UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 000199
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR WHA/CAR
S/CRS
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR LAC/CAR
INR/IAA (BEN-YEHUDA)
WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, KDEM, HA
SUBJECT: DEPUTIES SCRUTINIZE FORMER MFA SPENDING
PORT AU PR 00000199 001.2 OF 002
1. This message is sensitive but unclassified -- protect
accordingly
2. (SBU) The chamber of deputies' foreign affairs committee,
led by Committee President Sorel Francois (Famni Lavalas),
accused former foreign ministry employees, including the
Haitian ambassador to the U.S., Raymond Joseph, and the
consul general in New York, Felix Augustin, of corruption and
mismanagement of funds, citing two separate checks totaling
almost US $2 million (76 million Haitian gourdes) that
ministry officials reportedly deposited at the central bank
for payment to Haitian diplomatic missions abroad for May
2005. The money never arrived at the diplomatic missions and
no one can account for the funds. Without proper funding,
Ambassador Joseph explained in a testimony before the
committee on January 18, the Haitian embassy in Washington
transferred passport fees to cover operating expenses,
transactions which had raised Francois' suspicion while he
was in Washington reviewing diplomatic operations in October
- November 2006. Ambassador Joseph told the committee that
he used "irregular methods" to fund the embassy's operations
in the absence of state funding (referring to part of the
missing US $2 million that was intended for his embassy), but
he assured the committee that he was never involved in
corruption. On this account, the foreign affairs committee
appeared satisfied with the Haitian Ambassador's response.
3. (SBU) Committee members further questioned Joseph (at
the same hearing on January 18 with Augustin, at which
Foreign Minister Renald Clerisme was also present) regarding
evidence of transfers to shell companies in Miami.
Ambassador Joseph explained that he was given "orders by
telephone" by the interim government to make the
transactions. Members expressed scorn for this explanation,
stating that there was no such thing as "orders by telephone"
for official government business, and sarcastically asked
Joseph who he thought he was to make such transactions
without official orders: "the President, or a
super-minister." For this, Ambassador Joseph had no
response. Nevertheless, Francois publicly declared that the
committee was satisfied with the outcome of the hearing and
with the Preval government's plan to move the case to the
oversight office for review. Francois told Poloff on January
25 that he still believes that Ambassador Joseph made illegal
transactions, but does not have enough evidence to prove it.
He plans to press the government to continue the
investigation.
4. (SBU) Following the committee hearing, the government's
oversight office summoned two former foreign ministry
administrators, Harold Bruno and Reynold Dorfeuille, on
January 22 to give their account for the missing US $2
million. Bruno claimed that he gave the checks, as well as
an order to send them abroad, to the central bank, but that
other government officials gave instructions not to send the
money. "I know the payroll was not completed, but the money
was not sent into my personal account like you think," Bruno
said. When asked where the money went, Bruno replied that it
was used to service the MFA. Ultimately, the government's
oversight office determined that it could not make a decision
based on the evidence and instructed the accounts office to
investigate the issue further. Francois, and Finance
Committee President Jonas Coffy (also from Famni Lavalas and
Francois' partner in his anti-corruption campaign) denounced
the oversight office's ruling to further investigate the
affair, arguing that they already had sufficient evidence to
bring legal charges.
5. (SBU) Comment: Francois and Coffy's anti-corruption
drive, directed at interim government officials and begun
with much fanfare shortly after parliament's inauguration
last May, appears to be sputtering out. Other parliamentary
allies appear to have lost interest, and with no expertise or
capacity of their own (and no apparent appetite within the
current government to pursue the charges) corruption within
the interim government looks set to become another in a long
line of accusations will not be sufficiently investigated or
clarified. Ambassador Joseph appears to have emerged
relatively unscathed. He told the Ambassador prior to his
PORT AU PR 00000199 002.2 OF 002
testimony that he had disarmed his accusers by simply
agreeing to appear before the parliament, much to their
surprise. Documents that Francois provided to the Embassy
regarding Joseph's transactions indicate that he did indeed
transfer large sums of money from the Embassy's operational
accounts, but that these transactions were countersigned by
other Embassy officials and documented with the foreign
ministry.
SANDERSON