Retro: Dossier de corruption en suspens concernant Jean-Bertrand Aristide

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HAITI: Haiti Telecom Kickbacks Tarnish Aristideby Lucy Komisar, Special to CorpWatch December 29th, 2005

Two U.S. lawsuits charge that former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his associates accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks from politically connected U.S. telecom companies. "Plus ça change," one might say in Haiti. The more the leadership in this corruption riddled country changes, the more things stay the same. President Aristide's sudden departure from Haiti in 2004 is stalked by controversy. His defenders say he was a champion of the poor hustled out of the country by a Bush administration fearful of his radical populism. His critics charge that he was a corrupt and cynical demagogue building power by appealing to the poor and repressing opposition. Lawsuits filed this Fall challenge the former priest’s image of political purity and raise claims that both he and U.S. corporate executives scammed illegal profits off the hemisphere’s poorest population. In one suit, a fired executive charged his former employer, the U.S. telecom IDT (Newark, NJ), with corruption, defamation, and intimidation under the New Jersey anti-racketeering law. In the second, the government of Haiti contends that IDT, Fusion (New York, NY) and several other North American telecoms violated the federal RICO anti-racketeering statute. Both suits allege that Aristide, now in exile in South Africa, and his associates, took kickbacks. The story that the suits reveal is emblematic of the business relationship between a powerful rich country and a tiny impoverished nation linked by technology – and corruption. It starts out ironically: with a Western policy, designed to protect U.S. companies from price competition, which acts to give poor countries a break. International phone calls access the routing systems of both the caller’s country and the recipient’s. The phone company where the call originates routinely pays a per-minute charge or "termination fee" for accessing the overseas system. The goal of this arrangement is to level the playing field in situations where most of the calling goes in one direction. There are, for example, far more Haitians in America who can afford to call family in their native land than there are Haitians in Haiti who have the money to dial America. Without the 23 cents termination fee, only the U.S. company would be paid and the Haitian phone service would not be reimbursed for maintaining its infrastructure. The U.S. established a system of fixed fees – the international settlements policy (ISP) – in the 1980s, based on a practice dating to the 1930s, to strengthen the bargaining position of American telecoms against foreign carriers. In spite of the rhetoric of free-market competition, the U.S. didn’t want foreign phone companies making deals that forced U.S. companies to compete against each another. The Federal Communications Commission fixed the per-minute rates and required all U.S. companies to pay it. Companies had to inform the FCC and competitors if they negotiated lower rates. The lawsuits charge that some U.S. firms cut secret deals to pay Haiti cut-rate per-minute fees while kicking back hundreds of thousands of dollars to Aristide and his associates. Instead of providing the Haitian phone company with money to build up infrastructure and services, the deals helped corrupt officials to loot the system.

Artistide's supporters are loath to believe that the charismatic former priest may have betrayed Haiti’s desperate poor who saw him as their savior throughout tumultuous years of alternating hope and despair. Elected president for a five-year term from 1991 to 1996, Aristide was almost immediately forced into exile by a military coup. Three years later, a U.S.-led force, acting under a U.N. resolution, invaded Haiti to restore him to the presidency. When Aristide’s first term ended in February 1996, he was constitutionally barred from succeeding himself. His close associate, former Prime Minister René Préval, served as president until Aristide was returned to office in February 2001. Citing evidence of fraud, the Organization of American States' electoral observation mission declined to certify the elections.

In February 2004, Aristide either resigned (the U.S. version) or was kidnapped (his story) and flown by the U.S. to South Africa.

Phone Home

Haiti’s phone system had become a contentious issue between the U.S., which demanded that it be privatized, and Aristide, who wanted it to remain government-owned. In the late 1990s, the Clinton administration cut off $500 million in promised loans and aid amidst charges by members of Congress that Aristide’s government was rife with corruption.

According to the lawsuits filed in Miami and Newark federal courts, the political corruption was a two-way street running between politically connected North American companies and Aristide's government. Haiti's Telecom sector is estimated at 400 million minutes a year, valued at $48 million. During the governments dominated by Aristide (1994-2004), Teleco (Télécommunications d'Haïti), the Haiti national telephone company, made agreements with foreign telephone companies, including IDT, Fusion Telecommunications, Skyytel (Montreal), Cinergy (Miami) and IPIP/Terra (Miami), granting them rights to connect to Haiti phone lines.
The suit by the Haitian government says that payments to Teleco were diverted or kicked back to Aristide's group through companies and bank accounts in the offshore Turks and Caicos Islands and the British Virgin Islands. A key company was Mont Salem in the Turks and Caicos. The offshore companies were described as "agents" or "consultants" for Teleco. These Caribbean tax havens are known for setting up shell companies and bank accounts that guarantee secrecy to the owners, who routinely use them to hide and launder the money of corruption, fraud, tax evasion, drug trafficking, and other crimes.
Details about the IDT charges are laid out in the case filed by D. Michael Jewett, who was IDT’s associate regional vice president for the Caribbean in 2003. That year, Jewett says, the company vice-president told him that IDT agreed to pay kickbacks to Aristide's Turks and Caicos bank account in return for a favorable phone deal in Haiti. Instead of the FCC-mandated 23 cents a minute for calls originating in America, Teleco was willing to accept only 9 cents a minute--with 3 cents kicked back to Aristide, Jewett said.
Jewett's Tale
IDT fired Jewett in November 2003, within a week after IDT got back its signed contracts from Teleco and Mont Salem. He fought for and won unemployment benefits, then hired a lawyer. He filed suits for wrongful dismissal in federal court in Newark in May 2004 and October 2005. He claims he was fired because he opposed the deal.
Jewett's version of events goes like this: The initial Teleco proposal called for IDT to deposit funds in a U.S. bank account. But fearing that it might pay and get no agreement, IDT decided to negotiate directly with Aristide. In August 2003, IDT executive vice president for International Business Development Jack Lerer met with Aristide in Haiti. A month later Lerer told Jewett the plan: IDT would deposit money in a Turks and Caicos account that Aristide had set up under the name Mont Salem. In September 2003 the deal was sealed: Teleco would receive 6 cents and Mont Salem would keep 3. Teleco's records were falsified to show Mont Salem as the carrier, not IDT.
Aristide's Miami lawyer, Ira Kurzban, refused Corpwatch’s request for comment on the telecoms cases.

Lawyers for the Haiti government say they know from Teleco billing statements that Mont Salem was paying Teleco 6 cents a minute for the minutes it was billing to IDT. They know from pleadings and a judicial order in the Jewett case that the rate in the IDT-Mont Salem agreement was 9 cents a minute. Putting the records together, the Haitian government lawsuit asserts that in one six-month period in 2004, IDT paid $302,588 in kickbacks to the Aristide group.
The U.S. Department of Justice, the United States Attorney in Newark, NJ, and the Securities and Exchange Commission have initiated investigations into the charges against IDT.

Offshore Adventures
One of the strongest links to Aristide is Mont Salem. Its Turks and Caicos incorporation papers show registration in June 2000 with capital of $5,000 – not much for a real company. Its registered agent was Timothy O'Sullivan of Miller, Simons and O'Sullivan, Turks and Caicos. The owner of shares was "M & S Nominees Ltd," (Miller and Simmons), listed at the same Turks and Caicos address. It fits the model of a classic offshore shell company designed to receive and launder money, rather than that of a real firm.
Where did the money go? Asked who the real Mont Salem owners are, Adrian Corr --lawyer for Miller, Simons and O'Sullivan in the Turks and Caicos--confirmed that "You can have nominee [strawman] directors," but declined to say if Mont Salem's listed owners were fakes. "I don’t know. You put me on the spot," said Corr. "I don’t want to answer any questions about this. I have lawyers retained; It's better you speak with them. It's [former New Jersey] Governor Byrne's law firm." His attorney Kerrie Heslin at Carella, Byrne, Bain, Gilfillan, Cecchi, Stewart & Olstein in Newark did not respond to numerous requests for comment.
Neither did Mont Salem's lawyer, Michael Weinstein, at Podvey, Meanor, Catenacci, Hildner, Cocoziello & Chattman, also in Newark.
IDT's CEO James Courter and the company's attorney in the Jewett case, Leslie Lajewski (Grotta, Glassman & Hoffman in Roseland, NJ), also declined to return phone calls and emails seeking comment.
The Federal court in Newark court dismissed the RICO claim on grounds of “standing” but accepted the whistleblower cause of action as well as Jewett’s claims of defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The case will soon proceed to discovery, where his lawyer will be able to demand internal IDT records.
Meanwhile, more details are available from the president of Skyytel, a Montreal company which, according to the Haiti lawsuit, got a similar kickback deal. While denying payment of kickbacks, Colin Povall does acknowledge that Skyytel's 2003 agreement with Teleco provided for payment of 9 cents a minute to Mont Salem as Teleco's agent. Again, the Haitian telecom would reap only 6 cents a minute.

The Lawsuit The Haitian government-Teleco lawsuit filed was in Miami Nov. 2, 2005, under the U.S. RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) statute. The defendants are: Former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He lives in Pretoria, South Africa. Faubert Gustave, minister of the Economy and Finance 2201-4. He lives in Sarasota, FL Rodnée Deschineau, general manager of the government-owned Banque Populaire Haïtienne from 2001-4. He lives in Dorchester, Mass. Lesly Lavelanet, the brother-in-law of Aristide's wife, Mildred Trouillot Aristide. He controlled several companies, including Digitek SA and Global Spectrum SA. He lives in Coral Springs, FL. Fred Beliard, who lives in Cooper City, FL. Alphone Inevil, Director of Planning at Teleco from 1997 to 2002, then Director General to 2004. He lives in Lakeland, FL. Jean Rene Duperval, Director for International Affairs for Teleco from 2003 to 2004. He lives in Miramar, FL. Adrian Corr, an attorney with the law firm of Miller, Simons and O'Sullivan in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

"Mont Salem approached us," he explained. "We never met anybody in Haiti. Fred Beliard is the only one I met. He was dealing with some powerful people." Beliard, a Haitian, is accused in the lawsuit of participating in the kickback scheme. Povall said, "Adrian Corr, we only heard about him when it came to sign the contract; his name was on the contract." One of Skyytel's advisors is Ronald Beliard, who runs a telecom consulting company in Quebec and is related to Fred Beliard.
The Haiti lawsuit says that Skyytel paid Mont Salem $872,371 in kickbacks.
Another player in the alleged scheme is Fusion Telecommunications, a U.S. firm that the Haitian government lawsuit says made a suspect deal through a shell company. Run by former high-level Clinton administration officials, Fusion, according to the suit, made payments to Teleco via CW Holdings, a company with a bank account in Florida. Lawyers for Haiti do not know where CW Holdings is registered; they could not locate it in either Haiti or Florida.
Fusion, through its representative, Howard Rubenstein Public Relations in New York, acknowledged to Corpwatch that in mid-2001, "Fusion was instructed to make payments that it owed to Teleco to the account of CW Holdings in Bank Atlantic in Florida. In invoices that Fusion received from Teleco, Teleco accounted for Fusion’s payments to CW Holdings as payments made to Teleco. Fusion made payments to CW Holdings for three months until Teleco instructed Fusion to make all future payments directly to Teleco." The amount, according to the PR firm was "less than $1 million a month."
Fusion did not respond to queries about where CW Holdings was registered or the cost of the minutes it paid to that intermediary or to Teleco.
Up to the Courts
As the lawsuits make their way through various courts, Aristide, in exile in South Africa, is silent on the topic. His Miami lawyer, Ira Kurzban, was emailed Corpwatch's references to Aristide's alleged telecom kickbacks, but he declined to comment on them. In a statement issued after the Haiti lawsuit was filed, he declared it a "political investigation" by the current Haiti government, and noted that no one has been able to find "the money that the president supposedly took." He said that "there is none" and that "there are no Swiss bank accounts." None of the suits refer to Swiss accounts. His statement did not mention or refute the charges of telecom kickbacks or Aristide's receipt of them through a Turks and Caicos shell company.
If it turns out that an American company paid cut-rate fees for minutes, it violated U.S. Federal Communication Commission rules. If it paid kickbacks, it also violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bans payment of bribes or kickbacks to get foreign contracts. It will be left to the Justice Department to file charges.
Meanwhile, in November 2004, to help U.S. companies negotiate better deals, ISP rules were ended in routes where U.S. carriers get termination rates at or below levels set by the FCC. For lower income countries such as Haiti, the benchmark is 23 cents, the old standard which, for Haiti, is no longer a guaranteed minimum. Jacki Ponti, the spokesperson for the FCC, refused, or was unable, to provide information about the current U.S.-Haiti rates.

Lucy Komisar is a New York journalist writing a book on the international impact of the offshore bank and corporate secrecy system.

Non pa bo isit gen tout bèt kap vole, ki pa vle m pale. tokèt la devan, manman penba chay la dèyè e pi l lou anpil.

La porte-parole de l'ancien président Aristide dénonce une campagne de diversion pour détourner l'attention de scandales entravant le processus de mise en place d'un nouveau gouvernement: Me Ira Kurzban annonce des actions en justice contre les auteurs de diffamations
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Port-au-Prince, le 22 juillet 2008 &endash; (AHP) &endash; La porte-parole de l'ancien président Jean Bertrand Aristide, Maryse Narcisse a banalisé mercredi les accusations selon lesquelles l'ancien président Jean Bertrand Aristide aurait eu des relations d'affaires avec le président de la Compagnie américaine de télecommmunication IDT, dont il aurait reçu des montants sur des appels longue distance vers haïti

Les informations concernant M. Aristide ont été fournies notamment par une journaliste du nom de Lucy Komisar qui aurait dejà enquête sur l'ancien chef d'Etat à l'initiatide d'une organisation reputée hostile à ce dernier "Haiti Democracy Project".

Mme Narcissse a fait savoir qu'il s'agit d'une opération de diversion visant à détourner l'attention de certains scandales entravant le processus de mise en place d'un nouveau gouvernement, après 3 mois de vide politique.

Tout le monde sait qui, ici et dans la diaspora, sont derrière cette campagne et pourquoi, a fait savoir la porte-parole

L'opération vise egalement, a-t-elle dit, à donner une réponse politique à Fanmi lavalas et à la grande moblisaton de la population haïtienne à l'occasion des 55 ans du président Aristide.

Tout le monde comprend le jeu de la diversion, le coup ne passera pas, a dit Maryse Narcisse.

Citant l'avocat de M. Aristide, Me Ira Kurzban, elle a rejeté des déclarations attribuées à un avocat des Iles Turks and Caicos du nom d'Adrian Corr, presenté comme ancien conseiller juridique d'Aristide au cabinet Miller Simons O Sullivan, et qui aurait confirmé qu'Aristide possédait une société écran du nom de Mount Salem qui recevait des paiements de 3 cents sur tous les appels longue distance d'IDT à Haiti.

"Cet avocat n'a jamais représenté et ne représente pas M. Aristide", a lancé Me Kurzban. faisant savoir que l'ancien président n'a rien à voir avec aucune compagnie qui aurait été montée par M. Corr à Turk and Caicos. Il n'a d'intérêts dans aucune compagnie à Turk and Caicos, a-t-il ajouté.

Si je me refère aux déclarations de Me kurzban, les accusations portées contre le présodent Aristide ont été inventées de toutes pièces, a soutenu le docteur Narcisse..

Citant Me Ira kurzban, elle a également informé que des actions en justice seront intentées contre les auteurs de diffamations.

L'un des auteurs des accusations portées contre M. Aristide est Mme Lucy Komisar qui affirme avoir mené une enquête sur l'ancien chef d'Etat

"Comment peut-on prêter foi à une enquête conduite par Mme Komisar, s'est interrogée Maryse Narcisse, avant d'ajouter: c'est une anciennne salariée de "Haïti Democracy Project"

Haïti Democracy Project a été le bras politique du coup d'Etat de février 2004 aux Etats-Unis. C'est une organisation qui avait déjà payé Lucy Komisar pour investiguer sur M. Aristide, a souligné maryse Narcisse

L'une des principales revendications des manifstants du 15 juillet 2008 était le retour dans son pays de l'ancien president Aristide, ancien prêtre et aujourrd'hui docteur en langues africaines.

M. Aristide avait été contraint au départ par des puisssances étrangères pour " éviter un bain de sang"après que des bandes armées ayant semé la mort dans plusieurs villes de province, hésitaient à marcher sur la capitale (Port-au-Prince).

AHP 22 Juillet 2008 7:05 PM

Le Matin

Aristide épinglé dans des détournements de fonds à travers la Téléco


En juillet 2006, trois mois après l’accession de René Préval à la présidence, le gouvernement haïtien avait ordonné de retirer la plainte pour vol de millions de dollars déposée aux États-Unis contre Aristide. Cette dernière avait été déposée par le gouvernement Bonniface Alexandre/ Gérard Latortue en novembre 2005. Ce retrait avait scandalisé l’opinion nationale et le gouvernement Préval/ Alexis l’avait justifié en avançant que la firme américaine qui s’occupait de ce dossier ne fournissait pas de résultats probants par rapport aux frais versés par les autorités haïtiennes. Après les révélations faites le 15 juillet dernier par la journaliste New Yorkaise, Lucy Komisar sur le site portefolio.com, le gouvernement haïtien et le Parlement ont désormais les preuves que Jean Bertrand Aristide a extorqué des millions de dollars à l’État et au peuple haïtien en passant un contrat frauduleux avec la compagnie de téléphone IDT basée dans le New Jersey. Les résultats de cette enquête ont résulté en une
amende de 1 million 300.000 dollars à James Courter, président de cette compagnie et un des principaux responsables des levées de fonds de la campagne du candidat républicain à la présidence américaine, le Sénateur John Mc Cain. Quatre jours après les révélations de Lucy Komisar, James Courter a remis sa démission à Mc Cain mais il demeure président de la compagnie IDT.

Le contrat passé entre IDT, la Téléco et Jean Bertrand Aristide a été exécuté en 2003. Sur chaque minute d’appel longue distance placée vers Haïti via la Téléco, l’IDT versait seulement 8,75 centimes américains alors que les autres fournisseurs comme ATT payait 23 centimes. Cette compétition jugée déloyale par la commission Fédérale des Communications (FCC) a valu cette amende salée à M. James courter, ancien membre du Congrès américain pour el New Jersey. Selon la FCC, la compagnie téléphonique IDT a aussi systématiquement violé la loi américaine en matière de communication. « Selon la loi américaine, IDT aurait dû publier le contrat passé entre la Téléco et IDT, ce qui n’a jamais été fait » nous a déclaré la journaliste Lucy Komisar dans une interview exclusive. « D’après mes informations, IDT aurait ainsi signé des contrats frauduleux avec plus de 140 pays et on ne connaît l’étendue de ces contrats passés avec des autorités corrompues dans divers pays », a précisé la journaliste. Rappelons que sur chaque minute d’appel vers Haïti, 3 centimes étaient déposés sur le compte d’Aristide par la Téléco à travers une société écran dénommée Mount and Salem Management et située dans le paradis fiscal des îles Turks and Caicos . « Ce compte offshore était un compte personnel appartenant à Jean-Bertrand Aristide » a souligné Lucy Komisar qui a déclaré avoir parlé personnellement avec le conseiller légal d’Aristide, Adrian Corr. Cet avocat de la firme Miller, Simons et O’Sullivan est celui qui avait ouvert ce compte pour l’ex-président suite à la signature du contrat entre IDT et la Téléco en novembre 2003.

Des acteurs clairement indexés

Lucy Komisar a commencé son investigation en 2005 avant de faire aboutir son enquête. Elle a retracé pour nous les acteurs principaux impliqués dans cette affaire : « du côté haïtien, ce contrat a été signé par le Directeur Général de la Téléco à l’époque, M. Alphonse Inévil ainsi que par M. Jean René Duperval, Directeur des Affaires Internationales de la Téléco. » Mme Komisar nous a aussi fait parvenir la transcription de la déposition des déclarations de Michaël Jewett, ex-manager d’IDT pour les Caraïbes et l’Amérique Latine, faites par devant la Commission Fédérale des Communications (FCC). Dans cette transcription, il est stipulé à la page 22 que « l’équipement acheté pour interconnecté la Téléco à IDT et Mount Salem Management a été acheté par M. John Cate, Vice président de International Network Planning, pour la somme de $US 195,000, payés par la IDT (…) Cet équipement a été ensuite envoyé en Haïti pour la connexion finale entre la Téléco et IDT». Dans cette transcription, nous trouvons aussi d’autres détails intéressants sur cette transaction et ses acteurs : « Mr Cate a également indiqué par devant la Commission Fédérale des Communications que toutes ses correspondances avec la Téléco et Mount Salem Management devait obligatoirement être envoyées en copie conforme à M. Alphonse Inévil, Directeur Général de la Téléco.» Toujours selon cette transcription, « M. Jack Lerer, vice président exécutif du Bureau des affaires Internationales d’IDT, a dit à M. Cate que M. Inévil était le beau frère d’Aristide et qu’il devait recevoir personnellement une partie des paiements envoyés par IDT à la compagnie Mount and Salem Management au profit de Jean-Bertrand Aristide.» Dans cette transcription, M. Cate avoue aussi que « ATT n’aurait jamais conclu un tel contrat car la FCC l’aurait prise d’assaut. M.Cate a indiqué que, selon lui, ce deal était non seulement illégal mais immoral considérant la pauvreté d’Haïti.» L’équipement d’interconnexion pour ce deal frauduleux était un modèle ECI DTX 600 Network Compression and software gear et a été envoyé en Haïti le 7 janvier 2004.

Ce deal frauduleux indexe plusieurs autres acteurs impliqués dans cette affaire : Michaël Jewett, manager d’IDT pour les Caraïbes et l’Amérique Latine, Jack Lehrer, Vice président exécutif du Bureau des affaires internationales d’IDT. James Courter, actuel président d’IDT et Adrian Corr, conseiller légal de la firme d’avocats Miller, Simons et O’Sullivan. Nous avons déjà évoqué les responsabilités de ces deux derniers acteurs. Dévoilons à présent l’implication de Michaël Jewett et de Jack Lehrer dans cette trame. Selon les informations que nous avons obtenues de Lucy Komisar, Michaël Jewett a été renvoyé « illégalement » par IDT, quatre mois après la signature du contrat entre la Téléco et IDT. Michaël Jewett se serait opposé à ce « deal » et en a donc payé les conséquences. Depuis, il est toujours en procès avec IDT mais attend encore un verdict de la justice américaine sur son renvoi « injuste et non justifié » en tant que manager d’IDT pour les Caraïbes et L’Amérique Latine. Selon Lucy Komisar, Jack Lehrer, Vice président exécutif du Bureau des affaires internationales d’IDT, aurait dit à Michaël Jewett que « l’argent serait transféré dans un compte de Mount Salem Management qui appartenait à Aristide et figurait dans les Îles Turcs and Caicos. Michaël Jewett y était complètement opposé et c’est ainsi qu’il a perdu son job et est allé au tribunal contre IDT en 2004 ». « Depuis, il lutte mais le juge (dans ce procès) est un républicain qui soutient IDT et il est possible qu’il agisse de cette façon à cause notamment de (son appartenance républicaine). Je crois enfin que tout cela va être publié et rendu public et que finalement (Michaël Jewett) va gagner. Mais il est difficile de passer tant d’années à lutter quand la justice n’est pas très juste », a déclaré Lucy Komisar. De fait, Jack Lehrer avait avoué avoir personnellement fait le « deal » avec Aristide pour des appels à 8,75 centimes la minute : « IDT n’a jamais envoyé le contrat à la FCC c’est pour cela que James Courter a reçu cette amende », a souligné Lucy Komisar. « Combien de contrats existent où on a payé des commissions dans des pays où il y avait des politiciens corrompus ? Combien de millions ont été versés à des corrompus qui avaient accès à des paradis fiscaux ? Je crois que l’histoire est encore plus grande qu’Haïti et je commence à travailler (sur l’ampleur du phénomène) maintenant », a-t-elle précisé.

« Ce qu’il faut aussi comprendre dans cette affaire, c’est que ce sont les Haïtiens qui ont payé le prix fort », a-t-elle insisté. Jack Lehrer aurait balayé les craintes de Michaël Jewett en affirmant que la Téléco protègerait l’IDT.
« Chaque personne qui était dans le management d’IDT à l’époque ont toutes été renvoyées ou sont parties, sauf James Courter, depuis car ces personnes avaient peur d’aller en prison », a déclaré Lucy Komisar. Cette dernière a insisté sur el fait qu’IDT avait signé des contrats avec 140 autres pays sans que ces contrats ne soient publiés. « James Courter était membre du Congrès pour le New Jersey et était très proche de Dick Cheney, c’est pour cela qu’il est protégé. Il n’y a donc pas de désir dans cette administration de faire la lumière sur cette affaire mais ceci pourrait changer très rapidement si Obama est élu président des États-Unis», a précisé la journaliste d’investigation.

La responsabilité de Préval et du Parlement

Il est clair qu’après de telles révélations, tout gouvernement responsable devrait entamer des poursuites judiciaires contre Aristide autant qu’IDT. Toutefois, malgré ses vœux de lutter contre la corruption, René Préval n’a jamais entamé une réelle lutte contre ce phénomène endémique qui ronge notre société. Aujourd’hui, il a une occasion en or de prouver sa sincérité…ou de démontrer, une fois de plus, qu’il protège Aristide. De son côté, le Parlement doit être interpellé par les résultats de cette investigation et agir en conséquence. Démocrates ou Républicains, l’Histoire aura prouvé qu’Aristide était un corrupteur tout azimut et sans préférence idéologique. Lucy Komisar pense qu’il faut que le gouvernement haïtien réagisse vite : « IDT est désormais placée sous surveillance pour évasion fiscale et il ne faut pas attendre car, amende après amende, IDT risque de disparaître. Nous savons que 140 contrats n’ont pas été publiés et plus de 200 millions de dollars sont désormais en jeu. Tout a été publié et nous avons les preuves de cette corruption (au sein D’IDT)», a-t-elle insisté. René Préval aura-t-il le courage et la décence d’agir enfin contre son frère jumeau ? L’avenir répondra rapidement à cette question.

Montréal, le 23 juillet.
Nancy Roc

Damn Pipo,

You are good!

genlè yo pa p ka reyedite kanpay dezenfòmasyon yo an ,ankò!

Alos, kiles ki vle vfe nou kwe ke yon nom ki bay ketant batise pitit li, gwo drug dile kokain ki nan prizon Miami, gen yon konpayi bidon ki rele Mount salem ki mounte ak komplisite karikokain chef mafia a ki gen pil bille vet pourri mnan besment lakay li li pa kon aryen nan parol konsa, se yon ti bebe inosan. Se poul di pep haitien ki ti dezod litap mande padon pou liya.

Gade kachimbo demeple an afrik ale fe dodo tande.

Comment Jean-Bertrand Aristide présidait au trafic de drogue en Haiti.

selon Michel Caroit

http://www.haiti-info.com/spip.php?article1849

Ala gwoup 184 te gen poch fon papa pou li gen menm 300 jounalis international ak lokal sou payroll li..

Wouyyy!!!

Chalmass ala kote wou tande papa. Depi gen yon jounalis ki rapporte yon zak tipe ya, bagay ki devan Tribinal nan pe gro peyi demokratik au monde, Nom Aristid cite TEXTUELLEMENT PA COMPLICES LIYO...ou tande tikok kachimbo demeple anafrik pou diw : O WI JOUNALIS PA KREDIB, YO TOUT SOU PAYROLL !!PO DIAB GWOUP 184..ki patap touche 50 mille dolla pa kargezon kokaine, po diab 184 ki pa gen volan Teleco lan ponyet li, ak kontrol direction Teleco li te nonmen pou regle zafel, bali ti la mama anba chal nan kont karikokains nan zile Turcs and Caicos...

Bagay ki bien dokimante nan komission anket officiel UCREF rapporte pa commission , ak yon ekip lot FRAUDES ak MALVERSATIONS

Rico a écrit:Bon mezanmi annou pale koze serye lajan ki twouve nan yon kont bankè zile Caicos ki estimen otou 700 000 milyon meriken Ameriken jounen jodyè a. Se yon bon ti tchotcho leta Aysen dwe rekipere pou Teleco.

Annou bliye ki koken ou prèt non ki mete la pat sou lajan sa. Olye yo peye avoka jwif koken, ki gen tantasyon lajan sa. Ke yo depoze l nan kont Bank repiblik dAyiti pou Teleco. Fè konnen se jis yon ti prè, yo ranbouse tout totalite lajan sa. E pwi tout bagay fini. Kisa Pipo, Joel, Marc panse. Mwen bliye Colococo ak senyo Malice kap fè jimnastik nan dosye sila panse kom solisyon.

[b]

Mesye sispann ak bagay sa a.fwa sa a ,li pa p mòde.Idantifye kont yo ,nou di ki genyen lan Turks and Caicos yo.Gouvènman Ameriken an t ap twò kontan ede;paske menm Pinochet ki te vòlò 18 milyon dola ,yo te ede gouvènman Chilyen an rekipere lajan sa a ,ale wè si se ta pou Aristide.

Jodi an Roody Heriveaux ke mwen pa t toujou wè ak yon bon je ,siprann mwen jodi a n lan RANMASE,lè l di nèg kou Senatè Youri Latortue ak 2 lòt zangi ke yo sou blòf ak chèf blofè an ki se NANCY ROC.
Mwen wè moun ann Ayiti yo koumanse pa kite la perèz paralize yo ankò,y ap pran responsabilite.
Sispann panike mesye,koudeta koumanse ap pran fen,lan eleksyon ki ap vini yo pèp lan ak koumanse mete nou bak sou ban touch lan,kote nou te ye an!

Jowel mwen pa kwe ke si te gen yon gouvelman serie (ki pa Marassa w la), epi si pat gen gwo potentat democrat ak repiblicain, blak kokis ki te nan mare sossis ak aristid wou ta janm pale konsa, Se la diffikilte a ye pou jwen prev yo. Yon lot diffikilte se koumam karikokins yo pemet kree konpayi bidons ki ouve kont an bank lakay yo nan anonymite. Tout moun konen a kisa paket bank ki nan ti zile sayo servi, pou tout kalite fraudes, drug gile, machan zam ki jwen ti-paradis fiskal yo la ak komplicite gouvelman lokal ak la finans intenational.

Li pa fasil ditou pou prove sa men li pa impossib, si gen gwo moyen ak teknoloji ki mete deyor ak foss politik.

Aristide's American Profiteers

By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY

July 28, 2008

This column has long followed the story of Jean Bertrand Aristide's Haiti, two U.S. telephone companies and a few American political insiders. Many questions remain unanswered and now both companies are back in the news.

On July 10 the Federal Communications Commission hit IDT Corp. with a $1.3 million fine for "willfully and repeatedly failing to file with the commission" its contracts with Haiti's telecom monopoly, Teleco Haiti, in 2003 and 2004.


Not only should those contracts have been filed, they should have been made public. Now that they have been made public, we learn that Teleco Haiti granted IDT the right to terminate calls in Haiti at less than half the official settlement rate, and that IDT agreed to deposit all payments not at Teleco Haiti, but in an offshore account in the Turks and Caicos managed by a company called Mont Salem.

Long-distance revenues were one of Haiti's few sources of hard currency. Yet after President Aristide left office in 2004, Teleco Haiti's coffers were found to be empty. Still, IDT may have played only a small role in the alleged looting of Teleco Haiti.

A far more interesting actor is Fusion Telecommunications. It may have been terminating traffic in the country as far back as the mid-1990s, not long after Bill Clinton used the U.S. military to restore the coup-deposed Mr. Aristide to power. But we don't know if this is true because Fusion's contracts, which should also be public under FCC rules, have been shrouded in secrecy.

Associated Press Photo/Ron Edmonds

Bill Clinton and Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Oct. 14, 1994.

The FCC decision against IDT is a victory for former IDT employee Michael Jewett. He filed suit in federal court in Newark, N.J., in 2004, alleging that the company fired him because he objected to an illegal deal between it and Teleco Haiti.

Much of what Mr. Jewett described in his complaint turned out to be in the contract. But there's more. He also alleged in court documents that he was told that the Mont Salem account belonged to Mr. Aristide. IDT denies this.

Mr. Aristide's Haitian critics have long alleged that Fusion was getting a preferred connection rate in return for kickbacks to the strongman. This, they say, allowed Fusion to dominate the U.S.-Haiti route, something that would have made company insiders rich. Haitians told me in 2001 that Fusion even had an office inside Haiti Teleco.

The chairman of Fusion's board was and still is Marvin Rosen, who was the finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee during the 1996 Clinton fund-raising scandals. During the late 1990s, Joseph P. Kennedy II and Thomas "Mack" McLarty, both prominent Democrats, were on the board. Fusion has previously denied any wrongdoing


In February 2007, the FCC told me that its "Haiti file," containing contracts, had vanished from its records room. To re-create the missing file, it asked IDT, Fusion and other companies for copies. Fusion produced one, from 1999, that it says matched the one it had filed.

In December, I filed an application to see that contract under the Freedom of Information Act. Eight months later the company is still blocking my request. Company lawyers have met with the FCC to argue for confidentiality.

Why Fusion would fight so hard to keep what is supposed to be a public contract out of the public's view is a good question. Here's one possible reason: A civil action filed by the Republic of Haiti in November 2005 in Florida charged that Aristide operatives gave "rate concessions" to various telephone companies, and these "included Fusion Telecommunications." The suit also charged that Teleco "allow[ed] certain carriers to 'settle' allegedly disputed Teleco billings on favorable terms," and that Fusion was one of them. These, the civil action notes, "were not in Teleco's interest" and "violated U.S. law."

The Florida suit -- which was withdrawn after a change of government in 2006 but can be reinstated if the plaintiff desires -- also alleges that "the fraudulent scheme to steal Teleco revenues was carried out in part through defendant Mont Salem," which "serve[d] as a front for the interests of the Aristide Group." It says that "at Aristide's direction," two carriers were instructed to make payments to Mont Salem. One was a Canadian company. The other was IDT. And further: "At Aristide's direction Teleco's then-counsel also caused Teleco to request at least one other carrier, Fusion, to make payments through Mont Salem."

The FCC is set to decide by Sept. 26 on whether the Fusion contract should be public. Its IDT decision sets a precedent, and Americans deserve to know what happened between the Clintonistas and Mr. Aristide. Haitians also deserve accountability. Mr. Aristide, who fled Haiti in 2004 under a cloud of corruption charges, is living in South Africa but trying to make a return to power in Haiti. If he succeeds, Haiti's future will remain as dim as its past. The FCC should give a full accounting on whether some of his past enablers were high-ranking American politicians.

Rico,

genle wou te pi rapid a la gachette ke mwen, se atik sa mwen vin pou poste. epi mwen we wou deja postel.. OK toro.

Koulia map tan Jowel ak Pipo ki pwal vin dinou ke Wall Street Journal ak jounalis O'Grady, yo tout sou payroll gwoup 184...Wouyyy!!!

The smoking gun: the IDT-Haiti contract

[/b]By Lucy Komisar
July 29, 2008

Articles I wrote this month about the resignation of IDT CEO James Courter as John McCain’s finance co-chair provoked supporters of former Haiti President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to noisy denials and personal attacks. My reports appeared in portfolio.com, the website of Condé Nast Portfolio, a major U.S. business magazine. I wrote that Courter had resigned after I reported that the Federal Communications Commission had fined IDT $1.3 million for failing to file its contract with Haiti.



Why would IDT fail to file the contract? Maybe because it shows that in this Aristide-administration deal, payments were below the legal 23 cents a minute set by the FCC (money that would have gone to Haiti) and that IDT payments were ordered sent to a shell company account in the Turks & Caicos instead of to a government account in Haiti. (A shell company is a paper company that does no business other than to move money to hide corrupt deals.) Read the contract.



The contract shows that IDT benefited by getting a cheap deal, paying only 8.75 cents per minute to Haiti According to Turks & Caicos lawyer Adrian Corr, who handled Mont Salem, the shell sent Aristide a 3-cents per minute kickback. Corr now denies to other reporters that he told me this. All he has to do to prove his point is to provide documents of the true ownership and paper trail of Mont Salem’s finances. Here are the Turks & Caicos registration documents of Mont Salem signed by an official of Corr’s law firm, Miller-Simons-O’Sullivan. Let’s follow the money!



Aristide’s lawyer, Ira Kurzban of Miami, has been active in denunciation of my articles. He certainly has an interest in the matter. Documents show that Kurzban got at least $10 million working for Aristide, including fees from the corrupt Haiti TeleCo. See these documents. And more. As Kurzban worked for TeleCo, perhaps he can tell us where the money that passed through Mont Salem ended up.



For background, see the eight articles I have written about the IDT-Haiti scam, including for the Haiti Democracy Project (a policy group) and for CorpWatch, Inter Press Service (IPS) and portfolio.com (all media organizations).

Iza SHOW ME THE MONEY TRAIL!!!