Days after an employee of the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries was arrested and charged in connection with alleged forgery of Commissioner of State Lands (COSL) letters, another employee has been detained by the police and fake documents seized. During ongoing investigations, Fraud Squad and Anti-Corruption Bureau of Investigations (ACIB) officers also seized a seal used to authenticate documents.
The Ministry of Agriculture and COSL normally use a seal to validate documents. However, the seal seized by the police on Thursday was made by an employee. This is the latest development as investigations continue into allegations of land fraud.
Prior to his resignation, former agriculture minister Clarence Rambharat raised an alarm over a large number of fraud and corruption matters involving land. He revealed that he had made more than 50 reports to the police. Subsequent police investigations led to the arrests of two men.
On March 10, Devon Richardson appeared before a Chaguanas magistrate charged with uttering a forged document to a representative of the state. Last week, Agriculture Ministry employee Jimboy Bruno was charged with misbehaviour in public office. Bruno, a checker, of Bon Air, allegedly used his employment with the state to facilitate possible corrupt activities within the Office of the COSL. ACIB officers executed a search warrant at the office and allegedly found several forged Government of the Republic of T&T, Ministry of Agriculture, Land Management Division and Commissioner of State Lands letters in a desk occupied by an employee of the ministry.
One letter, dated February 3, 2020, falsely granting a man permission to occupy state lands in Princes Town for residential purposes. The letter, which had a cut and pastes signature of acting Commissioner of State Lands Bhanmati Seecharan, was given to the man by a ministry employee who was paid $700 for the forged document.
Last week, acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob admitted that land fraud is a major issue and said the TTPS will be seeking assistance from National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds for additional resources to beef up white-collar investigations. However, well-placed sources at the ministry told the Sunday Guardian that since December 8, 2020, the Land Management Division (LMD) had reported eight forged documents to the TTPS.
One source said Fraud Squad officers took the reports but very little was done. Another said LMD employees discovered fake documents during investigations of land encroachments and disputes over Caroni lands. The letters bore forged and “cut and paste” signatures of acting COSL Seecharan granting the occupiers permission to reside on the land.
When this was unearthed, Seecharan had to send letters to the occupiers informing them that they were trespassing as the Caroni Lands Unit had no such records on the LMD’s database. The occupiers were also told to desist from trespassing.
There are approximately 20,000 parcels of agricultural state lands in addition to 14,000 which belonged to the former Caroni 1975 Limited under the purview of the COSL.
One of the cases being investigated dates back to last September when a woman submitted a written complaint that she had been swindled of $50,000 by an employee of the LMD. The woman said she was told by the employee that her client’s parcel of land in Arima was available following a status search. She sent a letter to Seecharan requesting tenancy and was later told by the employee that a down payment of $150,000 was necessary for the relevant searches and surveys to be made.
The woman made a downpayment of $50,000 to the employee and was given a reference number. When she began getting the run around for the land she lodged a complaint with LMD. The employee reportedly went into hiding after an attempt was made on his life.
“This employee still works with LMD. Nothing came out of that,” the source told the Sunday Guardian.
Since March 10, requests have been made to transfer approximately a dozen suspicious workers out of LMD but no action has been taken and recommendations to discipline them have fallen on deaf ears.
“This is creating tension, an uneasy feeling, within the department. This matter is deep and warrants some attention,” a source said.
Due to the ministry’s inaction, some employees had to be blocked from accessing LMD’s private and confidential records.
“These employees have friends and family working in LMD so they can easily access files with the help of others,” said the source who further claimed that one of the workers has been advertising a land consultancy service on social media with the picture of the LMD building attached, while another is offering real estate, land surveying and title search services.
“On the side they are promoting a business. This is a conflict of interest, hence the reason why they should have been shifted to another department,” the source added.
LMD employs more than 150 daily and monthly paid workers. Some joined the department as field officers but due to staff shortages they were given desk jobs to deal with the public.
“We had an incident where a contracted employee was holding down a job here and working at the Ministry of Education at the same time. We found out about this during the pandemic. I don’t know if he still works here,” the source revealed.
The police have been visiting LMD every day to question staff and look through documents.
“Quite a few employees gave the police statements and were questioned,” the source said.
Seecharan has not responded to requests for an interview.
