by Lance Polu
APIA: Monday 9 Nov 2009 - Police have been instructed to arrest any workers and stop further work on private land at Tula'ele - 2 miles west of Apia, which has been sold illegally. A major businessman has paid a quarter million tala for the land and has erected a steel fence around it and is half completed.
However, the property is under caviat and the Trustees of the propety filed in the Supreme Court to stop further development. However, fencing work continued despite the Court order delivered by police officers last week. Sources say documentation including the land deed even carry a stamp of the Ministry of Lands and the Environment, where the property is registered. The Trustees are not sure this happened which may have misled the businessman who thought he had a valid purchase.
An elderly male who made the sale is related to the owners of the land and this is not the first time he has attempted to sell sections of the estate. Police are looking for him for questioning.