SANTO DOMINGO.- Higüey has earned what newspaper Diario Libre quotes as the "Mecca" of forged real estate land deeds, where a portion of parcel 367-B figures with 15 "proprietors" that dispute its possession, and where surveys are done over surveys.

“Higüey is the Mecca of forgeries. There, mainly in parcel 367-B, are some which have 15 titles, 15 proprietors who dispute it,” Superior Land Court prosecutor Fermín Minaya said

He said he didn’t know how the surveyors modify the borders of the lands in the tourist region, where there is a series of forgeries, according to the Diario Libre report. “For that reason we ask investors before buying a property, to visit the Registry of Titles and ask for the service of a surveyor to locate the place where they are buying."

He also mentioned parcel 67 to base his argument that in Higüey there is a number of titles that don’t have possession either, nor a transfer document, and for that reason people don’t know where their lands are located. “In that parcel, that is very large, the State still has 41.5 million meters square left, and not even the State knows where its lands are."

He said he recently sent seven forgery cases to Higüey and six more cases are investigated at present, to file charges against the forgers.

Minaya warned that a “titles forgery industry” operates near the Superior Land Court, allegedly operated by notaries in the area known as  "La Placita."  "The falsification factory is there. We are investigating and in fact there is a notary, that hasn’t been suspended by the Supreme Court, but is being processed, he is doctor Trigo Fondeur, who’s the one that notarizes all the affidavits which go through La Placita, next to the Superior Land Court.”