His name has been publicly associated with $6.2 million that went missing from BTL in a black market money transaction that went awry. Well tonight, Dion Zabaneh is back in the news and this time he says he's the victim. It's not missing millions he's taking about, but land reclamation, an increasingly common and controversial practice in the seaside city - where all who can afford it would like to live on the seafront. Now Zabaneh is in trouble because he is taking precious sea frontage in one of the more upscale neighborhoods of Belize City, Buttonwood Bay. Today Zabaneh told us that despite the efforts to intimidate him, he'll continue the work.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
When we arrived on Henderson Street we found a parked bull dozer. And while the machine was idle the man it was there to work for was standing in complete awe. Dion Zabaneh says that acting on the instruction of the owner of lot 4670 he's reclaiming it.
Dion Zabaneh,
"The government wanted to buy back the land from my mother and she does not want to sell. Instead she is filling up the land. I represent her right now and they came with an environmental thing to stop the action that's happening right now."
Zabaneh says that government wanted to buy the piece of land seen here on this map. But what is land on the map, in reality is the sea, and he's filling it up. It's attracted quite a bit of adverse attention and now he's squaring off with the powers that be. In this case those powers are concentrated in the Department of the Environment.
Dion Zabaneh,
"They issued me a letter and said that the government wants to buy back your mother's land and I spoke to my mom, she is not in the country right now, and she doesn't want to sell. So the last thing she left me to do was fill up the land, just fill it up, develop it, and so. We didn't give them back a response so now we continued to do our filling and they came with all of these things, these games that they play, you know how it is, to stop us."
Alfonso Noble,
What I am seeing here is sea.
Dion Zabaneh,
"Well just like Mr. Billy Musa. If you could look over there, take a shot over there, he was the same way. That was just sea the same way and these are lands that have eroded from previous times. These lands used to go way out there but all we are doing is reclaiming land, that's what you call reclaiming."
And that he is and he's very well underway doing it. In two days he's reclaimed a fair portion of land but now that's been halted. He says the stoppage is being enforced because, as he sees it, a name is worth more than all the gold in the world.
Dion Zabaneh,
"If they will stop, why don't they stop Mr. Billy Musa over there filling up the same amount of thing. In this country man, it is ridiculous how the harassment and this and that and the games the government plays. On the next right there you got Mr. Joe Coye filled up the whole seafront property there, Mr. Hassan Diab, and so why my mother Primose Gabourel cannot do what she wants with her land. My mother's name, she doesn't carry Zabenah, she carries Primose Gabourel, and maybe if it had carried Zabenah then it would have been a different situation."
And standing behind his mother he says he will continue the work come hell or high tide.
Alfonso Noble,
Are you going to continue the work?
Dion Zabaneh,
"Yes man we will continue. We won't stop. We won't stop and we won't let anyone stop us. And if the Ministers want to stop me, tell them to send their gunman to come and stop because this is one time I will fight for the rights and I think they need to stop (start) behave themselves. They are playing with funny waters here because it is my mother they are dealing with; my mother. And I don't think any of them like you to mess with their mother."
It's a hard line that we'll guess not even the sea could easily erode.
Despite numerous attempts, we were unable to speak to anyone in charge at the Department of Environment. While this morning Zabaneh was resolute about his position, David Manuel Medina Sr., whose sea front Zabaneh is claiming, this afternoon filed for an injunction and got it against Primrose Gabourel, Zabaneh's mother. We were there at 3:45 when the order was served with, shall we say, decisive finality and that quickly changed Zabaneh's position.
Court Bailiff to Zabenah:
"I need you to stop now...I need all work to stop now."
Alfonso Noble,
Dion you've just been served with an injunction. What now?
Dion Zabaneh,
"Well the courts have to handle it."
Alfonso Noble,
Are you surprised that it came to this?
Dion Zabaneh,
"Yeah."
Alfonso Noble,
You said the work wasn't going to stop. Are you surprised at the amount of police officers and the guns that came out here today?
Dion Zabaneh,
"Well you know it is big Ministers in this so we understand this. It is all about money but the law will prevail."
Now the matter one for the courts, and we'll keep following it from there.
