fraud - Haiti Observer Blog

According to the information obtained by HaitiObservet.Com, Antoine Rodon Bien-Aimé, Deputy of Cerca-Carvajal under the political party PHTK mades some shocking revelation of massive fraud. What makes the story so interesting is that those accusations were made against his own political party PHTK.

The revelations are as follows: A Canadian national, Sylvain Cotte, was recommended by the current head of the MINUStah in Haiti, Sandra Honore, to be hired for l'Unops, an organization responsible to provide logistic for the election in Haiti.

The Deputy of Cerca-Carvajal, Antoine Rodon Bien-Aimé, accused Sylvain Cotte for his involvement in introducing false "Proce Verbal" during the transportation to the Tabulation Center in favor of candidate Jovenel Moise. According to Mr. Bien-Aime, the "Proce Verbal" switched were produced in addition, in the home of a relative of president Michel Martelly.

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There is a great possibilities that the level of voter fraud in the last election in Haiti is unprecedented, something never done before in the history. Now the CEP is investigating to know if more than half of the total votes obtained in the lat election legitimate.

According to an article just released by the Nouvelliste, more than half of the number of votes are from mandates. Mr. Opont stated that the CEP produced a total of 915,068 mandates and distributed exactly 915,675 mandates to the various political parties which represents about 16 percent of the electorate. Considering that participation rate by the population is estimated at 30 percent, consequently the number of mandates reaching the ballot boxes throughout the country is more than actual voters.

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ULCC Cracks Embezzlement Ring at PSUGO Schools. The Ministry of Education sent fraud protection group, Unity of Fight against Corruption (ULCC), to do an investigation on schools receiving money from the Universal Program Free and Compulsory (PSUGO), funded by the U.S.

They found embezzlement schemes at 100 schools, whose administrators were amassing large sums of money by inflating the number of students registered for school.

PSUGO subsidizes each registered student for $90 USD. State officials were also in on the scheme.

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President Pierre Louis Opont of the Provisional Electoral Council, it is newly learned, manipulated the results of 2010's elections, subverting the will of Haitian voters. He openly admits to committing fraud at the ballot box when he held the position of Director General of The Electoral Council. His excuse for withholding the truth was to prevent the island from exploding into violence. Another reason for the non-disclosure of the actual election results was they were modified by international observers, i.e., former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her colleague, Cheryl Mills.

Although ex-First Lady Mirlande Manigat has called for Opont's resignation, candidates say they are reaping the rewards of Opont's exclusionary policy. His vague, hazy policy so states ". . . any candidate, at any time, can be removed from elections . . ." and ". . . exclusions could be made on unfounded information."

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Haiti and the Dominican Republic are the two countries in the Caribbean with the maximum cases of visa frauds. Recently, on Friday, May 15, Robert Hannan, the US Consul General in Haiti has reported about 11,000 cases of fraud visa applications where the applicants have purported wrong information about their family, financial and professional backgrounds.

The US Consul General has urged that every visa applicant must provide only truthful information on their visa applications. The US department does not authorize any intermediary person or authority for assisting aspiring applicants or to receive any fees on behalf of the department or receive any money to provide information for sharing specific knowledge or information about visa. Every applicant should contact the concerned US department directly for all visa updates. Any person claiming to work for the U.S. Embassy over the telephone should be considered as fraudulent. The U.S department encourages common Haitian people to avoid these criminals and visit the consular officer at the U.S department and discuss about his plan to visit the United States. This is the only way; there is no other way of getting a visitor visa. Applicants for U.S. visas are required to appear in person for a scheduled visa interview at the U.S. Embassy.

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Lucie Tondreau who was suspended as North Miami Mayor was found guilty by a federal jury today (December 16, 2014) of conspiring to commit wire fraud. She is accused of loan conspiracy with partner and fiancé Karl Oreste and others of a total of $11million between 2005 and 2008. According to the details, she allowed bogus loan applications to use their names in exchange for kickbacks

After a two weeks trial, it took the 12 member jury only two hours to find Lucie Tondreau guilty of conspiracy and wire-fraud charges

Lucie Tondreau was elected as the Mayor of North Miami in 2013. She was arrested immediately after the verdict. With this conviction, she is looking at spending up to 30 years in Federal prison.

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The Mayor of North Miami, Marie Lucie Tondreau, is no longer a mayor. She was suspended by the Governor of Florida Rick Scott on Tuesday, May 20, 2014.

On that same day, she appeared in front of a judge as she was accused for working with three others other individuals to commit Mortgage fraud. Ms. Tondreau walked into the FBI office in Miami to surrender. She was granted bail for $50,000. Until her trial that will take place in the future, Lucie Tondreau will have several restrictions. Although she will not have to wear an electronic ankle monitor, she will not be able to stay outside of her home between the hours of 11p.m. to 6 a.m.

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This can't look good for the Haitian community. First female Haitian-American Mayor of North Miami, Marie Lucie Tondreau, was among four people indicted on Mortgage found Monday, May 19, 2014.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida on Monday filed criminal charges for activities from December 2005 to May 2008 well before Marie Lucie Tondreau had become the Mayor of North Miami.

Tondreau along side with Karl Oreste, Okechukwu Josiah Odunna and Kelly Augustin were all charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. If convicted, she is likely to face up to 30 years in prison.

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For the first time in over two centuries, Haiti has been making serious headway in rooting out corruption in business and government sectors. Ninety-four suspects have been kept in custody, or charged for practicing corruption within the last year. The latest arrestee is Philippe Chatelin, a local businessperson, who was taken into custody as a suspect in a corruption and contraband scheme, with several Customs officials also participating.

Francisco Rene, Port-au-Prince prosecutor, said his department is committed to wiping out corruption, issuing a warning to those engaged in corruption they will be caught and prosecuted. Government officials claim 90 suspects have been brought in on fraud charges, relating to Haiti's education fund and other government programs.

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For the third time in a matter of six months, the office of North Miami Mayor, Haitian born Lucie Tondreau, has been searched for evidence that would link her to fraudulent absentee-ballot requests suspected to have been submitted by her campaign earlier this year.

While Mayor Lucie Tondreau denies any involvement in such a scheme, Miami Beach police and prosecutors from the Miami-Dade area affirm that the IP address used to submit the online requests has been traced back to Tondreau and Associates, the mayor's North Miami public affairs consulting company. From the search was uncovered the identities of more than fifty people whose information was used for the requests, which were submitted for the mayoral runoff in June as well as for the first round of municipal elections a month before. These ballots were not mailed as, due to their dubious origins, they were flagged as wary.

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