Sabahans want their government to take note of the landmark Federal Court Jan 21 decision relating to land fraud and forgery with the view to curbing such cases which are rampant in this state.

The ruling included the principle of deferred indivisibility which means when forged documents or misrepresentation are used by someone to sell a property, the lawful owner does not lose ownership.

The decision which plugged a loophole in the National Land Code (NLC, however, does not apply to this state where the Sabah Land Ordinance (SLO) is silent on such issues, according to the Sabah Justices of the Peace Council (MAJAPS) .

The only solution for aggrieved parties lies with the courts which can apply "the Common Law" principles when the question of fraud and forgery arises, said MAJAPS honorary secretary Lawrence Thien.

Still, Sabah JPs would feel more comfortable if the SLO is amended in line with the Jan 21 Federal Court ruling, "to address the question of fraud and forgery".

NONE However, they said lawyers, commissioners of oath, the Land Office and the police need to be reined in as well on such cases.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of law reform, VK Liew, agrees that the Jan 21 ruling may only be persuasive when it comes to cases in Sabah.

Steady spike in such cases

He added that the SLO must include the principle of deferred indivisibility as recognised by the Federal Court for the NLC.

"We have many fraudulent situations in Sabah. For many years we have seen an increase in the number of land scams," said Liew, also the president of the Liberal democratic Party (LDP).

"Certain reported land scams have resulted in entire villages and lands going to certain individuals and corporations."

The deputy minister called on purchasers, banks and lawyers to be more vigilant when conducting searches and verifying the identities of sellers.

This would reduce the number of cases of victims from the poor villages in particular travelling for days to Kota Kinabalu to seek relief in the courts, he added. "Not to mention having to find an able and willing lawyer to take up the case and having to pay the legal fees".

Villagers sue gov't

Members of the legal community readily acknowledge that the gaps in the SLO allow scammers to forge the real landowner's signature, falsely make a statutory declaration and go on to falsify the signatures in the Memorandum of Transfer, Sale and Purchase Agreement.

One spectacular case highlighted by lawyer Yunof Maringking involves a RM500 million suit by a group of villagers against the state government, the Land Office and three companies as defendants.

sabah dusun villagers passive protest 190307 bukit sinagang They allege in their Jan 22 suit that the state government had deprived them of the lawful possession of 5,000 acres of their land in favour of the three companies. Yunof is their counsel.

The Consumer Movement of Sabah and Labuan (Cash) blames lawyers in particular for fraud and forgery cases since land transfers were generally done through their office.

Cash president Patrick Sindu apportions almost equal blame to the Land Office and Commissioners of Oath.

"They should ensure that only genuine documents are produced by any quarter or lawyers seeking land transfers," said Sindu.

He disclosed that the victims were generally illiterate or timid villagers who have fallen victim to middlemen.

One case before Cash is that of a woman from Papar given the runaround by the Land Office for the last eight years on the status of her land application.

She spent a whole day at the Land Office in Kota Kinabalu on Dec 3 last year, being sent from floor to floor and from counter to counter.

Finally, she was "rudely told by the last person" who attended to her to come back in a month's time. She is still waiting after taking her case to Cash and the local media.

The Assistant Collector of Land Revenue (ACLR), it appears, has powers to exercise an almost quasi judicial function.

Left unsaid generally, but acknowledged by those in the know, is that "allegations" against ACLR are routine as well. Many of them have even been sued by those who have lost their land through fraud.

Former Libaran PKR division chief Sandakan District Chief OKK (Orang Kaya Kaya) Hassnar Ebrahim "blames the police to a large extent for the rampant land fraud and forgery cases in Sabah".

The ex ISA detainee has a multimillion dollar suit pending in the court against a former Sabah police commissioner.