25557: (news) Chamberlain: Haitian authorities say Aristide pilfered funds (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, June 30 (Reuters) - Haitian authorities have
seized around $5 million that they allege former President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide and others in his ousted government tried to siphon off, an
official said on Thursday.
     Jean-Yves Noel, director-general of Haiti's Central Unit of Financial
Inquiries, said the interim authorities in the impoverished Caribbean
nation had frozen $1 million in the account of a university Aristide set
up.
     They also identified and confiscated another $4 million in public
money that Noel said Aristide and his subordinates intended to transfer to
fictitious companies. He did not say where the $4 million had been found.
     "Our investigation showed that there have been misappropriations of
public funds through institutions totally controlled by Aristide, such as
the Aristide Foundation for Democracy, and the Professional and
Technological University," Noel told Reuters.
     "Of course those funds could not have been transferred to these
institutions without the personal involvement of Aristide," he said.
     The interim authorities have been searching for evidence of corruption
under Aristide since the former priest fled Haiti in February 2004, driven
out by an armed revolt and U.S. and French pressure to quit.
     U.S. officials say they also believe several of Aristide's
subordinates were involved in drug smuggling.
     But supporters of the exiled former president say claims that he
pilfered from public coffers are absurd. They accuse the interim government
of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue of persecuting Aristide and his allies.
     A champion of Haiti's poor, Aristide did not live ostentatiously. Most
political analysts say money that came his way was spent on shoring up
popular support and not on material comforts, even if the villa he lived in
during his second term was far removed from his roots as a slum priest.
     Aristide is now in exile in South Africa and U.N.-aided elections are
due later this year to choose his replacement.
     James Desrozin, a spokesman for Aristide's Lavalas Family party, said
investigations by the interim authorities had no credibility because "the
results are known in advance."
     "It is just one more political tactic by the government and its allies
to try to demonize President Aristide, who they consider a political
enemy," said Desrozin.