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| Land grab: Goa's latest booming business (contd) |
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< CONTD. Mick and Nick have faced endless buck-passing. When they went to the Reserve Bank of India, they were passed on to the DoE. Who sent them back to the RBI. RBI rules state they cannot repatriate any money from the sale of their house. So they would have to exhaust the funds in India and go back to the UK with nothing. At the end of it of all, they have both been told to just go to court. Nick and Mick estimate that a lawsuit will cost them at least Rs 2.5 lakh (approx £2400); they are currently paying more than Rs 15,000 (approx £1900) for each legal or accounting consultation. Mick and Nick's two-foot-stack of documents may help them win in court. Others won't be so lucky. With all that land up for grabs, it's not surprising that scams abound - these often involve fake agents who do not give prospective property buyers the real picture on the ground. Author Sudeep Chakravarti, who lives in Goa and has written a book set against the backdrop of the states corruption, says the scams "happen at the builder, lawyer, agent, and government level. They are slowly being exposed, but they will keep on happening until there is no land left, I suppose." The issue is rampant in North Goa but matters are starting to unravel down South as well. In Quitol, a village in Quepem in South Goa, the government acquired large tracts of land two years ago, allegedly to build a food park. Goa Bachao Abhiyan found the land being advertised for mega projects and homes for UK tourists instead. "Its absurd,"says Coehlo, "They are acting holier than thou, and pulling off an even bigger scam." And then, there are the ones who appear to have willingly skirted the law. Some got fake certificates. Others forged documents saying they were here for longer than 182 days - the number of days a foreigner needs to live in India to be eligible to buy land. But it's not all cut-and-dried. Take Russian landowner Leonid Beyzer, in the midst of a lawsuit over a 30,000 sq metre property in Morjim, North Goa. "The media had labelled him as head of the Russian mafia," says Vikram Varma, an advocate who has taken on many of the foreign landowners cases and is Beyzers lawyer, "but that is not true. Beyzer's property is now worth two million dollars, and there is clear evidence of criminals trying to usurp it." "There is a fair share of greed at the top, and they will keep doing this to make the money," says Dakini Runningbear, a UK-based yoga teacher who uncovered clues in the infamous Scarlet Keeling case. Rajeev Samant founder/CEO of Sula Wines and long-time visitor to Goa, agrees: "Ultimately, if the government wants, they can pin anything on anyone." Yet a glimmer of hope exists. The British Foreign Office finally responded to two years of petitions, writing back in August that they had raised their concerns at both the union and state government level in India: "We have made clear our view that any new legislation... should not be retrospective and there should be no question of confiscation of property acquired legally." In late October, Vicki Treadell, British Deputy High Commissioner in Mumbai, met with a group of foreign landowners in Goa to hear their concerns. She took those concerns to Goas Chief Secretary, and Chief Minister Digambar Kamat: "They are looking into the matter. He has heard the message." Builders and developers are still aggressively advertising to foreigners, but finding few takers. For the more than 500 foreign landowners who have or will receive notices, Varma, the advocate, says the legal process which may end in confiscation is close to completion. Michael Lobo, director of Homes and Estates Consultancy Services, is sure that nothing will happen. "The government doesn't want to take action, because if they allow or disallow it they will be nailed. It will remain the status quo." For Mick, Nick, Karen, and hundreds of others, this means that regaining paradise is just a dream. Last update: 12-11-2009 22:45
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