The Forged Identity at the Counter
A man presenting a CPR card in the name of 'Ali Hassan' asks a notary to authenticate a sale of a vehicle and a power of attorney to sell a flat. The photograph resembles him, but the card's laminate is lifting at one corner and the Arabic name spacing differs from the English. The date of birth on the card would make Ali 34, but the man appears older. He is impatient and offers to pay double the fee for immediate completion. The notary's assistant recalls that a different man used the same name at the office three weeks earlier for a different act. The notary has not yet opened the register entry.
1. What should the notary do, and what offences and duties are engaged?
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Immediate action:
- Do not authenticate anything. Do not open a register entry or assign a serial number.
- Retain and inspect the card without confrontation, and compare it with the office's records of the earlier appearance.
- Verify identity through an independent channel - the official identity verification system, or a second document such as a passport or driving licence.
- If suspicion persists, decline and report to the competent authority. Preserve the card's details, a description of the person, and the time.
- Do not accept the doubled fee. It is itself a red flag and accepting it could be characterised as complicity.
Offences engaged:
- Use of a forged or altered official document, and forgery of an identity document.
- Impersonation to obtain a notarial act.
- Attempted fraud through the vehicle sale and the power of attorney over the flat, which could be used to dispose of another's property.
Duties engaged:
- Verification of identity is the notary's first safeguard; an act performed on a false identity is voidable and exposes the notary to liability.
- Duty to report suspected forgery; the notary is not permitted to remain silent.
- Confidentiality does not shield a crime; it yields to the duty to report.
- Impartiality and integrity - refusing inducements.
Documentation: record the refusal, the reasons, and the steps taken, so the file supports the notary if challenged.
2. Suppose the notary completes the acts in good faith and the forgery is later discovered. What is the effect on the authenticated instruments, and how does the notary's register protect or expose her?
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Effect on the instruments:
- A notarial act procured by impersonation is defective as to the identity of the grantor. It may be set aside, and any registration or transfer based on it is vulnerable.
- The notarial certificate is strong presumptive evidence of what the notary witnessed, but it is rebuttable by proof of forgery. The presumption does not make a forged act valid.
- Third parties who relied in good faith may have claims, and the notary may face liability if she failed in her verification duty.
The register: protection and exposure:
- Protection: a complete, contemporaneous register entry recording the documents inspected, the time, and the persons present supports the notary's account and shows diligence.
- Exposure: if the entry is silent on how identity was verified, or if it records a verification that did not occur, the notary is worse off than with no entry. Falsifying a register is itself a serious offence.
Lessons: verify identity through an independent system, not by resemblance; record the method used; refuse inducements; and report suspicion promptly. A notary who documents a good-faith verification has a defensible position; one who records a fiction does not.