Blueprint for a Scam - How a Guanacaste Farmer Lost His Family Farm

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At the end of October, the local TV station Teletica ran a 3 part report detailing one incident of fraud in the National Registry.  This article resumes and translates the report from the original Spanish video.

http://www.teletica.com/noticia-detalle.php?id=70119&idp=1
http://www.teletica.com/noticia-detalle.php?id=70279&idp=1
http://www.teletica.com/noticia-detalle.php?id=70468&idp=1

The security of the National Registry is still in doubt, something that has been going on for years and that is not yet fixed, no matter how many controls they put in place. 

This is the story of a farmer in Carillos, Guanacaste, Tomas Leal Apu, who in the blink of an eye was "liberated" of 4 farms he inherited from his great uncle. More than 30 hectares of farmland, vanished. 

This disappearing act was all due to a fake power of attorney written into the National Property Registry, which was then used to sell the farms to someone the farmer had never met.

How can this happen?  Supposedly the owner appears before a notary - Celimo Asdrubal Sancho -  in San Ramon de Alajuela, and signs a general power of attorney in favor of another person. The power of attorney is dated March 15th, 2010 and states that Tomás Leal appears before the notary Sancho, and authorizes attorney Jose Thompson Jiménez to sell the farm to a buyer.  Sr. Leal never went to San Ramon that day, because he had to work and there are a number of witnesses to that effect. 

Jose Thompson Jimenez, was also never in San Ramon that day, he works at the Central American Commission for Human Rights and has already presented a number of complaints for false use of his identity. 

The power of attorney is submitted to the National Registry, and on the 25th of March the sale is made and the travesty happens.

In the "sale", the lawyer Thompson appears in the office of another notary / attorney in San Jose, Gerardo Venegas Arroyo. He sells the 35 hectares for 4 million colones to Julio Solano Carranza.  In the same act, Sr. Carranza takes out a loan for 60 million colones. 

As of that moment, Tomas is no longer the owner of the farms. He must go to court, which will take more than two years, and he may never recover.  His great uncle, who is 98 years old, and was the original owner of the farms doesn't know this tragic tale, the family doesn't have the heart to tell him. 

So who is responsible?  Starting with the fake power of attorney, the Teletica reporter visits attorney Celimo Sancho to see what he knows. The attorney is doubtful from the beginning, "that's strange, this isn't the first time..."  He states that he did not write up the power of attorney, and it does not match up with his registry of documents.  The number on the copy presented to the registry with the security paper is a loan made by the Banco Popular to a client of the attorney in San Ramon. 

The reporter points out that the security paper is that of the lawyer, however. The attorney does not give any solid explanation as to how his paper was used, but shows the drawer where it is kept. Possibly someone came into the office and stole it? 

The next step in the trail is to see who presented the false power of attorney to the National Registry. Since attorneys are so busy, they have people to run errands for them in the registry, one such person is José Garros Alvarado, whose name appears on the false power of attorney presented to the registry.  He should know who gave him the document, right? 

Actually, no.  The errand runner doesn't know, he works with four different attorneys, however maybe it was someone at the gate of the registry.  Often someone will grab him at the door, maybe another errand boy or an individual, and ask him to present a document, he doesn't remember who may have given him that power of attorney. 

This is a dead end, so the next possible party is the person who bought the farm, Julio Solano Carranza.  The reporter finds his house, but his wife doesn't know where he is and when he will be back. She isn't aware that he bought any farm in Guanacaste.  Julio did return the call, but did not want to discuss the matter on camera, or at all.   

The lawyer who made the sales contract, Gerardo Venegas Arroyo, was not at the address obtained from the Board of Notaries. Investigation at the board revealed that he has multiple suspensions.  (The same at the Bar Association)

So who loaned so much money on this farm, $110,000?  The company was Muebles Viso, representado by Wagner Villegas Vargas. The reporter founc Muebles Viso, a factory in east San José, but they said that Wagner was no longer associated with the company.  Wagner himself confirmed that he sold the company a year ago, and didn't know anything about the farms or the loan. 

So the trail fades, apparently there are many ways to avoid responsibility, even though valuable properties are in play.  This has been a problem for many years, but loopholes are still open. 

The Teletica reporter interviewed the interim director of the Registry, Enrique Alvarado.  He said that they have implemented a number of controls, however called for other institutions to get involved, particularly the Notary's and Attorney's boards. Above all, that lawyers don't lie and that they care for their security papers.  Lawyers loan out their Registry of Official Documents and secure paper, then it is reported stolen and nobody knows what happened.  No one is ever held responsible.

The National Registry performed a cross reference with the Civil registry, they found that 400 notaries named dead people in property sales contracts.  The director stated that more severe punishment must be meted out to notaries and attorneys that lose their documents, or falsify documents.

Conclusion

Real estate registered in the National Registry of Costa Rica may be targeted by criminals interested in stealing it from the rightful owner.  The Registry is aware of the problem, and attempts to take steps to rectify the situation.  However, they must accept certain testimonials by notary attorneys under the current legal system.

Therefore, any property that is targeted by unscrupulous persons may easily be mortgaged or sold falsely.   The Private Property Registry is one way to protect your property. View this page for more information: PPR - Protecting Your Costa Rica Property from Fraud or Theft