility for it to serve as\nthe law that governs the eRegister. The Study Circle also is of the opinion\nthat the eRegister should be managed, staff and user capacity built by an\ninstitution like the Moratuwa University and if need be, a consortium led by\nthe Moratuwa University and that all intellectual rights should be with the\nlocal entity (Moratuwa University) and not any company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nStudy Circle says the register\nrequires the following amendments with immediate effect <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1]  eRegister has to be\nmade compulsory<\/strong>. \nThe Register is not compulsory under our law. A comprehensive register is where\nall owners \u2018rights to land are registered. Therefore, require that land\nsales, gifts leases, agreements and all land transactions to be compulsorily\nregistered.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2] The eRegister is not safe\nas the law available does not protect the register<\/strong>.  The following need\nto be attended to as fraud and money laundering are extremely\npervasive in our country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Registration of Documents\nOrdinance of 1927 Section 7   states that the\nRegistrar is not responsible for the validity of deeds registered. This\nmust be immediately changed as under this provision the Registrar\ncannot   refuse registration of forged deeds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately,\nCentral Bank regulations for the safety of Financial transactions\nhave been selectively introduced to Trust deeds to identify owners and archive\nidentification verification documents for the buyers or whoever deals with\nthe trust lands   in the future.   [Trust Ordinance 9 of\n1917 amended by TRUSTS (AMENDMENT) ACT, No. 6 OF 2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to these\nregulations, trustees are required to maintain, verify and update the following\ninformation relating to express trusts, 1. Information about the trust (name,\naddress, purpose), 2. Information about the author of trust, trustees and\nco-trustee\/s (name, identification, address, etc) 3. Information of the\nbeneficiary\/beneficiaries\/ class of beneficiaries (name, identification,\naddress) 4. Information of any other person engaged in the execution of the\ntrust 5. Information of any beneficial owners 1\/2 At the same time, trustees\nare required to submit the information maintained above to the Registrar of\nLands of the area, within which, the trust property is situated and to the\nRegistrar General. These measures have been taken to minimize the misuse of\nlegal arrangements\/ trusts in money laundering by increasing the transparency\nof trusts created in Sri Lanka. The Registrar General and the trustees have\nto be responsible to identify the trustees and prevent money laundering]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nStudy Circle is hopeful that His Excellency President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will initiate\naction to address the entirety of legal, political, commercial and\nadministrative issues pertaining to land and establish true guardianship of\nwhat belongs to future generations and not to some short sighted, avaricious segment\nof the present generation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale The Registrar General of Land Registration Mr N C Withanage stated in March 2019 that almost 40 \u2013 50% of the land deeds in Sri Lanka are likely to be forged documents. He also said that it has been proven that over 1\/5th of the birth certificates, marriage certificates and death certificates […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-raj-gonsalkorale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108414\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}