HAVE ALLEGATIONS OF ORGANIZED PROBATE AND REAL ESTATE FRAUD DAMAGED BARBADOS PM MIA MOTTLEY'S CANDIDACY FOR LEADERSHIP AT THE WORLD BANK?

Whether the ability of Barbados' Prime Minister, Mia Amor Mottley, to become the new leader of the World Bank, has been irretrievably damaged by allegations that she is linked to the massive probate fraud and real estate fraud, committed by a large number of prominent lawyers, which is rampant in her country, has become an open question. The Bajan plaintiffs, in a civil suit filed last week in the United States, allege that she is part of a vast conspiracy to deprive a major portion of the population of their inheritance.

While specific details of Mottley's alleged role in the systemic fraud, whereby significant tracts of valuable real estate are excluded from probate, and are diverted through counterfeit warranty deeds to corrupt attorneys, who then sell of the land to foreign investors and hotel developers, have not yet been pled in the case, the plaintiffs have named her as a party defendant, together with another 92 Barbados lawyers, in what is claimed to be an organized civil racketeering enterprise which exists to deprive Bajan of their patrimony. The facts filed in the case, if proven, could support criminal charges of money laundering in the United States, as many of the defendant attorneys have allegedly invested what are stated to be the proceeds of crime there.

This fraud occurs when aged relatives pass away, and local lawyers allegedly remove a portion of the deceasedents' lands from the estate, while delaying probate, sometimes for years, giving the time to prepare and record counterfeit deeds, alter public records, and destroy irreplaceable original documents, all as part of a well-planned operation designed to unjustly enrich themselves and others. 

The filing of the suit has resulted in a widespread outcry in Barbados, among others who also claim to have been defrauded, for justice for those claiming to also be victims. Barbados' tightly controlled media has thus far ignored the civil suit, and some Bajans reportedly have stated that this is because of unofficial media censorship, coming down from senior government officials, whose power to being criminal charges for purely political reasons to those interests that they believe threaten the status quo, has occurred in the past. We shall continue to monitor all developments in this matter as they occur.