This morning’s Tribune newspaper reports that hundreds of people in the Pinewood Gardens area may lose their homes now that a court has ruled that the land they built on belongs to Arawak Homes.
Chief Justice Michael Barnett ruled last week that Arawak Homes is the rightful owner of a 156-acre tract of land in the Sir Lynden Pindling Estates subdivision.
The ruling prompted the president of Arawak Homes Ltd, Franon Wilson, to hold a press conference at his Shirley Street office yesterday, warning hundreds of people in the area to avoid unnecessary legal action.
Apparently, the other people who claim ownership of the land were sold the property without good title.
Arawak Homes is encouraging property “owners” in the area to come forward and regularise their titles to the land with the development company.
Arawak Homes has already demolished several structures that were built on the land and have publicly stated that they will aggressively challenge any additional claims to their land.
In Thursday’s ruling, Chief Justice Barnett dismissed recent action brought by Dennis Dean and the Nassau Village Seabreeze Property Owners Association, ruling that Mr Dean had abused the legal process as previous rulings had already declared Arawak Homes the rightful owner of the property.
Mr Dean is undaunted, saying he will appeal all three cases he has lost.
The Tribune quotes Mr Dean:
“Arawak Homes is trying to discourage a lot of our members from taking legal action against them. They’re trying to use this to intimidate them. But we had a meeting (on Sunday) and we are telling all of our members to sit still, don’t talk to Arawak Homes, that nothing will happen until this appeal so we can hit them with an injunction and stop them from breaking down anymore homes.
“Eventually, justice will be done.”
Now, before anybody gets their dander up, I want to make it perfectly clear that what follows is based on an interview with people this author will call “conspiracy theorists”. None of the information has been proven to be true in any way. It is not this author’s intent to disparage the good names of any of the people or companies mentioned. This information is being passed along in the public interest. It is serious and curious enough to be put into the public consciousness for consideration because, if there there is any truth to it, it suggests that there may be far more involved in the current land disputes than what appears on the surface.
Certain people suggest that the disputed land might actually have been stolen by people who sold it to Arawak Homes, making Arawak Homes’ title no more valid than the other people claiming title based on false pretenses.
It is suggested that crooked lawyers, judges, court clerks, title firms and people from various government departments were all involved in stealing approximately $50 million in land that was divied up among the large law firms and real estate brokers during the late 1960’s, 70’s and early 80’s.
It is alleged that titles were forged and cases were brought to court with the specific intent of creating false precedents that could be used later when the land titles were challenged in court.
“That is, perhaps, why Frankie Wilson has his son Franon fighting the battle and making public statements. Frankie doesn’t want to implicate himself should the truth finally come out,” theorised one person who says they have researched the matter.
“The kid really believes it is Arawak Homes’ land,” chimed another person who also believes there is a conspiracy involved.
The theorists allege that the Graham Thompson law firm may have played a big role in the re-titling of this property back in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. And allegedly, Prime Minister Ingraham knows about the problem. This, it is theorised, could be the reason that Michael Barnett was made Attorney General – just long enough to get the paperwork in order – before he was appointed Chief Justice, where he could act out the necessary court decisions to enforce the earlier activities.
Talk about a well-thought out plan. Frankly, this author doesn’t believe the people involved are smart enough to pull something like this off.
Nonetheless, if these theories are true, it would make criminal conspirators of nearly every major law firm and real estate broker in the country. Banks that mortgaged the properties would also be implicated.
“In other words, the entire real estate and financial services industries in the Bahamas would be tarnished beyond repair,” said the theorists.
What do you think? Science fiction or grains of truth? Please comment below.
