Tonight, there is a whole lot happening with that piece of land which Amy Forte says was fraudulently conveyed to Andre Vega with a forgery of her signature. Â
First, her letter to the Prime Minister has prompted him to act - which is a big reversal from the position he took two weeks ago, when he famously said of the shady land deals involving the Vega's: "what it is, is what it is."
Well, tonight he's telling the police that what it is, is likely a forgery and that they should investigate, IMMEDIATELY. Â
A statement issued from the Prime Minister's office at noon today says, quote,
"the Prime Minister has received a letter from Attorney Deshawn Arzu Torres on behalf of her client Amy Forte. That letter makes clear that Ms. Forte was never aware of Minister's Fiat Grant no. 175 of 2009 in her name; and that Ms. Forte did not sign any conveyance to anyone Ms. Forte and her attorney have further provided to the Prime Minister a preliminary certificate of a handwriting expert asserting that the signature purporting to be Ms. Forte's, and which appears on a Deed of Conveyance of the said land to Andre Vega, is not genuine. This is notwithstanding the fact that a JP "authenticated" Ms. Forte's signature."
It continues, quote,Â
"In the circumstances, the Prime Minister has concluded that the charge of fraud raised by Ms. Forte is credible and must be taken extremely seriously and acted upon. The Belize Police Department has thus been asked by the OPM to conduct an immediate investigation into the matter with a view to bringing criminal charges against any person or persons responsible for forgery. In addition, the Lands Department will move to cancel both Grant no. 175 of 2009 and the Deed of Conveyance to Andre Vega dated 17th February 2010. As well, the Department will cancel the title for 7 acres on Mosquito Caye granted to Andre Vega as compensation for the fact that the land under Grant no 175 of 2009 was privately owned at the time of the Minister's purported Grant and subsequent transactions. Such compensation cannot stand since the Deed of Conveyance that triggered the compensation was fraudulently executed and legally invalid."
The statement concludes, quote, "The Office of the Prime Minister expects that the Police investigation will be completed as quickly as possible to satisfy the need for justice in this case."
The police sent out a statement this afternoon saying, quote, "THE MAJOR CRIMES UNIT OF THE BELIZE POLICE DEPARTMENT IS COMMENCING INVESTIGATION INTO ALLEGATIONS OF FRAUD MADE BY MS AMY FORTE REGARDING MR ANDRE VEGA AND THE LANDS DEPARTMENT. THE MATTER WILL BE INVESTIGATED PROMPTLY AND THOROUGHLY, AFTER WHICH THE FILE WILL BE SUBMITTED TO THE OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS FOR DIRECTIVE." End quote. That's quick work and it suggests that the Prime Minister has now gotten what he said he didn't have before, which is, quote, "actionable illegality". ENDS
Andre Vega Says He Used Agent, Knew Nothing of Forgery, And Doesn't Want The Land
So that's a big step forward; if you recall 7News was the first to do an expose on the land compensation to the Vega family last week Tuesday; we reported on the forgery on Friday, and things took on a life of their own after Amy Forte's lawyer confirmed that it was a forgery yesterday and sent a complaint to the Prime Minister.
So, the critical developments so far tonight are that: 1.) the Prime Minister has ordered a police investigation, and 2.) the Lands Department has been directed to cancel both Grant no. 175 of 2009 for the Caye Caulker land and the Deed of Conveyance to Andre Vega dated 17th February 2010. The Department will also cancel the title for 7 acres on Mosquito Caye granted to Andre Vega as compensation.Â
But, coming late this evening, there's another major development: Andre Vega is giving it back anyway!
His attorney Steve Perera sent a statement this evening saying, quote: "We are informed by our client that this purchase was done through a land agent. Our client received the original land title and executed conveyance (which to the knowledge of our client, contained the signatures of both Ms. Forte and that of the Justice of the Peace) from the Land Agent, and in exchange he provided the agent with the purchase price. Since the Deed of Conveyance contained the signature of a Justice of the Peace, our client had no reason to doubt the authenticity of the document."Â
It continues, quote, "it turned out that the property was not available and as a result the Ministry of Natural Resources agreed to compensate our client by providing him with a substitute property located at Mosquito Caye."
And here's the kicker: quote, "despite the fact that this transaction was done via a land agent our client has instructed us to inform the Government that he is prepared to relinquish the right to the poverty located at Mosquito Caye so as to prevent further issues." End quote.
So, Vega seems, basically to be doing a cut and run, but it's not that simple. First, there is the matter of the alleged forgery, and what the letter fails to say is that he must have known something was up with buying almost an acre of beachfront property on northern Caye Caulker with a declared purchase price of thirty thousand dollars - when it was worth at least ten times that. Â
And it also fails to say how government ended up having to compensate Andre Vega with a 7 acre piece of island property for a_ private_ transaction that didn't work out.
