Kick-Back - Haiti Observer Blog

Attorneys representing a Haiti high-level official, Rene Duperval, convicted of money laundering in a kick-back scheme between Haiti Telco and two U.S. telecom companies, filed a motion Friday afternoon to appeal his sentence. The past Director of International Relations at Haiti received a nine-year prison sentence for charges related to money laundering (19 counts) and money laundering conspiracy (2 counts). Besides the convictions, the defendant was forced to deposit close to $500,000 in bribery money that he allegedly received from Terra and Cinergy in 2003 and 2006, into a court escrow account.

Rene Duperval's attorney, John E. Bergendahl, filed the motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit, announcing his intention to appeal Duperval's prison term. When contacted by the news media, Bergendahl declined to comment.

Read more →  

Department of Justice prosecutors petitioned the Court on Tuesday, March 10th, invoking the Rule 35 motion, to request a reduction of Robert Antoine's four-year prison term he is currently serving, for embezzlment in a kick-back scheme, between Haiti Teleco and telecom firms, Terra and Cinergy, based in Florida. According to prosecutors, Antoine has "provided ample assistance to all law agencies," entitling him to a reconsideration of his sentence.

During the Court's hearing on the Rule 35 motion, the "particulars of the defendant's cooperation will be submitted at court," according to the petition.

Antoine, one-time overseer of Haiti Teleco's international operations, received bribes in excess of $1 million, in return for providing steep discounts in telephone rates and automatic contract renewals, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Read more →  

According to Dominican Investigative Journalist Nuria Piera, President Michel Martelly received at least $$2.5 million in the form of Kickbacks by a Dominican construction firm owned by Dominican Senator Felix Bautista.

The winning Companies:
According to the report, one the companies owned by Bautista, HADOM Construction was awarded a $2.5 million contract to do reconstruction work in Haiti. HADOM received 75,466,638.08 HTG ($1.8 Million U.S.) on November 8, 2010 and another 5,000,000 HTG ($120,000 U.S.) on May 11, 2011. The contracts were signed by former Prime Minister and current Presidential Adviser, Jean-Max Bellerive

Aw!

The winning Haitian Politicians:
According to the Investigative Journalist Nuria Piera, companies owned by Senator Batista transferred $2,587,100.00 to Haitian President Michel Martelly and $250,000.00 to presidential candidate Mirlande Manigat.

Read more →  

The Haitian government is still plagued by issues such as bribery, kickback and embezzlement of funds. At least this is what the 2011 Global Corruption Report indicated.

"Bare Volè, bare Volè"

Haiti ranks 175th in the report, which puts the country among the most corrupt nations in the world for 2011.

The report also indicated that our neighbors are doing much better to fight corruption in their country. Bahamas ranks 21 for doing a good job the delivery of government services to its citizens. The united states ranks on 24th position.

Read more →