PANJIM: Visa issues are preventing British nationals from registering their properties in Goa, British MP representing East Worthing and Shoreham, Tim Loughton, said in the British Parliament on Tuesday. Herald has accessed Loughton’s speech that reveals harassment of British nationals investing in the State.
Loughton said, “Hundreds of British subjects have been prevented from registering their properties in Goa, having previously fulfilled the requisite legal processes, primarily because of restrictions on visas. In some cases, that has led to criminality and harm against foreigners when they have tried to obtain the properties, causing loss of investment. Some cases have involved extreme violence. Other people affected include those who came together to invest in Indian tourism and who have been prevented from trading due to altered interpretations of the law and, in tandem, prevented from registering their properties.”
He added, “Huge stress is being caused to people who legitimately went out to invest in businesses in Goa. In most cases, they are not wealthy, but have invested their life savings. Their situation is proving to be a nice little earner for the Government of Goa, and various government officials are pretty brazen in demanding money to make the problem, which is of their making, supposedly go away. We seem to have the Goan equivalent of the mafia.”
Loughton said that the Indian Government should be keen to find out what is going on and to intervene. “In the past few months, however, I have written to the Indian Law Minister, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, and to the (now former) Chief Minister of Goa, Shri Manohar Parrikar,” he said.
He also said that other members were also involved in the issue. “Many other members have been involved in the issue and frustrated at the lack of action by Indian and Goan government officials when some fairly blatant corrupt practices are at work. That is why I am raising the issue and putting it firmly on the radar. I hope that something will come of it.”
Responding to Loughton, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Tobias Ellwood said that the government’s policy was that it cannot get involved in private disputes, “as we are in no position to judge the facts of the cases and have no overseas jurisdiction to resolve such matters. It is the responsibility of the Indian authorities to regulate property laws…” He, however, said that the High Commissioner in Delhi had discussed the problems with the Chief Minister of Goa who had assured to find a solution to the problem and set up a special committee to assess all outstanding cases.
In response to this Loughton said, “We are talking about British citizens being denied justice. The rulings against them are not specifically saying what they have done and then proving it; they are constantly saying there is not enough information, so the case is deferred and deferred. In the meantime, money is, effectively, being demanded with menaces. If such corruption were happening in the United Kingdom, on the part of British officials dealing with Indian nationals, we would absolutely want to do something about it and to liaise with the Indian authorities.”
On December 26, 2014 officials of the Western Region, Enforcement Directorate, assistant director of ED, Goa Girish Lotlikar and British expats including members of informal British working group, connected to the confiscation of the properties, held a crucial meeting on the subject.
In a large number of cases, British investors have complained that builders have not transferred properties in their names even as huge amounts of money have been paid.
