Land grab in Goa: Suella Braverman’s family for amicable settlement

PANAJI: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing illegal land grab cases has decided to file a closure report in connection with a land grab case connected to UK home secretary Suella Braverman’s ancestral property in Assagao.
The decision was taken by the SIT after a family member wrote to it stating that they want to settle the case amicably. The property belongs to Suella’s father’s ancestors.
“We have received a letter from Braverman’s mother that they want to settle the case amicably and on that basis we will file a closure report in the case,” crime branch SP Nidhin Valsan told TOI.
In September, the SIT had filed a first information report in the case against unknown persons. Braverman’s father Christie Fernandes had approached the chief minister and the director general of police (DGP) to register the case.
Two days after police registered an FIR, documents with TOI showed that the land was sold by Christie’s brother Fr Ayres Fernandes. Christie had given a general power of attorney to his brother, who executed the deed of sale for two properties.
But less than a month after Ayres sold the properties, Christie revoked the power of attorney through a public notice and later filed a civil suit at a local court in Mapusa.
Documents perused by TOI revealed that Christie and his wife Uma gave the general power of attorney to Ayres on May 18, 1991, and Christie revoked it on March 9, 2019. But before the revocation, Ayres executed the deed of sale in both properties on January 18, 2019 and February 20, 2019.
Braverman’s mother wrote to the state government requesting it to allow her husband and his brother to settle the matter amicably. Her letter comes days after the SIT probing the Goa land scam registered an FIR in the case based on a complaint by Christie himself, who alleged that the ancestral land had been grabbed.
In her letter to CM Pramod Sawant, DGP Jaspal Singh and the NRI commissioner, Uma wrote, “I am Uma, the wife of Christo (Christie)... I am a named legal signatory who has given the power of attorney to my brother-in-law Fr Ayres Fernandes through the UK embassy, certified by the Goa deputy collector in 1991. After the completion of the inventory of the properties, the appropriate share (was) given to Fr Ayres Fernandes, Christo Fernandes, Melba Fernandes and Yolanda Fernandes.”