Last December, Nicholas Papa and Michael Cooper got an early Christmas present: A show cause notice from the Directorate of Enforcement (DoE). It carried two messages: Your home may soon be confiscated; you will be fined three times the land’s value.
Mick and Nick have faced endless buck-passing. When they went to the Reserve Bank of India, they were passed on to the DoE. Who sent them back to the RBI. RBI rules state they cannot repatriate any money from the sale of their house. So they would have to exhaust the funds in India and go back to the UK with nothing.
Correction: This article has been updated. Dayanand Narvekar is no longer the Law Minister now, as was mentioned earlier.
(This story appears in the 20 November, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
I'm working personally on the topic land scam as i cant see it happening in my own house.
on Dec 15, 2009I am sorry to say, You have got it all wrong. In Goa the question of land is a very complicated issue. The Government itself does not own any land in Goa, it is ruling by fraud, let alone the Sanads and Form I
on Nov 24, 2009Tell them to contact my friend T.T who is a good Advocate on2512762. He will advise my fellow mates how to get through their cases.
on Nov 12, 2009Dayanand Narvekar is no longer a Law Minister now, as mentioned in the article. It should have read as former Law Minister.
on Nov 11, 2009I think this an old story , why do you want to waste your precious time and add cost to Forbes for investigating on the case. I am a follower of the magazine for long before it was launched in India.I think a lot needs to be done to improvise on getting the latest news to readers than bringing out old stories packaged in a new box.
on Jan 29, 2010This story is absolutely up to date. The Goan state is acting in a despicable way towards foreigners who have invested their life savings into residential properties. I only hope that media attention will make a change. It is ok, that Goa and India refuse to give long term visa to foreigners. But they should allow people to leave without losing their life savings, i.e. they should allow foreigners to sell their properties and go home.
on Sep 12, 2011This seems like it is a false story... Or even if it is true some facts are not being disclosed or maybe the persons concerned were misguided... First of all if they had complied with all the Laws at the time of purchasing the land then no way their Land could be taken by anyone... if they had Valid Resident Permit
on Nov 17, 2011