During a press statement, this Wednesday, October 02, 2024 the Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC) is calling for public action to be taken against Transitional Presidential Council members (TPC) Smith Augustin, Emmanuel Vertilaire and Louis Gérald Gilles, for abuse of office, payment of bribes and passive corruption.
These are the findings of an ULCC investigation report into allegations of solicitation of 100 million gourdes by these three members of the TPC for the reappointment of the then Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Banque nationale de crédit (BNC), Raoul Pascal Pierre-Louis.
The ULCC also demanded that public action be taken against Raoul Pierre-Louis for obstruction of justice, abuse of office, payment of bribes and active corruption.
According to the ULCC, these demands are in accordance with the provisions of articles 5.5, 14, 21 of the law of March 12, 2014, on the prevention and repression of corruption.
The ULCC alleges that Louis Gérald Gilles, Emmanuel Vertilaire, Smith Augustin held a meeting in a hotel room in Petionville on May 25, 2024, with the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of BNC, Raoul Pascal Pierre-Louis in the presence of Lonick Léandre, a Haitian consul in Santiago de Los Caballeros, Dominican Republic.
It demands the extradition of Raoul Pascal Pierre-Louis by the competent judicial authorities to answer for these acts.
The ULCC is also calling for the prosecution of Lonick Léandre (Haitian consul in Santiago de Los Caballeros) for instigating the payment of bribes.
ULCC Director General Hans Ludwig Joseph told reporters that "this report is the result of several months of investigation. This work, carried out with objectivity, constitutes a plea for the proper use of public funds and good governance”.
“The result of this survey is a signal that Haiti is a state founded on the rule of law. No citizen, whatever his or her rank or function, is above the law”, he said.
Joseph continued, “the result of this investigation is a signal that Haiti is a state founded on the rule of law. No citizen, regardless of rank or position, is above the law”.
Since the beginning of this affair, several organizations and groups, as well as personalities shocked by such practices, had called for an example to be set.
In a letter to Alterpresse, the Initiative de la Société Civile (ISC) said “Under the pretext of presumption of innocence, we cannot trivialize this issue of paying bribes for the granting of positions”.
It is also necessary to “ensure that we have, at the Executive level, personalities of integrity and responsibility, capable of leading Haiti towards a climate of serenity conducive to honest and credible elections, the only means of guaranteeing the country a stable political future and sustainable development”, the letter read.
In a document dated July 31, 2024, the group Ensemble Contre la Corruption (ECC) had called for “immediate and strong moral sanctions” against the three presidential advisors caught up in an attempted corruption scandal.
In a joint letter dated August 9, 2024, addressed to TPC interim President Edgar Leblanc Fils, the Bureau de suivi de l'accord du 30 août 2021 (BSA), known as the Montana Accord, had called for precautionary measures against the three presidential advisors indexed by Raoul Pascal Pierre-Louis in this case.
Translated and edited for clarity by CHIP editors
Posted Oct. 8, 2024