Alleged moneychanger claims he’s never met B.T.L.’s C.E.O.

With all the political turmoil surrounding the shenanigans at the registry and the impending return of the renegade representatives, it’s a story that’s been relegated to the back of the stove. But the theft of six point two million dollars from B.T.L. is a news item that is not likely to go away any time soon. Today we were reliably informed that Dion Zabaneh, the man who was allegedly given that sum of money by B.T.L.’s Gaspar Aguilar to change into three million U.S. dollars–but never did come up with the funds–reported to the Belmopan police station and gave a voluntary statement. In that statement he is alleged to have maintained that he does not know Gaspar Aguilar, that he does not know where he lives and never has had any dealings with him. That assertion strikes many observers as strange considering that Aguilar, B.T.L.’s former C.E.O. and Chief Financial Officer, has maintained that he is well acquainted with Zabaneh and their families are close–facts that are not terribly difficult to prove. No arrests have been made in the case, and a second man who absconded with one point two million dollars of B.T.L.’s money, Hassan El-Sayed, has fled the jurisdiction, most likely to Lebanon.