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PHILIPSBURG--The National Alliance has expressed concern about what appears to be a growing number of errors being made by notaries practising in the country.
Whether the errors were an oversight or were being done deliberately, they should not occur as they can have serious consequences National Alliance (NA) Leader Member of Parliament (MP) William Marlin said in a press release on Sunday.
Marlin alluded to two recent cases brought before the court which found that errors had been made by notaries in the respective sales of Caravanserai Resort and in the former Pelican Resort. In the latter case the Court of First Instance declared the sale of the former Pelican Resort null and void.
"In the Pelican case, the judge has ruled that the notary can be held liable for damages. What effects this decision will have on the (former Pelican) employees are unclear. Do they have to now make a claim against Pelican because the resort had originally contended that the workers had been employed by the new owner; but, now years later, a judge is saying that the sale and transfer never took place so this means that the original owners still own the property. What does this mean for these workers who have been struggling all these years, some of whom are still without jobs?" Marlin asked in the release.
Apparently the US $30.5 million purchase price of the property was never deposited with the notary, which is against the law. The law says that a transfer of funds on real estate must always proceed via a notary. The press had reported that lender Quantum Investment Trust (QIT) had attempted to write off the debt of the previous owners (Pelican Resort) in lieu of payment when it took over the property (now named Simpson Bay Resort). However, a settlement such as this is prohibited, the Judge ruled.
The court also says that now retired notary Henry Parisius had been at fault in acting in contravention of the Civil Code and was sentenced to pay damages.
The leader of the NA wants to know why the notary involved in this case made such a huge blunder. "Was it that the notary failed to follow proper procedures? Are we appointing the wrong people as notaries or are notaries ignoring the law and trying to do little quick fixes and only when there are court cases then it would come to light that mistakes are being made. The National Alliance is concerned about these matters," Marlin said in the release.
Notary faults were also cited in the Caravanserai case, which created problems even though this was a private transaction, Marlin said. The property had a mortgage on it from Scotiabank and the bank says several illegal transactions were done without its permission and approval. The court found that the Caravanserai owner had sold long-lease rights to third parties without Scotiabank's permission and, as a consequence, had seriously harmed the bank's interests.
Marlin pointed to the involvement of Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure VROMI Maurice Lake whom the court said signed a decree on June 27 and exorbitantly increased the land rent on Caravanserai owners from NAf. 0.01 to NAf. 8 per square metre. Marlin also questioned the involvement of VROMI in this matter and wondered whether the minister had been part of efforts to harm the bank.
