The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Mike Hammah, has expressed alarm at the spate of fraud in the financial sector involving the use of property as security for mortgage, noting that the ministry and the National Security apparatus had initiated some measures to deal with the problem. He said it had been observed that most borrowers who used properties as security did not own those properties, nor did they have the consent of the real owners to use the properties as security. To make matters worse, he said, the fraudsters were able to produce title documents to support their applications. Mr Hammah sounded the alarm in an address read on his behalf by his Deputy, Mr Henry Ford Kamel, at the 2011 Annual Seminar of the Valuation and Estate Surveyors Division of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors in Accra on Wednesday. It was on the theme: “Assets Valuation in Ghana – New trends, new challenges”. Valuation of landed property is a very important professional service due to the wide and varied uses for which valuation services are required. Valuation services are needed in the administration of estates by the courts, the banking sector, as well as individuals who, in one way or another, require advice in the sale, purchase or letting of landed property. The financial institutions, for example, rely on valuation advice on landed property presented to them as security for a loan transaction to determine the range or extent of funds or loans that they can grant to secure a facility. Mr Hammah said there was suspicion that there was some level of connivance with personnel of the Land Registration Division of the ministry who aided in the provision of excerpts or copies of titled documents and said National Security would soon move against such people. The minister also expressed concern over the phenomenon of valuers churning out differing opinions on the same subject matter, saying it was a source of worry. “Valuation practice may not be an exact science and opinions may, therefore, differ. However, if the degree of disparity is excessive, then it becomes a great source of worry to us all,” he added. The President of the Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE), Mr. Robert Dwamena, said the production of oil was expected to improve the standard of living in Ghana and asset acquisition by individuals and companies and added that the services of valuers would, therefore, become invaluable.