Haiti: the bitter grapes of

corruption
Nancy Roc
Free-lance journalist

“If you wish to study the history of my country, you should have the will to fail”
Tom Rich

The elections held on February 7 2006 were highly significant for the Haitian people as they
had the opportunity to return to the ballot box after two years under international community
intervention. On February 16, following ten days of demonstrations and a number of evident
irregularities, René Préval, candidate for the Hope Platform (Lespwa), was proclaimed President
of Haiti.

Unlike Jean-Bertrand Aristide, René Préval had completed his first presidential mandate (1996-
2001), and was thus able to offer the international community some guarantee of stability.
This was an essential condition for donors, in order to ensure their participation in financing
the country’s economic development. Haiti has lived through ten centuries of instability and
political violence. The question was whether René Préval’s second presidential term would lead
to the establishment of democratic rule of law or, on the contrary, whether it would trigger a
new crisis preventing the MINUSTAH drawdown in the medium term.

The disputed legitimacy of Préval’s presidency, the poor performance of the first three years
of his five-year mandate - with corruption scandals, kidnappings and escalating murders - and
the struggle for power which has confronted the President with Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and
Jacques Edouard Alexis, have cast doubts over any chances of a short-term turnaround.

Haiti is ranked fourteenth in the index of failed states and, as with so many other countries,
corruption is endemic and prevalent at all levels of government and society1. The resistance
of the political and economic elites can be seen in the absence of mechanisms ensuring
transparency and monitoring, the suspension of investigations and interference by the
Executive in the functioning of a number of institutions.

Corruption is a destabilising factor and it is difficult to gauge the extent of its effects. This article
analyses major corruption cases in Haiti during the first three years of Préval’s presidency, the
way in which these cases affect society and how they obstruct the restoration of rule of law and
the fight against impunity. In Haiti today, political will has been undermined, the international
community is increasingly reluctant to support a country with such high levels of corruption
and Haitian society has lost trust in state institutions.

1
Failed States Index 2008, Haiti ranks 14th, Foreign Policy, accèder sur la page internet de www.foreignpolicy.com

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René Préval’s onerous legacy

Préval inherited a disastrous situation in 2006: institutional failure, disintegration of social
relationships, loss of values and norms, a booming criminal economy, criminalisation of power
structures and the sheer greed of the affluent minority. Great expectations were raised by the
new president in the fight against poverty. “Children must be taken off the streets. We must take
weapons from their hands and send them to school with books and pens”, he declared during
his election campaign. “This is the way to level the differences between rich and poor. The rich
are enclosed behind their walled villas and the poor are crowded together in shantytowns
where they have nothing. The gap between the two classes is too wide ”2.

In addition to insecurity, justice and corruption remain burning issues. In Haiti, it is evident
that without an adequate judicial system and a concerted fight against corruption, impunity
will continue to prevail with disastrous consequences for society as a whole. Pierre Espérance,
executive secretary of the National Network for the Defence of Human Rights (RNDDH), declared
on 19 June 2006 that impunity was the main cause of the resurgence of insecurity in the capital.
He highlighted the fact that examining magistrates have released the perpetrators of rape,
kidnapping and acts of violence. According to Espérance, “examining magistrates regularly
favour a “hands-off ” approach towards bandits arrested by the forces of law and order”3 . Those
who try to understand political organised crime in Haiti wonder if Haitian justice should not be
purged in the same way as the national police force. In July 2006, Claude Moïse, chief editor of
the newspaper Le Matin, summed up the population’s expectations vis-à-vis governance:

“The new government must therefore justify itself, give explanations and take firm measures
to safeguard its credibility, regain the trust of leaders and create better perspectives for the
future. It cannot procrastinate any longer. The situation demands immediate action ”4. If this
does not happen, the new elected government will only perpetuate the Haitian tradition of
power: continuity within change.

Rampant corruption
Foreign cooperation has contributed over 2.6 billion dollars to Haiti since 1984, with little to show
for it. In 2006, the new Haitian government blamed the unwieldy bureaucracy of international
institutions which entails the setting up of, often unnecessary, expert missions. On the other
hand, donors point to the rampant corruption in Haiti that has prevented the vast numbers
of underprivileged people from benefitting from the positive effects of development aid 5.
According to the 2006 Transparency International6 report, when René Préval came to power
for the second time, Haiti was only ahead of Burma and Iraq as the countries with the most
widespread corruption7. TI’s findings have revealed a strong correlation between corruption
and poverty in countries with the lowest income per capita.

On November 6, 2006, following the publication of this report, David Luna, Director of Initiatives
for Good Governance and the fight against corruption at the US State Department, stated: “It
is clear that corruption stems from ineffective allocation of resources and tends to be more
widespread when government bureaucracy and the political will to fight against corruption are
weak” 8. On 30 November 2006, during the Madrid Conference, donor countries conditioned

2
Christian Casteran, Haïti : La démocratie à l’arraché, Le Nouvel Observateur, 23 February 2006..htm
3
Nancy Roc, Haïti : un an après les élections, quel espoir ?, La Chronique des Amériques, Observatoire des Amériques de l’UQAM,
No.13, May 2007.
4
Claude Moïse, Le jeu force à couper, Le Matin, editorial 10 July 2006
5
RFI, Les bailleurs de fonds au chevet d’Haïti, 25 July 2006.
6
Transparency International (TI) is a non-governmental organisation which campaigns against corruption globally.
7
Swissinfo.ch, Rapport sur la corruption: Haïti, la Birmanie et l’Irak en tête, 6 November 2006.
8
Andrzej Zwaniecki, La corruption est un obstacle au développement, indique un nouveau rapport, America.gov, 8 November
2006.

Haiti: the bitter grapes of corruption Nancy Roc

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the continuity of aid to Haiti on intensified efforts by the Haitian government to fight against
corruption. The International Donors Conference held in Madrid served as a framework to
examine payments and donors’ commitments, as one billion dollars in assistance had been
pledged to Haiti over the period 2004-2006. The fight against corruption was therefore the
central theme of this Conference.

At the time, the Haitian government insisted that it had adopted “draconian measures” to
“fight against corruption in all its forms”, according to Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis.
The question remains, has this really happened?

Complacency or complicity?
In the light of the facts, Alexis’ assertions are incongruent, to say the least. A few months
before the Madrid Conference, the government withdrew charges filed in the United States
by Gérard Latortue’s interim government against Jean Bertrand Aristide relating to the theft of
tens of thousands of dollars. In a document presented to the Miami Federal Court, the Haitian
government’s lawyers requested “voluntary withdrawal”, with no financial sanctions, of the
charges filed in November 2005 by the former government of Gérard Latortue. This decision,
in addition to the unconditional release of several Aristide followers who had been sentenced
by Haitian courts, were the first major political acts by the Préval/Alexis government and the
nation was shocked. “By overturning the charges against Jean Bertrand Aristide and releasing
the former Lavalas government members, with no judicial decision, the government is not
supporting the fight against corruption”, declared the Bishop of Jacmel, Monseigneur Guyre
Poulard. The Bishop of the South-East Department stated that the public administration was
rotten and stressed that “the fight against corruption is the starting point for a country that has
just embarked on the road of progress ” 9, and he added that all sectors of society should be
engaged in the fight against corruption. Yet when the highest authority of the Executive sets
such an example, how can the people be expected to make a commitment? The links between
René Préval, former president Jean-Bertrande Aristide and the Lavalas party, which then
became Lafanmi, have led observers to ask the following question: by taking such unilateral
steps, is René Préval complacent towards Aristide’s followers or is it proof of his complicity with
a regime that plundered the poorest country on the American continent?

In May 2007, to widespread surprise, René Préval launched a major offensive against
corruption, by labelling all parties who engage in corruption as “traitors to the nation”. “Those
who take part in corruption are enemies of the country because they prevent the return of
investors”, he argued on the occasion of the commemorative ceremony for the Haitian Flag
Day. He declared 2007 the year of the fight against corruption, publicly admitting that state
enterprises and institutions were riddled with corruption, from the customs department, the
General Directorate of Taxes, the National Police and the judiciary to town halls, the Parliament,
ministers and even the National Palace10.

A month later, the Port-au-Prince Government Commissioner, Judge Claudy Gassant,

announced a huge operation against corruption, illegal drug trafficking and money laundering
in the country. “We are determined to eradicate these practices” 11 he announced. The Haitian
people became hopeful that change could come about but they waited for the government
to prove its good faith in concrete acts.

9
Haïti Recto Verso, Guyre Poulard réclame une lutte contre la corruption non partisane, 20 November 2007.
10
Radio Métropole, Le chef de l’État lance la guerre contre la corruption, 19 May 2007
11
Agence Haïtienne de Presse, Le Juge Claudy Gassant annonce une vaste opération contre la corruption, 3 June 2007.

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Judge and party

Judge Claudy Gassant is a key figure in the fight against corruption and on the basis of his past
record, he is popular and respected by the people. During Aristide’s regime, he forged a solid
reputation and was considered to be incorruptible and willing to take risks.

Claudy Gassant studied law in France where he specialised in criminal science. After two
years at the French Magistrates School, he became an instructor at the Haitian Magistrates
School (EMA). In 2000, he was commissioned to investigate the murder of journalist Jean
L. Dominique. As a result he received death threats in 2001, when he linked the name of
Senator Dany Toussaint with the murder of the most well-known Haitian journalist. During
a meeting held on June 6 2001, the decision had been taken to assassinate Judge Gassant
before the findings of his investigation were to be published12 . Gassant had suffered threats
and intimidation on several occasions. He was the second examining magistrate responsible
for investigating the murder of Jean L. Dominique. His predecessor, Jean-Sénat Fleury, decided
to withdraw as a result of pressure. Judge Gassant also came under increasing pressure from
all sides, including the Senate. On May 25, 2001, Senator Dany Toussaint was formally indicted.
He immediately accused Judge Gassant of having put pressure on the defendants to implicate
him in the murder of the journalist. The Senator’s followers organised several demonstrations
in Port-au-Prince demanding the Judge’s arrest. Dany Toussaint did not appear at any of the
three summonses. On June 13 2001, Judge Claudy Gassant announced his resignation and left
the country for security reasons. He accused the Justice Minister, Gary Lissade, a former lawyer
for Dany Toussaint, of not having provided adequate security measures to ensure his safety.
Judge Gassant went back on his decision a few days later following appeals nationally and
by the international community. But on January 9, 2002, he sought and was granted political
asylum in Florida 13.

The inquiry into Jean L. Dominique’s murder revealed the complexity and extent of corruption
in Haiti. Eight years later, the case remains unsolved and the journalist’s murderers are still at
large.

In 2007, in recognition of his bravery in investigating the journalist’s death, Claudy Gassant
was named as one of three finalists for the Integrity Prize (2007) awarded by Transparency
International.

When René Préval named Claudy Gassant as Government Commissioner on 21 August 2006,
those who were corrupt became apprehensive while civil society rejoiced in this nomination,
hoping that Gassant would advance the fight against corruption in Haiti. After his forced
asylum in the United States, the former judge arrived with great expectations regarding his
post as Government Commissioner. As soon as he took office, he tackled a new challenge: to
make the Attorney’s office a dynamic, accessible and efficient institution. In 2007 he launched
the campaign to fight against corruption announced by the President. Gassant quickly became
the “strong man” of the Attorney’s office, making a name for himself more for his escapades
and his confrontational character than for specific actions. For two years, he often made the
headlines with inopportune declarations about his open conflicts with influential sectors
of society: lawyers, judges, police, journalists, etc. He forged a reputation for himself as a
magistrate with immense power who claimed to answer only to the President. Representatives
of Haitian society accused him of having a marked tendency to excess and abuse of power
and there was evident interference by the Executive in the judiciary. Drunk with power, the

12
Reporters sans Frontières, Nouvelles menaces dans l’enquête sur l’assassinat du journaliste Jean Dominique, 12 June 2001
13
Reporters sans Frontières, L’Affaire Jean Dominique en 14 dates clés, 28 March 2002.

Haiti: the bitter grapes of corruption Nancy Roc

 5
extravagant cortege that accompanied Gassant “sowed fear in its wake wherever he went
including nightclubs, the preferred spot for brawls and the settling of differences Wild West
style, resembling the absolute power wielded by the falcons during the Duvalier
dictatorship “.14

On August 11 2008, implicated in a series of incidents that had tainted relations between Justice
and the National Police, Claudy Gassant resigned on 19 August 2008 and left for the Dominican
Republic, where he has just been appointed to the Haitian Consulate in Santiago. Corruption in
Haiti is alive and shows no sign of disappearing in the near future.

IDT/Téléco/Aristide
In 2007, René Préval released Aristide’s followers who had been involved in corruption, drug
trafficking and/or extortion, a fact that was deplored by human rights associations. However, in
2008, the opportunity arose to prove that he was truly committed to fighting against corruption
and this was the IDT/Téléco/Aristide case.

On 15 July 2008, after years of investigation, New York journalist Lucy Komisar posted evidence
on the website portefolio.com that Jean Bertrand Aristide had extorted millions of dollars from
the State and the Haitian people by passing a fraudulent contract with the New Jersey-based
telephone company IDT. The results of this investigation led to a fine of 1.3 million dollars for
James Courter, president of IDT and one of the main fundraisers for the presidential campaign
of the Republican candidate, Senator John McCain. Four days after Komisar’s revelations, James
Courter handed in his resignation to McCain, while nevertheless remaining president of IDT.

The contract made between IDT, Téléco and Aristide was drawn up in 2003. For each minute
of long-distance calls made to Haiti through Téléco, IDT only paid 8.75 US cents while other
providers such as ATT paid 23 cents. This rate was deemed to be unfair by the Federal
Communication Commission (FCC) leading to the fine against Courter, former Congress
member for New Jersey. According to FCC, IDT had also systematically breached American
communication laws. For each minute of a call to Haiti, three American cents was lodged by
Téléco in a bank account in Aristide’s name using a front company called Mount and Salem
Management located in the fiscal paradise Turks and Caicos Islands. “This offshore account was
a personal account belonging to Jean-Bertrand Aristide”, emphasized Komisar, who claimed
to have personally spoken to Aristide’s legal advisor, Adrian Corr. This lawyer, of the firm Miller,
Simons and O’Sullivan, had opened the account in the former President’s name after signing
the contract between ICT and Téléco in November 2003 15.

Following the revelations in the IDT/Téléco/Aristide case, the Heritage Foundation for Haiti
(LFHH), the Haitian branch of Transparency International, urged the Haitian judicial authorities
to institute proceedings against Aristide, Courter, Téléco and IDT and thus prove their will to
combat corruption and impunity. The Foundation warned Haitian justice against any laxity in
this case of misappropriation, fraud and illegal discounts that deprived Haiti of revenue from
telephone calls totalling hundreds of millions of dollars. “These funds which could have been
used to improve the population’s living conditions, were diverted towards offshore accounts”,
stated the Foundation in a press release.

In addition, the Foundation urged the Parliament, particularly the special Anti-corruption
Commission and the Senate Ethics Committee, to take this case of corruption to court in
order to ensure that the judicial authorities fully assumed their responsibility in punishing this

14
Radio Kiskeya, Le commissaire Claudy Gassant jette l’éponge, 11 August 2008
15
Nancy Roc, Aristide épinglé dans des détournements de fonds à travers la Téléco, Le Matin, 25 July 2008..

Comment, March 2009

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economic crime 16 .

It is evident that after the publication of these revelations, any responsible government would
initiate legal proceedings against Aristide as well as IDT. However, nothing has been done, either
by the Executive or the Legislature, and the announcement of a parliamentary investigation
has come to nothing.

Troubling signs
Denis Paradis, Parliamentary Secretary for the Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister, had personally
observed the extreme levels of corruption that existed in Haiti during his week-long stay in 2001
on the invitation of the Canadian ambassador: “If the Canadians treated their animals the way
the Haitian authorities treat their citizens, they would be put in prison”, and he added, “dignity
has disappeared and the country is a ticking bomb that needs to be defused immediately”17 .
Under Jean-Bertrand Aristide, corruption reached an unprecedented level but, since then, no
effective initiatives have been undertaken against this phenomenon that erodes all levels of
Haitian society leading to disastrous consequences for Haiti’s development.

The Corruption Perception Index (CPI), published in November 2006 by Transparency

International, highlighted the fatal link between corruption and poverty. Haiti was at the
bottom of the list where corruption was most widely perceived, scoring below Burma, Iraq
and Guinea. In 2007, the Corruption Perception Index again showed that corrupt practices had
not been mitigated despite the stated intentions of the Haitian government to combat this
scourge. In fact, Haiti’s score shifted downward slightly (from 1.8 to 1.6) owing largely to a very
weak “confidence gap” between 1.3 and 1.8 out of 10 18. TI underscored that corruption affects
both public institutions and the private sector. In 2008, the result was no better: Haiti came
177th out of 180 countries, the only American country among the last 15 in the ranking, ahead
of only three countries: Iraq 178th, Burma 179th and Somalia 180th.

“Eradicating corruption requires Parliament to exercise strict control, the effective application
of laws, the existence of independent media and a dynamic civil society”, stated Huguette
Labelle in this report, President of Transparency International. “When institutions are weak,
corruption grows and gets out of control with terrible consequences for society as a whole
including widespread injustice and inequality”19. In the rest of this article, the role of the
Haitian Parliament, the media and civil society will be examined in relation to the fight against
corruption.

In 2007 and 2008, the Haitian Parliament was tainted by several cases of corruption.

-In March 2007, the Haiti Heritage Foundation urged the Senate to shed light on the SOCABANK
case in which several senators allegedly received bribes to vote a resolution in favour of this
bank unbeknownst to other parliamentarians. The President of the Senate has been linked to
those who received bribes. There has been no follow-up to this “inquiry”.

-In September 2008, Senator Michel Clérié revealed that the Prosecutor’s office was investigating
a network of forgers in the Prime Minister’s office and in Parliament although he denied any
responsibility in this scandal involving misappropriation of public funds. The investigation links
job requests and the payment of funds between the Prime Minister’s office, the Senate and the
National Insurance Office (ONA). The ONA affair came to nothing in view of the President of the
16
Haitipressnetwork, Haïti-Téléco-IDT-Scandale : Héritage-Haïti demande l’ouverture d’un procès, 1 August 2008.
17
Michel Vastel, Haïti mise en tutelle par l’ONU ?, 15 March 2003.
18
Radio Kiskeya, 177ème sur 180, Haïti reste dans le peloton des pays les plus corrompus, selon Transparency International, 26
September 2007..
19
Transparency International, Indice de Perception de la Corruption 2008, l23 September 2008.

Haiti: the bitter grapes of corruption Nancy Roc

 7

Republic’s support for Sandro Joseph, ONA director.

-Yet again in September, another corruption case was disclosed in Parliament. A popular
organisation was accused of faking the signatures of MP Cledor Myril and former Senator
Evelyne Cheron in order to claim 30,000 US$ funding for a project. Deputy MP Myril maintains
that the funds being requested from the ONA by the fictitious organisation had never been
disbursed owing to opposition by the Prime Minister’s office. Two people have been detained
in this case and no further action has been taken.

-In December 2008, Senator Joseph Lambert’s name was linked to the case of Monique Pierre,
the wife of Gonaïves Police Commissioner Ernst Bouquet Dorfeuille, who was abducted and
murdered on November 29 in Port-au-Prince. The official registration plate OO332 used by the
kidnappers corresponded to the vehicle in Senator Joseph Lambert’s name. This assassination
was linked to drug traffickers and Kelly Bastien referred to “a plan to destabilise Parliament”
and called for the top commanders of the Haitian National Police to be summoned to give
explanations. This summons never took place.20

Regarding independent media, fighting against corruption in Haiti can be very dangerous for
journalists. Several have been killed or have fled into exile, because of their involvement in this
fight. Access to information is like negotiating a minefield: “It is a major challenge in countries
like Haiti that have lived under dictatorships. Public administration systems are based on
secretiveness, and all information, no matter how insignificant, is jealously guarded by the
holders of power and by public officials who do not accept the obligation of accountability
to citizens. This opacity can cause endemic widespread corruption which undermines the
confidence of those who are governed towards the government ” 21 . This comment by Alex
Durandis, rapporteur of the Institut de Formation du Sud (IFOS) during a conference on access
to information organised by the Haiti Heritage Foundation in June 2007, sums up the difficulties
face by the independent Haitian press.

The same can be said of Haitian civil society: “it is now agreed that effective and active
participation of citizens is essential for good governance and the fight against corruption. Citizen
participation, when it is active and effective, can have a significant impact on the political system
in which it evolves, on good governance and on the fight against corruption. This participation
also makes visible the engagement and responsibility of citizens regarding the decisions and
actions that have an impact on their lives, community and country. Knowledge is power and
those who possess it become influential actors rather impotent spectators when faced with
decisions and actions by their leaders. Any attempt to guarantee access to information for
citizens, and to open states institutions and government organisations to external inquiries,
will enhance citizen participation and thus advance the fight against corruption” 22.

Alex Durandis also stressed that enabling citizens to participate in an informed and active
manner involved having access to relevant data about politicians, their programmes and
governmental budgets. The 1987 Constitution provides for this but the appropriate legal
framework has not yet been created. To date, the legal framework guaranteeing access
to information is weak and has only been reflected in the Public Administration Law, 1982,
the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption ratified by Haiti in 2001 and the United
Nations Convention Against Corruption recently ratified by Haiti. In February 2006, the Haiti
Heritage Foundation (LFHH) launched an appeal for the 48th legislature to ratify the United
Nations Convention Against Corruption which concluded in May 2008. Simultaneously, and
with the aim of harmonising Haitian legislation with the UNCAC provision regarding access to
information, HHF prepared a draft bill on Free access to information that will be presented to
the Haitian Parliament for approval .23

20
Nancy Roc, Un scandale de trop, Le Matin, 12 November 2008.
21
Alex Durandis,Fondation Héritage pour Haïti, Colloque sur l’accès à l’information - Pour un dialogue autour du droit à l’information,
23 May 2007
22
Alex Durandis, Fondation Héritage pour Haïti, Colloque sur l’accès à l’information - Pour un dialogue autour du droit à
l’information, 23 May 2007
23
Ibid.

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2008: annus horribilis for corruption

“2008 was a difficult year for Haiti. The crisis provoked by increased living costs, riots in April, the
fall of the government, almost five months of political deadlock and, finally, four hurricanes in
less than four weeks, have brought on the people of Haiti an unprecedented level of destruction
and suffering (…) the damages inflicted by the hurricanes are estimated at about one billion US
dollars, roughly 15% of Haiti’s 2007 GDP”, declared Hédi Annabi, Special Representative of the
UN Secretary General and Head of MINUSTAH on 8 January 2009, during a press conference.24

International solidarity towards Haiti, once again, was amply demonstrated in 2008. In the wake
of the hurricanes countries such as Spain, France and institutions such as the Inter-American
Development Bank (BID), announced that they would double their aid to Haiti. The US,
Canada, the European Union, the Caribbean Common Market (Caricom) countries, Switzerland
and Japan, among others, assisted Haiti during this difficult time 25. United Nations agencies
launched a flash appeal, seeking 108 million dollars to repair damages caused by the floods.
However, the international community has been reluctant to respond to this urgent appeal:
to date, only 24.8 million dollars have been raised, according to the UN Secretary General’s
spokesperson, Michèle Montas 26.

On 26 September 2008, at the United Nations, President Préval urged the international
community to break the paradigm of charity in its approach to cooperation with countries
of the South, declaring that “charity has never helped any country to escape from under-
development”. But, to no avail: donors have been slow to assist Haiti and the international
financial crisis is in danger of prolonging this tendency in donors.

Why this reluctance in the face of such a humanitarian catastrophe? According to many
observers, two main factors restrained the generosity of the international community towards
Haiti: rampant corruption in the country and also structural problems in the Haitian state.
Overseas cooperation has contributed over 2.6 billion dollars since 1994, with no obvious
benefits. Major corruption scandals also marred 2008. In addition to the IDT/Téléco/Aristide
case and corruption in the Senate, two major scandals broke in 2008: the National Insurance
Office scandal concerning old age pensions and, in December, the haul of narcodollars in Port-
de-Paix by members of the National Haitian Police and Judiciary.

The ONA case: the National Office for Old-Age Insurance (ONA) was set up in November 1965,
by a presidential decree under François Duvalier. It was a state body forming part of the Haitian
public administration, responsible for social security.

Between September and October 2008, cases of embezzlement, corrupt management,

fraudulent administration and misappropriation of public funds were reported at the ONA.
According to the International Network of Human Rights Defence (RNDDH), “taxpayer’s money
went towards buying expensive gifts and providing loans worth tens of millions of gourdes to
the benefit of officials and individuals close to those in power. An investigation by the Anti-
Corruption Unit (ULCC), brought the case to the Prosecutor of the Court of First Instance at
Port-au-Prince, and recommended taking action for assets laundering against the then Director
of ONA, Sandro Joseph .”27

On 15 October 2008, the case was transferred to the office of the examining magistrate, Yves
Altidor, for investigation but nothing ever came of it. According to reliable sources, President
Préval interrupted the inquiry when he found out that his sister had received a loan from ONA.
Several people close to government had also received loans, including four influential Senate
24
www.minustah.org (MINUSTAH.ORG), Conférence de presse du Représentant spécial du Secrétaire général, Hédi Annabi, 8 Janu-
ary 2009
25
Djems Olivier and Ronald Colbert, Haïti : Désastres environnementaux et crise gouvernementale, deux points forts de l’année
2008, Alterpresse, 22 December 2008.
26
Signal FM, L’ONU a collecté 24,8 millions de dollars en faveur d’Haïti, 24 octobre 2008
27
RNDDH, Violation du Droit à la Liberté Individuelle, 6 January 2009

Haiti: the bitter grapes of corruption Nancy Roc

 9

members, among whom were Kelly Bastien, President of the Senate and Joseph Lambert, former
President of the Senate, who had both borrowed heavily from ONA 28. ONA Director Sandro
Joseph was the subject of a warrant for laundering money. The Anti-Corruption Unit stated in a
report that Joseph had infringed the Law of 21 February 2001 on money laundering.29

However, after a lengthy political and judicial saga, Sandro Joseph evaded conviction and was
simply “removed” from his position by the President of the Republic. In fact, Haitian legislation
grants the President of the Republic the prerogative to decide if a senior State official should be
tried or not when the official has been accused for any reason. The Executive promptly replaced
Joseph with Jean Alix Boyer. The investigation was inconclusive and Joseph subsequently left
Haiti for a Latin-American country.

One of the most serious corruption scandals broke in December 2008. If indeed, as Saint
Just declared, “institutions are the guarantee of the government of a free people against
the corruption of moeurs, and the guarantee of the people and of the citizens against the
corruption of the government”, Haitians seem further than ever from the freedom they won so
dearly in 1804. Because it is within the institutions intended to guarantee good government,
and the application of the Law, that the scandal which became known as the “Port-de-Paix
scandal”, unfolded. Early December, a report published by Police Chaplains International
(PCI) revealed that between 10 and 32 million US dollars had been found during a search on
November 12, 2008 in Port-de-Paix (Nord-Ouest), in the home of the uncle of drug trafficker
Alain Désir, imprisoned in the US.

According to the report by PCI, affiliated to the Drug Enforcement Agency, the misappropriated
funds were split between members of the judiciary and the police in Port-de-Paix. PCI
investigators spoke to several police officers, most of whom have corroborated the find. The
money was allegedly divided between magistrates and police officers. Senator Evaillière
Beauplan has been associated with this scandal and information points to the fact that 20,000
dollars had been reserved for Beauplan. The government’s silence for almost one month
following on the publication of the report was considered unacceptable by many observers.
However, the Justice Ministry ordered all actors to be available for questioning: government
commissioners, justices of the peace and the clerks involved in the search of the house of Alan
Désir’s uncle. The President of the Anti-Corruption Commission of the Lower House, Steven
Benoît, considered the report to be a damning indictment of the Executive and Parliament.

“The raid of the house of Alain Désir’s uncle on November 12 last was a regular search during
which objects of value and an undisclosed large sum of money were taken by the judicial and
police authorities”, according to a report published on December 30 2008 by the National
Network of Human Rights Defence (RNDDH). The Network requested the “government to
prosecute the guilty parties so they will be punished according to the law”. According to the
RNDDH report, those who had received their share of the money were: Dumas Louidor, clerk
of the Prosecutor’s office of the Court of First Instance at Port-de-Paix, Sainvilia Saint-Charles
and Kerline Jean, both of whom had recently been named secretaries of the Port-au-Paix Civil
Court, Patrick Eugène, Deputy for the government commissioner at the Civil Court of Port-
de-Paix, Jean Volné Bellamin deputy for the government commissioner at the Civil Court at
Port-de-Paix, Harry Registre, municipal inspector responsible for the departmental service of
the Judicial Police and spokesperson for the Haitian National Police (PNH) in the Nord-Ouest
department, and Jordany Lazar, a PNH officer .30
28
Haitipressnetwork, Haïti : Quelques scandales qui ont éclaboussé le Parlement en 2008, 29 December 2008.
29
Le Nouvelliste, Les jours de Sandro Joseph sont comptés, 16 October 2008.
30
RNDDH, Scandale au niveau de l’appareil judiciaire : appel au respect de la loi et à la moralisation des pratiques judiciaires et
policières, 30 December 2008.

Comment, March 2009

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The Parliamentary Commission investigating this case confirmed the involvement of members
of Justice and the Police in the operation carried out on the 12 November at Port-au-Paix. This
operation “was a robbery in which senior officials of the Justice department and the police of
the Nord-Ouest seized and shared out large sums estimated at around 10 million US dollars”,
according to the report by the parliamentary commission responsible for investigating this
case. According to the report’s conclusions, published January 20 in Port-au-Prince, all the
police officers and members of the Judiciary who took part in these searches were guilty and
therefore should be arrested and prosecuted by the competent authorities 31. The Parliamentary
commission also demanded their dismissal from the judicial system and police with a view to
“reforming justice and restoring the population’s confidence in state institutions”. This is the
third report relating to this case. It was produced by a commission co-presided by Deputy
Arsène Dieujuste, President of the Justice and Security Commission in the Chamber of Deputies,
and Senator Youri Latortue, President of the Senate Justice and Security Committee. Deputies
Audné Alcide and Joseph Nelson Pierre-Louis were respectively member and reporting
secretary of the aforementioned commission.

The Port-de-Paix scandal is still pending and many Haitians doubt whether justice will be
done. The population of the Nord-Ouest department has lost confidence in the judicial and
police authorities after this scandal and, today, this pending case is still making headlines in
the Haitian press.

CONCLUSION
“In the poorest countries, corruption levels can mean the difference between life or death,
when money for hospitals or clean water is at play”, has warned the President of Transparency
International, Huguette Labelle, in the latest report by this international NGO. “Persistently high
levels of corruption and poverty affecting many countries in the world are comparable to a chronic
humanitarian catastrophe and should not be tolerated”, she stresses. And in fact, if corruption did
not exist in Haiti, the question arises as to how many millions of dollars would have benefited the
poorest people in the hemisphere. Corruption – defined as the“abuse of public power for personal
ends”– is one of the major obstacles to development and its effects on development are disastrous.

In analysing some of the effects of corruption on development, Dieter Frisch, former Director
General for Development at the European commission and founder member of Transparency
International, notes that corruption increases the cost of services and equipment considerably.
If a 5% profit margin could, at the most, be borne by the provider, corruption rates of 10 to
20%, which have become usual, are added to the price and paid out of the internal or external
resources (in the case of external funding) of a country. Therefore it is the national economy that
bears the unjustified price increases of the product or service, the difference being pocketed by
a government official or politician who abuses of his power for his own private interests. When
these operations are regularly financed by bank loans, or credit lines in the case of external
aid, the exorbitant prices increase the country’s debt even further. Today, it is estimated that
the exchange value of sums paid through corruption constitutes a significant portion of the
external debt of developing countries.

For Frisch, the detrimental effects of these practices do not end there: “the corrupt decision-
maker may well be tempted to accept a substandard quality service that will increase his profit
margin. Thus, for example, with a road building project, complicity between the administration
and the company may result in corner-cutting with regard to agreed standards of quality so
that the savings made may be shared. At their very worst, the disastrous effects of corruption
mean that the conception of a project and ultimately its very choice, are determined by

31
Radio Vision 2000, Pillage de narcodollars à Port-de-Paix: La commission d’enquête parlementaire confirme l’implication de
membres de la Justice et de la Police, 21 January 2009

Haiti: the bitter grapes of corruption Nancy Roc

 11

corruption. When a project is in the conception stage, a good example would be the purchase
of a technology which is wholly unsuited to the particular needs of a country or the choice
of a capital intensive project – more promising in terms of corruption – rather than a labour-
intensive project that would better promote development” 32.

Thus, for Dieter Frisch, the height of perversion is when the very choice of priorities – and
therefore projects – is determined by corruption. Haiti has not quite reached that stage
perhaps but, what is troubling is that, in Haiti, corruption is not only habitual culturally but is
also morally accepted. The destructive effect even of small-scale corruption on society should
not be underestimated. On the other hand, the Haitian case reveals that it is locked into a
vicious circle: corruption is one of the causes of underdevelopment and poverty, but poverty
contributes to its spread. When one cannot earn the means honestly to provide for one’s
family, one is practically obliged to use less honest means. Corruption is thus both the cause
and consequence of under-development. In order to break this process, large-scale corruption
must be combated as it is a significant cause of under-development and the reasons for its
extension in society must be eliminated, particularly the low incomes that prevent a decent
livelihood.

Generally speaking, it can be said that corruption kills the spirit of development. Nothing is
more destructive for society than the road to fast easy money which makes those who work
honestly and hard look like naïve fools. That is why, in the framework of economic reforms
called “structural adjustment”, it is important that the model proposed should be a market
economy, embedded in legislation by an effective State, which does not give free rein to
savage capitalism aimed at fast profits at any price.

An economy riddled with corruption acts as a deterrent for potential foreign investment
and donors. Development implies that the financial flows should be attracted to the country
that needs them. “Success calls money. Squandering, failure and chaos make it flee”, as Serge
Michailof said 33 . Haiti has a long way to go in order to rehabilitate its image and restore the
confidence of donors, investors and the international press in general. Its real development
will also depend on the political will of the State to combat corruption at all levels.

32
Dieter Frisch, Les effets de la corruption sur le développement, le Courrier ACP-UE no. 158, July-August 1996: pp. 68 - 70
33
Dieter Frisch, Les effets de la corruption sur le développement, le Courrier ACP-UE no. 158, juillet-août 1996: pages 68 - 70

Comment, March 2009

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Haiti: the bitter grapes of corruption Nancy Roc