Two members of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council are calling for an internal investigation into a bank bribery scandal currently engulfing the ruling entity and threatening U.S.-backed efforts to lead the troubled country to elections next year.
Frinel Joseph and Régine Abraham, the two non-voting observers on the nine-member panel tasked with bringing political stability to Haiti, are proposing that the embattled council name a commission of inquiry to investigate allegations that three of its members sought a hefty kickback from the head of one of the country’s leading banks to keep his job. They also propose that the council adopt a code of ethics for members. They made the proposition in a letter, dated on Monday, to the council that was obtained by the Miami Herald.
“The allegations in question are likely to undermine the good reputation” of the council, the letter states “and risk altering the credibility of its leaders.”
So far, the council, which has remained silent as a group about the corruption allegations, has not said whether the proposal will be adopted or even put to a vote among the seven voting members, who represent a cross-section of political parties and civic organizations. Joseph, an evangelical pastor and former treasurer of the electoral council, represents civil society. Abraham, an agronomist who has worked in the ministry of environment and for the World Bank and European Union, represents the religious sector.
They were sworn in as a group in late April after the U.S. and the 15-member Caribbean Community bloc led efforts to help forge a new political transition after demanding the resignation of Ariel Henry as prime minister amid a violent uprising by armed gangs in Port-au-Prince.
The allegations center around council members Louis Gérald Gilles, Smith Augustin and Emmanuel Vertilaire, who are accused of asking the director of state-owned National Bank of Credit, BNC, to pay 100 million Haitian gourdes, about $758,000, to keep his job. The three have vehemently denied the allegations and two have filed defamation complaints in court.
The kickback accusations became public last month when the bank’s director, Raoul Pierre-Louis, wrote to Prime Minister Garry Conille asking for beefed up security for himself and his family, and detailed what the council member had allegedly demanded from him on May 25. The government’s Anti-Corruption Unit soon launched an investigation.
Last week, days after appearing before the Anti-Corruption Unit to tell his side of the story, Pierre-Louis received a letter from Conille telling him that he was out of a job and was being replaced by a commission, a move his lawyer said is illegal and usually reserved for banks that have been mismanaged.
The scandal has set off a political firestorm in Haiti, where the council has been embroiled in a number of other scandals since its formation. Members are accused of misusing the National Palace intelligence budget and of seeking kickbacks from the country’s powerful private sector and from other heads of government agencies in exchange for keeping their posts during the ongoing transition. At least one other director of a government agency confirmed to the Herald that he was asked by someone close to a council member for nearly $300,000 to remain in his job.
While some political parties and alliances have come to the defense of the council, accusing Pierre-Louis of trying to jeopardize the already fragile political transition, others have called for the dismissal of the three accused council members. One of the groups represented on the council, known as December 21, which nominated Gilles for his current position, is divided about whether the veteran politician and former senator should be replaced. Gilles is scheduled to serve as head of the council when Haiti is supposed to head to elections; Augustin is scheduled to take over from current council President Edgard Leblanc Fils in October.
In a social media post, Andre Michel, a lawyer and part of the December 21 coalition, said he and his supporters encourage “the courageous initiative” of the two observers proposing the formation of a commission of inquiry.
“The conclusions of the investigation should allow the necessary consequences to be drawn,” Michel said. “The scandal of the 100 million gourdes of the BNC risks engulfing the (Transitional Presidential Council) and the entire transitional process. It deserves to be dealt with as quickly as possible.”
Michel said that the three accused council members “must avoid any obstruction of the investigation, in any form whatsoever, for any reason whatsoever. Beyond their particular interests, the nine stakeholders involved in the establishment of this transition must do everything to save the ongoing political process.”
On Tuesday, Finance Minister Kethleen Florestal and the governor of Haiti’s Central Bank, Ronald Gabriel, installed members of the management board of BNC. They have been tasked with improving the bank’s portfolio.
BNC is a state-owned commercial bank that the International Monetary Fund previously wanted to see privatized because of political cronyism and poor governance. The bank, Pierre-Louis’ supporters say, has not been mismanaged. The bank has provided dividends to the Ministry of Finance during the last four years he was in charge, including sending the government a check for close to $12 million.
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COMMENT: HAITIAN-TRUTH.ORG
Nothing in Haiti is as simple, as it appears.
There is always “A MOUNTAIN BEHIND A MOUNTAIN.”
In this case, there Is exceptionally strong evidence to show that absolutely no demand, request or suggestion that Augustin, Giles or Vertilaire were involved with pressure campaign against Raoul Pierre-Louis, head of BNC.
A review of evidence shows Giles at the most, suggests he told his friend Raoul Pierre-Louis that he should “Retire, since he was a millionaire and didn’t need the problems involved….”
One Must understand that Prime Minister Conille is trying to discredit and eliminate the Transitional Presidential Council in his move to solidify his own permanent hold on power- mirroring PM Henry’s unconstitutional – American supported – hold on power.
One must also understand exactly how Garry Conille managed to get the nod over the near 100 hopefuls for the Prime Minister’s slot. Some of Conille’s friends, in the States and Haiti, had people with suitable American accents call members of the Transitional Presidential Council, telling them that “They represented the State Department, CIA, embassy or other American agencies, and the Americans WANTED GARRY CONILLE AS PM!!!” In Haiti, a Conille associate, who had gone to school wih the American ambassador, pressured his friend into ‘receiving Conille’ giving further credence to American support.
Without this unethical – perhaps illegal – interference, Conille would never have been selected.
And – in typically Haitian style – Conille had promised his friends, who had the ‘American Accents’ call the Transitional Presidential Committee members, that the money they had paid, would be refunded, and they would receive positions in the Garry Conille government.
CONILLE STIFFED THEM. HE DIDN’T REFUND THE TENS OF THOUSANDS INVOLVED – AND DIDN’T GIVE HIS FRIENDS THE PROMISED POSITIONS.
IT IS NOT TOO LATE!! THE TPC SHOULD RETHINK THEIR CHOICE OF GARRY CONILLE AS PRIME MINISTER.
