26321: Craig (news) Star witness names ex-Haitian official in drug case (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From:  Dan Craig <sak-pase@bimini.ws>

Posted on Sat, Sep. 24, 2005
CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Star witness names ex-Haitian official in drug case

A former Haitian National Police commander implicated one of his top agents in 
a drug-conspiracy trial underway in Miami federal court, tarnishing the 
Aristide government.
BY JAY WEAVER
jweaver@herald.com <mailto:jweaver@herald.com>

The U.S. government's star witness said he once taught Haiti's anti-drug chief 
in high school, served as his boss in the national police, admitted to 
smuggling cocaine with him and often socialized at his home.

Yet on Friday, when asked if he saw him in the courtroom, Jeannot Francois 
mistakenly identified a federal prosecutor for the defendant, Evintz Brillant.

''Yes, I see him,'' Francois testified, staring straight at Justice Department 
attorney Thomas Pinder in Miami federal court. ``He's wearing glasses and a 
white shirt.''

Moments later, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Weinstein asked the witness to 
stand up and look around the courtroom for Brillant. ''I made a mistake,'' 
Francois said. ``He's sitting right there, wearing a blue shirt.''

No doubt, the government's key witness got off to a shaky start on the first 
day of Brillant's cocaine-smuggling conspiracy trial, but Francois made up for 
it when he directly fingered the defendant's involvement in drug sales and 
hefty bribes.

But the irony of Francois, 43, taking the witness stand against Brillant, 33, 
was apparent: Francois was never charged for his role in the alleged drug 
conspiracy, while Brillant faces life in prison if convicted.

''I had close contact with him because he was a former student of mine [in high 
school],'' said Francois, who also once worked as a medical doctor in Haiti. 
``We were friends. I used to go to his home.''

The charges against Brillant, Haiti's former anti-drug chief, stemmed from last 
year's wide-ranging probe into the government of deposed Haitian President 
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Three other Haitian national police officials have 
pleaded guilty.

Brillant remains the only one to face charges that he shook down Colombian and 
Haitian drug traffickers for tens of thousands of dollars so they could ship 
tons of cocaine through the Port-au-Prince airport from February 2001 to July 
2003. The trial resumes Tuesday.

Before Friday's testimony, U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke granted the 
government's request to disallow a polygraph test taken by Brillant in August 
2002. He passed the exam -- required by the Drug Enforcement Administration -- 
indicating he was not involved in illegal drug activity in his country.

Brillant's lawyer, Howard Schumacher, urged jurors in opening arguments not to 
convict his client based on the company he kept in that country.

''There is an absolute lack of physical evidence,'' Schumacher said. ``This 
case is being made on the basis of convicted drug dealers and money 
launderers.''

Afterward, Francois testified that he joined Haiti's national police force in 
1998. He rose to a command post overseeing criminal investigations, drugs and 
other units -- before he slipped out of the country amid death threats in 2003.

Starting in late 1999, Francois said that he, Brillant and other corrupt 
Haitian officers took a ''large quantity'' of confiscated cocaine kept in a 
police vault. Francois said they destroyed half of the cocaine in a ''drug 
burn'' -- in the presence of DEA agents -- and secretly kept four to six kilos 
for themselves.

Francois said he ''entrusted'' the cocaine to Brillant, who sold it and gave 
him a $6,000 cut.

Over the next three years, Francois testified their illicit network expanded 
dramatically. At one point, Francois promoted Brillant to anti-drug chief at 
the Port-au-Prince airport -- the hub for cocaine shipments, shakedowns and 
bribes.

He said Brillant was in the middle of all the deals with Haiti's biggest 
traffickers, namely Jacques Ketant, Serge Edouard and Ronald Vielot. All three 
men have since been convicted in the United States.

Francois said that Brillant, other police and Aristide's security chief, Oriel 
Jean, schemed to confiscate $450,000 in drug proceeds from a Haitian-based 
Colombian drug trafficker at the Port-au-Prince airport in the summer of 2002.

Francois said the group gave back $300,000 of the seized drug proceeds to the 
trafficker, Carlos Ovalle, and kept the rest as payment for their protection. 
Francois said he was not compensated.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/12728543.htm