Blatant fraud, crooked lawyers and dishonest business deals are behind the controversy involving the bulldozing of homes by Franklyn Wilson’s Arawak Homes development company.
Crooked lawyers and unscrupulous land developers have created a situation that leaves scores of Bahamian homeowners without clear title to the land their homes are built on.
Arawak Homes, a company owned primarily by Frank ‘snake’ Wilson, claims to have title for a 156-acre pacel of land upon which many homes have been built.
Court documents obtained by the Tribune newspaper indicate that a man named John Sands, along with his attorney Leon Smith, of Smith, Smith & Co, commited fraud when they induced the Supreme Court to issue them a Certificate of Title to the land, via a Quieting of Titles Act back in 1990.
Within a week of obtaining his fraudulent Certificate of Title, Mr Sands, acting as the attorney for both seller and purchaser, conveyed the entire 156 acres of land to a company named Horizon Systems. This was in violation of a 1991 court injunction prohibiting Mr Sands from selling any of the land, presumably until legal proceedings had concluded. It is not clear who the principles of Horizon Systems are.
Despite the controversy over the land, Horizon Systems began selling lots to poor Bahamians who did not think of, or could not afford title searches.
In 2003 Mr Sands and Mr Smith faced a court challenge for the title of the land. Their respective attorneys, Derence Rolle and James Thompson, pulled numeorus unscupulous stunts in an attmept to derail or stall the trial. Skeptical of the title claim, Bahamas Supreme Court Justice John Lyons ruled that Sands’ certificate of Title was bogus. By extension, the title held by Horizon Systems was not valid either.
Yet, it was this title, which had been set aside by the Supreme Court, that was later presented to the Wood family, who thought they owned the property their home was on.
Arawak Homes demolished the home, with the Woods’ family belongings in the house.
It is not clear who the judge was who originally issued the title to Mr Sands back in 1990.
Nor, is it clear how Arawak Homes came into possession of the land in the first place.
Rumours that have been circulating for nearly ten years, suggest that Mr Franklyn Wilson may have obtained title for the land in an arrangement that was no more legal than the method that Mr Sands used to obtained his phony title.
