On last week Tuesday's newscast, we told you how John Zabaneh was removed from the US Treasury Department's KINGPIN list. After 5 years of suffering, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) lifted the sanction they had placed on the Stann Creek businessman in August of 2012, which prevented pretty much anyone from doing business with him.
All banks, suppliers, and most of his business partners had cut him off. They would not conduct business with him or his family-owned companies because of the taint of the kingpin designation. His family's fortunes were dealt a deathblow and the banana industry suffered after Fyffes ended its business relationship with his Mayan King Banana Farms, which was being managed by the company, Meridian. The Irish based fruit packing giant stopped buying their bananas because could not risk being associated with Zabaneh.
That completely shut down Mayan King, the most productive banana farm in the country, and it drove Zabaneh's family out of business.
But, last week, just like that, OFAC reversed their 2012 decision. He and his family are now on a long road to recovery, and today, we got a chance to have an hour-long conversation with him about a range of topics.
The first we asked him about, is how he managed to convince OFAC to remove him from the list, which appeared an almost impossible task. Here's how he put it:
Daniel Ortiz, reporter
"Throughout the entire ordeal before the letter was sent to you, were you ever in doubt that this sanction would be lifted? Was there any point at which you despaired and you were like you know what they truly are trying to end me?"
John Zabaneh
"Sometimes that came to mind, but knowing and not thinking, knowing that I am innocent I had no choice and there was no alternative but to keep fighting and if it took 5, 10, 15, 20 years, that's it. I would just keep fighting. The alternative would be to just sit there and take it and accept that accusation and then sure, there are very few people out there that had that faith believe in me. Everybody out there I am sure "guilty as charge" - most of them really I can't blame. The US Government when they say something - that's it. Who will they believe? The US Government or believes John Zabaneh who has a past record. And if I had thought believe me this much, if I had thought that I in the least bit guilty of whatever. Maybe not the plane in Punta Gorda or PG or something else. I would keep my mouth close and hope it doesn't get worse. I would not go in the offensive like that. Keep quiet and stay in the corner, I don't want my name even to be called. But from day one I was on the offensive. No if, and, or but about it. People out there that are disappointed, people out there that will still think that he's just lucky, it's just luck. But for what's it worth, people like that there will be other people listening to them and know them for what they are - haters."
So, what were those written conversations like with OFAC? He says that it turned into almost an exercise in futility. He said that he didn't get any real success until last month, when his US Attorneys filed a lawsuit against OFAC, forcing them to reveal what they actually had on him. Here's how he explained that Hail Mary move:
John Zabaneh
"At the beginning I didn't even know what they were accusing me of. So I was just back and forth. I got permission to communicate with them. I got several questionnaires, bank accounts, the companies and we answered them effectively. They asked everything they had to ask and I answered everything I had to answered effectively. I offered to go to Washington or anywhere if they didn't want me to come to Washington, the US Embassy."
"When my attorneys lodge the complaint in the courts, they had to give a disclosure and in that disclosure they mentioned that plane that landed in the Toledo District on the highway and another plane that landed somewhere in Guinea Grass. Those are the two. If you can recall I had a suspicion of the one in the Toledo District. Why would I have a suspicion? Simple. OFAC designation came about right at the same time the case was being tried in Dangriga. But from I understand it did not go to court and right after the de-listed me. So I believe that they decided or they thought "we don't have nothing to go to court." This would be my suspicion. I could not confirm that. I could not be a hundred percent sure what transpired there between them. But they produced their disclosure and right after this happened. Absolutely I would be seeking redress, seeking compensation whether it's possible or not. It's left to the attorneys and I am sure they are looking into that as we are speaking here today. Definitely I have stated my hope that that is the next step."
So, he and his family will start to rebuild, but first, they need to re-establish bank accounts with the financial institutions which completely closed their doors to him. Nobody could pay them for their business, and they couldn't buy supplies. He told us that now that he is no longer considered a kingpin by the US Government, he hopes that they will try to mend fences with him and his family. Here's what he had to say on that topic:
John Zabaneh
"The banks went overboard here. They kicked out everybody. In the whole term nobody could pay me a cheque. If somebody bought a load of sand and gravel for me, can't pay me. That cheque would never be cashed. And it was just a real nightmare. Some at the banks were worse than others. First Caribbean was probably the most ridiculous and I don't want to mentioned, because we need to go on and I need to put it behind us and we need the banks to work with me to work with the banks. I am not holding this against them. We could not access funds from anywhere. Not to get funds in our hands. To pay for fertilizer, to pay for things, chemicals, for bus hogging, diesel. The little things that everybody takes for granted every day, go with a card and swipe it and get cash - those things are so farfetched from us, from me that I don't know how I would feel to go into one of those little booths today and do that. I would feel funny. Every little thing that everybody takes for granted was a major undertaking just to get paid. Imagine, what it takes for us to get money to pay our workers."
Zabaneh estimates that the Kingpin Designation costed him and his family in the vicinity of a 100 million dollars over the past 5 years. We'll have a little more on this in tomorrow's newscast when we'll compare what Mayan King Looked before the Designation, and how it looks now, after being shut down for 2 years.
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