http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/12/12/nicaragua.islands.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
Caribbean islands illegally sold, Nicaragua says
POSTED: 8:58 p.m. EST, December 12, 2006
Story Highlights
Government argues Caribbean islands are public property
Real estate company says it merely provides forum for private sellers
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) -- Nicaragua is investigating the alleged illegal sale of its Caribbean islands on the Internet, the country's environmental prosecutor said Tuesday.
Lizandro D'Leon told The Associated Press that island real estate agents appear to have been selling the Caribbean islands for the past six years using royal titles issued by British colonizers under a 1905 treaty. D'Leon argues that a 1902 civil code dictates that the islands are now public land.
"No one has the right to sell them because they are in the public domain," he said.
He said he planned to ask authorities to check land registry documents in Bluefields, 170 miles east of the capital, Managua, in Nicaragua's autonomous region.
The government is also investigating the Toronto, Canada-based Private Islands Online and other similar companies.
Chris Krolow, the executive director of Private Islands Online, said the company doesn't sell islands but is simply a portal where island brokers and owners can advertise their property for rent or sale. He referred questions about specific properties to the listed owners or brokers.
The company's Web site lists several Nicaraguan islands for sale, including one called Pigeon Island, described as a 7.5-acre "island of rock, surrounded by the waters of the Caribbean, with agates and sea turtles too." Its listed price is $285,000.
In April 2001, Nicaragua's environmental prosecutor asked a judge to nullify the sale of seven islands to a Greek man. But in June 2001, a judge ruled against the government's request.