On 1/17/06, Devdas Bhagat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 17/01/06 10:58 -0800, A. M. Merritt wrote: > > On 1/17/06, Thaths <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On 1/5/06, Thaths <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > IIRC, the guy that was arrested in > > > > the Stamp Paper scam was also subjected to this (aside: whatever > > > > happened to that case? last I heard of it was over a year ago.) > > > > > > This just in: > > > > > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4620526.stm > > > > > > "A court in India's financial capital, Mumbai, has sentenced a man > > > found guilty of faking government stamp papers to 10 years in prison. > > > > > > Abdul Karim Telgi was found guilty of conspiracy, cheating and > > > counterfeiting stamp papers last week. > > > > > > The $650m fraud was discovered in 2002 and is said to be the biggest > > > in India's history. " > > > > So what's a stamp paper used for? Declaring people > > dead? Transferring property? Marriages and divorces? > > > Basically, anything which requires the payment of small amounts of fees, > and a lot of paperwork/documentation. > > Stuff like legal agreements (of any kind), contracts, etc are > printed/typed on stamp paper and registered. The point of stamp paper is > that you pay a certain amount of money to get that stamp. > > > I'm not familiar with the concept of "stamp paper" in the > > US, but it sounds like some sort of irrefutable magic > > paper whereupon any thing that appears on it is legally > > binding - useful in places where facts and records can't > > be checked easily, rather like a King's ring signifies that > > an order came directly from the King and no other. The > > closest thing I can think of to this is currency - paper legal > > tender. > > > Currency you can sign a contract on, but not use as legal tender.
So a contract isn't "official" unless it's on stamp paper? It sounds like a way for the guvmint to account for fee payment, and to extract money for "blessing" contracts and agreements of any kind. I can now see why it's a big deal to forge it. Thanks! Anne Marie -- Moral Indignation is Jealousy with a halo. H.G. Wells, The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman (1914)
