Last night, you heard the Prime Minister speak about the sweet deal that Bill Lindo came up on - when government was recently ordered to compensate him over 800 thousand dollars for land that he had bought not too many years ago for just 44 thousand dollars. That's about 20 times the original value.
It's land where the Coast Guard is now headquarters which the then PUP Government acquired from Lindo.
Now, Bill Lindo has been in the news before his lavish land holdings. In 2010, the Auditor General gave him special mention for a bunch of public land transactions finalized in the run-up to the 2008 election.
We spoke to him at the time and he was unapologetic. For context into this latest compensation "come-up", we revisit sections of that story:
Jules Vasquez Reporting
These names fill three pages. Particularly outstanding is William Lindo, known as Bill Lindo, his companies and his children.
It starts with Stephanie Lindo, his daughter, 50 acres at Frank's Eddy, then a lot in Belama Phase 4, then another 50 acres in Frank's Eddy for Sharon Lindo, then another Lot in Belama Phase four for Sharon.
Bill himself is here for 50 acres in Frank's Eddy, and then another 346 acres in Frank's Eddy, and then his company Lake I development another 332 acres in Frank's Eddy - the company again, another 308 acres, this one in Sapodilla Lagoon, and then 98 acres at South Rider's Caye, another 87 acres at South Rider's Caye, 10 acres at Sebastian Ridge for his son William A Lindo, who also got 76 acres along the coastal road, 50 acres at Poor Man's Rest, and a lot in Caribbean shores.
That's a total of somewhere in excess of 1,500 acres, around two and a half square miles - and all the transactions were between October and 2007 and February 2008 a number of them approved for lease before a survey was done.
(August 2010)
William Arthur Lindo, Defends Land holdings
"I deserve more than that because I had lands before and the government in 2002 compulsorily took away land from me and they said that they did not have money to pay, so an agreement was reached that I would get agricultural land in either the Belize or Cayo district in compensation. Four years passed and I didn't get any land so I complained and towards the end I started making threats; I want my land because you took my land, so give me my land or give me money. They say that they didn't have money, so they will give me land. So I make sure I got my land but I ended up paying and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for things which I should have gotten not free because they took my land."
Jules Vasquez
You are a wealthy land owner with vast tracts of land, square miles is what you are talking about."
William Arthur Lindo, Defends Land holdings
"But they owed me; they would have had to pay me millions more for the one they took at Belizean Beach."
Jules Vasquez
"But looking at it aggregationally, Bill, don't you think its obscene that one person should be given expeditiously so much land?"
William Arthur Lindo, Defends Land holdings
"No, they took my land and they did not compensate. Again they have taken land from me and still no compensation, but this time it won't be land for land it will be money."
And even telescoping it from a distance of two years ago, he was right. The compensation sum is about 575 thousand and the interest another 275 thousand dollars or so.
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