9561: Govt of Haiti Actions to Combat Corruption (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

Press Release
Contact:  Michelle Karshan, Foreign Press Liaison, National Palace, Haiti
Telephone:  (011509) 228-2058, Email: mkarshan@aol.com


ACTIONS TAKEN TO COMBAT CORRUPTION 
WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK AND MANDATES OF 
THE HAITIAN CONSTITUTION AND RELEVANT LAWS


·   The Senate has taken numerous steps to flush out corruption by passing legislation that serves to prevent and penalize corruption including passing Anti-Money Laundering legislation, adopting the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption and passing a comprehensive package against drug trafficking.  

·   The Senate has been outspoken on issues of public corruption and has consistently responded to issues that smack of impropriety by ordering many government officials, including the Ministers of Finance and Interior and the Prime Minister, to answer their inquiries in person at public hearings clarifying any questions and putting safeguards in place;

·   To strengthen Haiti’s efforts against drug trafficking President Aristide reached out to regional experts in law enforcement and anti-drug policy forming a Presidential Commission to assist Haiti in combating drug trafficking.  The Commission is tentatively scheduled to visit Haiti at the end of this month;

·   President Jean-Bertrand Aristide held a series of meetings with General Directors, as well as heads of services, of all government agencies instructing them to more closely control and monitor government spending and resources.  The President invoked the Parliament to hold a General Assembly and directed them to entertain, among other things, legislation that would break up large districts into smaller more manageable communes and neighborhoods allowing for greater accountability and oversight;

·   The Ministry of Justice has continued undergoing training in procedures employed at combating money laundering for implementation by the Financial Control Unit.  Cooperation of banks in new procedures has been fruitful at flagging suspicious funds above the permitted threshold;

·   The Haitian National Police during their investigation of the SogeBel bank robbery of September 2001, arrested police officers, including an inspector, who are allegedly implicated in the robbery.  The suspects were shown on the news and the details of the case were made public by the police spokesperson;

·   The School of Magistrates was recently reopened and the attending judges are nearing completion of their training aimed at upgrading judges’ training and ethical standards;

·   An audit of the Port-au-Prince mayor’s office by the Superior Court of Claims was ordered in response to questions raised concerning management of public funds.  When one of the adjunct mayors resigned, breaking the three-person cartel elected in May 2000 (the mayor and her two adjunct mayors) President Aristide replaced the three-person cartel -- quickly naming interim mayors to the Port-au-Prince office; 

·   After a controversy arose regarding the processing of passport-related fees at the Immigration office (which provoked a Senate hearing) the Central Bank procedure for their collection was reinstated;

·   The Palace of Justice, a courthouse critical to the functioning of the justice system, which houses court administrative offices, two appeals courts, the Supreme Court and the Port-au-Prince trial court, is currently under renovation.  Additionally, in President Aristide’s special convocation to the Parliament he directed them to consider legislation creating new civil courts in Croix des Bouquets, Miragoane and  Coteaux.


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