Judge Alba Beard Marcos from the Land Court in the National District has annulled the land titles that the government had issued for lands in the Bahia de las Aguilas beach area in the southwestern province of Pedernales. The case had been in process for more than 18 years as the title owners sought to delay the hearings in the hope that the case would eventually expire.
The judge said the around 1,200 land title deeds were issued incorrectly to around 600 supposed farmers when Jaime Rodriguez Pimentel was head of the Dominican Agrarian Institute (IAD) some 18 years ago.
The judge said that as the titles are null and void, any sale of them or transfer or survey carried out since 1990 is also null and void.
She said that the state, represented by the Public Prosecution service, the current IAD heads and the Ministry of the Environment had been victims of an unprecedented fraud in the history of land registration in the country, and said that everyone occupying this land illegally should be removed immediately.
Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito applauded the decision and the professionalism shown by the court during the process.
Minister of the Presidency Gustavo Montalvo said that the government would soon announce plans for the development of the land that he said has always been defined as a tourism area. “The time of the South has come!” he posted via his Twitter account. “We will soon have excellent news for the development of Bahia de las Aguilas.”
Read more in Spanish:
http://www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2014/8/25/334969/Tribunal-de-Tierras-falla-a-favor-del-Estado-y-anula-todos-los-titulos-de
http://www.7dias.com.do/portada/2014/08/25/i170936_tribunal-anula-titulos-fraudulentos-bahia-las-aguilas.html