Police has arrested some Ministry of Lands officials for being involved in a syndicate of selling estates and land title deeds by forgery.
Such fake title deeds or lease documents are prepared when the genuine title deeds have already been registered at the respective land registry or deed registry in the name of the genuine owner.
Malawi Police Headquarters spokesperson Peter Kalaya has confirmed the developments.
“It is true that the fiscal police are handling several cases of fraud involving land-related documents” Kalaya said
According to police, the suspects were using fake identity cards and offering letters from the Ministry of Lands.
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It is alleged that the syndicate involved some officials from the National Registration Bureau (NRB) to print out the National Identity cards and insert them in the title deeds so that the papers would look genuine.
Using such fake title deeds, officials and land agents offer such estates and plots to Malawians living in diaspora and unsuspecting purchasers.
Minister of Lands Deus Gumba has said that although he has yet to get to the bottom of the matter, he is happy that officials from his ministry who have been involved in such fraud and corruption are being exposed.
“The Ministry has now and again expressed concern that there are some fraudsters who are preparing fake title deeds or lease documents in respect of public land that has already been allocated to other developers by the Ministry,” Gumba said.
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According to the minister, the ministry will not show clemency on any official involved but allow the law to take its course.
Principal Secretary for National Registration Bureau, Mphatso Sambo, also said officials from his department involved in the syndicate should face the law.
“Let the police investigate the matter, and if officials from NRB are involved, let them face the law,” Sambo said.
In a recent syndicate, an official from the Ministry of Lands, through agents, allegedly defrauded Selemani Chikho of over K40 million in property that belonged to an already existing owner in Area 46.
Chikho, who is also the proprietor of Chikho Hotels, confirmed that a Ministry of Lands official used agents to defraud him of the money.
According to Chikho, they used someone’s identity cards and presented fake documents prepared by this ministry of land.
Chikho said although he made the payment through his lawyers for the pieces of land that legally do not belong to the purported agents, after investigation, it turned out that officials from the Ministry of Lands stored the file, removed it from the Lands Registry and gave the file to agents to find a prospective buyer.
The same syndicate sold a plot in Area 6 belonging to another person.
The case involves one Malawian citizen whom a fraudster known by several false names forged the claimant’s national identification card, fraudulently impersonated the claimant, and executed a sale agreement with the defendant.
The plot was sold for about K20 million.
The court cases are coming to the Lilongwe High Court on September 26 and October 3.
Malawi News understands that fraudsters call people, especially well-to-do business people, advising them that they have a plot allocated in low-density areas either in Lilongwe, Mzuzu, or Blantyre.
The Minister of Lands has advised the general public to ensure that before paying money for any property from any person, they should be verifying the authenticity of the title deeds and the certificates of lease or land certificates with the respective Regional Commissioners for Lands in Blantyre.
“The public should take note that the Ministry does not allocate plots through telephone calls. Offer letters are always issued in writing and are always signed by the Commissioner for Lands and the three Regional Commissioners for Lands for the South, North, and Center,” Gumba said.
He has advised that any person who deposits money into a personal account of someone claiming to be an agent of the Ministry or an agent of some senior officers in the Ministry after being advised to do so through the telephone will be doing so at his or her own risk, and the Ministry will not entertain any financial claims or any claim at all as a result of being cheated by such fraudsters.
