Corruption rampant in notary public

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Shamim Bano
Rampant corruption has been witnessed in the notary public, as officials often authenticate documents on back dates, while most overseas Pakistanis bribe them for the certification of legal documents, The News has learnt.

A notary public official is an officer who can administer oaths and statutory declarations, witness and authenticate documents, and perform certain other acts depending upon jurisdiction.

For the purpose of authentication, most countries require commercial or personal documents which originate from or are signed in another country, and have to be notorised before they can be used or officially recorded or before they can have any legal effect. This includes translation of such documents carried out by a skillful translator who is approved by a government entity.

A Pakistani, who had a Canadian residency permit, discovered after returning home that his passport had expired. He approached a female notary public officer, Naved Jehan, while The News was talking to her, to get a stamp affixed as guarantor. However, she refused to stamp the passport, stating how she could be his guarantor when she did not know him personally.

Jehan is probably an exception. Though she denied him the embossed notary seal, rampant corruption translates into any individual getting his document signed and stamped by another notary public officer, albeit after greasing his palms. The amount paid varies depending upon the nature of work - in cases of guarantor, the payment is usually between Rs500 to Rs1000. In case of signing wills, the amount ranges from Rs1000 to Rs2000, and depends on the maturity of the will. In the same way, sale deeds stamped on the back date also need generous bribes.

Karachi Bar Association General Secretary Naeem Qureshi told The News that notary public officials make thousands while authenticating any documents, depending upon the nature of work. Although, under the law, the licenses of notary public were cancelled and never issued, but money is involved in renewing and reissuing of licenses of notary public. For the reissuing of license, notary public usually pays an amount up to Rs0.1 million. In many cases, notary public officer who reaches the age of 65, greases the palms of officials concerned and gets the license issued even after his retirement age. There is no system of checks and balances or a regulatory body that can deal with the unbridled corruption.

A notary public officer is an attorney at law and admitted to the bar practice for five years. A notary public officer, through bar association of their respective area, files an application to the District Coordination Officer (DCO) who in turn after verification sends it to the provincial home department. A letter is then issued to the Central Police Office, who then refer it with the area police station for further verification.

After going through this process, the application is again sent to the DCO, and after complete authentication, the home department issues the license. The fee of the notary public officials is Rs2000 that is issued for three years, which is renewable for two years at Rs500. After the age of 65, the license of notary public officials officials is not renewed. Notary public officials is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with estates, deeds, power-of-attorneys and foreign and international businesses.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=178194