Millions put in bank accounts linked to Aristide, panel says
23 décembre 2004
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Port-au-Prince - (KRT) - Two Haitian panels probing allegations of corruption under former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide say they have found evidence that millions of dollars were paid into bank accounts held by one of Aristide?s foundations, by his wife and by officials of his government for unknown purposes.
Investigators are also looking at a U.S. bank account held by Mrs. Aristide and others held by Aristide associates in Finland, Greece, Panama and Canada, Haitian officials said.
Among the evidence are presidential account checks for $5 million to $10 million made out to Oriel Jean, a former Aristide security chief now jailed in Miami on drug charges.
Justice Minister Bernard Gousse and Jean-Yves Noel, head of the Financial Intelligence Unit, which has been acting as the liaison between Haitian and U.S. investigators, told The Miami Herald they believed the evidence trail will eventually lead to Aristide.
``Given the tight grip the president had on all these institutions, especially at the presidential palace, and where his cronies were appointed, it is clear he was the mastermind and the architect,?? Gousse said.
Aristide?s Miami attorney, Ira Kurzban, said that if any government funds were transferred to bank accounts of the president?s wife or his social works foundation, they went to legitimate government expenditures.
``They did it legitimately and they did it for a public policy. This was not money that was routed into the pockets of the president to buy a yacht in Miami,?? he said.
For now, Gousse and Noel say they are putting together a list of about 29 Aristide associates who received government funds without explanations. They will soon turn over the list to prosecutors, who could then seek search or arrest warrants.
Interim Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue has publicly asked Gousse to issue an arrest warrant for Aristide, who fled the country Feb. 29 amid a bloody revolt. But Gousse has said he and Noel are still building a case.
Noel said his panel is also cooperating with a group of U.S. Treasury, Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI agents in Haiti who have been combing through bank records and other documents as part of a U.S. probe into drug trafficking, money laundering and bribes during Aristide?s rule.
For now the names of the suspects are confined to dozens of folders on Noel?s desk, containing thousands of copies of canceled checks and other documents he said came from five presidential bank accounts. Among them, according to documents Noel showed The Herald :
_Bank records showing ``millions of dollars?? transferred from one presidential account to Haitian bank accounts held by Aristide?s wife, Mildred Trouillot Aristide, and one of his private social welfare foundations, the Aristide Foundation.
_A 2003 check for $800,000 to Kiskeya Store. Noel said the store does not exist. Haitian business owners questioned by The Herald said they had never heard of Kiskeya.
_Hundreds of thousands of dollars in government checks written simply to cash, without any explanation of the recipient or the reason for the payment.
_A series of presidential checks written out to the Central Bank but flagged for deposit into the personal accounts of Haitians that Noel said were Aristide associates. He would not provide their names.
Noel also said several suspicious presidential checks, some for $5 million to $10 million and all made out in U.S. dollars, were made out to Oriel Jean, the former Aristide security chief.
Displaying a canceled presidential check to Jean in 2002 for $6,077,342.40, Noel said he believed the money ``was used for a lot of things, the chimeres, to do propaganda for him, to pay people.?? Chimeres are thugs allegedly armed and financed by Aristide to back him and to harass his opposition.
Jean, being held in Miami on drug charges, said through his Miami attorney, David Raben, that he knew nothing about the check. ``I have never seen or received any check for $6 million made out to me from the Haitian government,?? he said.
Jean?s possible cooperation with U.S. prosecutors could play a key role in a parallel U.S. investigation of possible links between Aristide, officials in his government and traffickers who used Haiti to ship Colombian cocaine to U.S. markets.
At least 11 Haitian drug suspects have been arrested and extradited to the United States. Haitian authorities have arrested another three drug suspects and confiscated $1.3 million in cash, Noel said, but 14 other suspects remain fugitives in Haiti and neighboring Dominican Republic.
A top Haitian official aware of the U.S. investigation said the American agents are investigating a U.S. bank account held by Mildred Aristide and have found suspicious bank accounts held by Aristide associates in Panama, Canada, Greece and Finland.
U.S. law enforcement officials declined comment on the Haitian officials? reports.
Haitian investigators acknowledge that despite the evidence gathered and the cooperation from U.S. officials, they face an uphill battle proving the corruption charges that have dogged Aristide?s government since he was reelected in 2000. Aristide now lives in South Africa.
But both Gousse and Noel say they remain optimistic.
``We are well informed,?? Noel said. ``We are determined. We have a lot of people who are helping us.??
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