A real estate agency is at the centre of a police investigation after it is alleged to have failed to honour agreements with clients despite having accepted full cash payments in return for providing houses, The Sunday Times has found out.
The Criminal Fraud Investigation Bureau is investigating several cases over the past few years involving this company with a number of clients coming close to losing their total investments, investigators said.
A senior police investigator handling one particular case said that the real estate operator was a cunning individual who used certain loop holes in the law to his benefit while the victims were left in the cold.
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| The partly built house given to Mr. Abdeen |
He added that on earlier occasions the company had opted for out-of-court settlements in a bid to avoid lengthy legal proceedings.
In the most recent case Mohamed Ajreen Abdeen is still without a house of his own after paying this particular real estate operator Rs. 850,000 according to the agreement between both parties, some five years ago.
Mr. Abdeen told The Sunday Times that he had entered into the agreement after responding to a newspaper advertisement that appeared to be genuine.
However five years on, all he got for this sum was a partially built slum-type dwelling minus the windows and doors and a far cry from the model house that was promised to him in the agreement.
Despite several representations to the company, the situation remains the same and Mr. Abdeen and his family, including his three daughters, are currently living elsewhere on rent.
“This is my hard earned money which I collected while being employed in Saudi Arabia for nearly a decade. My main objective was to build a home so that my three daughters could live with dignity. But now the agony persists and there is very little I can do and very few places to go to,” Mr. Abdeen lamented.
In desperation the victim had even sought the intervention of the Consumer Protection Authority. However there is very little the CPA could do in this instance since it has no mandate to cover such civil cases, he said.
Mr. Abdeen further said that the real estate company was offering to return the original investment, but this was not fair since the land value had risen to nearly double the previous sum.
Despite being in the red, the real estate company still persists with glossy advertisements to lure more unsuspecting clients when it cannot even meet its earlier obligations, Mr. Abdeen said.
A spokesman for Sunil Property Sales Company said the company had made several attempts to negotiate with the client but there was no headway.
He added that his company was willing to return the initial investment, and that was as far as it could go. Demands for a higher sum cannot be met, since the company itself has hit hard times with the global recession, he further said.
He added that the company had nothing to hide since it was a legal entity with many years in the business. “We are open to discussion with any one, and that includes Mr. Abdeen if he feels he has been wronged by us” the spokesman who identified himself only as Mr. Ranjith said. |
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