By: Albert Baron Ansu
Mustapha Abdul Tarraf is a Lebanese national of 30 Mallama Thomas Street in Freetown whose state land grabbing disposition has assumed an alarming proportion.
Our attention has been drawn to claims he is lying to a property of Patterson Zocholis along Mallama Thomas Street.
In the vortex of the brazen land scam, the likelihood of bribery and corruption has been unearthed as the aiding factor that Tarraff has employed in falsifying documents and using fictitious names Alie Mohamed Farran, Fatmata Jarrie Bah- supposed persons that had transferred conveyance to him for said property now targeted for dubious acquisition.
25 Mallama Thomas Street is currently occupied Abu Bakarr Saine, a blind old man who has been living in said house for over forty years. He had over four decades used the property to store his kola nuts for exports. Granted that the original owner of the land was Paterson Zocholis, PZ UK. When PZ folded up operations in the 1960s, the Mallam Thomas street property like others in other parts of the country became derelict and abandoned.
Naturally, in the circumstance, the state took ownership of those former PZ properties. Son of the oldman Saine Abdullai has disclosed that the place was a dustbin and they had to clean up the place and since developed it; using it as a store house and paying city rate for same to the city council. This is a declaration the Saine’s have made to the outgone Attorney General Anthony Brewa. Interestingly it is the office of the Attorney General that was used as consultant by the Government Asset Commission to come out with dubious finding that the land in question is private property.
Lebanese Tarraff is actually fronting for Sahid Abid Nimer, deceased, whose wife is laying false claim to the property.
Tarraff’s lawyer Mohamed F Fofana Esq in writ of summons addressed to the Saine stated inter alia that the Saine’s are tenant of his client who has stopped paying rent over ten years ago. We have gathered that there is no evidence to that effect, no receipt of payment of such rent to the Lebanese. The Saine’s say they had never paid any rent to the Lebanese.
Lands Ministry documents have by no means established that the land in question is a freehold, in spite of the Register Book of Conveyance indicating freehold to long list of lessees and lessors that are suspiciously doctored in the scam possibly perfected by the Lebanese Tarraff.
The curious question in this matter of purported private property as as stated by the government asset commission there is no receipt to show from Patterson Zocholis in the transfer of conveyance to anybody.
This ought to be the material evidence of receipt to consummate any deal for the land transfer from Patterson Zocholis. This is ought to prove legal claim beyond the Registrar General’s doubtful records. We are following this story with eagle eye to put the jigsaw puzzle in right perspective.