Lawyers request court injunction against Digicel Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (defend.ht) – Two citizens and lawyers rebuffed a request for an apology from Digicel and instead retaliated by filing an injunction against the telecommunications giant for it to disclose information on the circumstances and contracts that led to the sending of mass text messages to its clients in the early morning hours of May 14, 2013.

Digicel, on Thursday June 13, requested a public apology from Citizens and Lawyers, Newton Louis Saint Juste and André Michel by sending a court order for them to submit their apology within 24 hours of the notice.

The two lawyers had accused the telecommunications giant of being part of a vast money laundering, drug trafficking and kidnapping operations with the Haitian government, which helped fund the May 14, 2013 two year anniversary event of the President of the Republic.

Michel and Saint Juste retaliated by declaring a writ, Friday, June 14, 2013, to the Executive Director of Digicel in Haiti, Damian Blackburn, to make an invitation to the Tribunal of the jurisdiction. They requested that in a PERIOD OF ONE (1) DAY, Digicel is to communicate to the Central Financial Intelligent Unit (UCREF) the identity of the persons who signed the contract for messages to be sent to customers of Digicel, where no legal standing was in place, and invite them to visit the streets on May 14, 2013 to celebrate two years of “Tet Kale” in power. The injunction also requires that Digicel disclose the amount of the contract and other terms.

After this time, the lawyers request that the facts be at the behest of the two lawyer plaintiffs to be brought to the Prosecutor and with bodies involved in the fight against money laundering and organized crime.

The complaint reads:

That the applicants are surprised that Digicel would assume the right to send messages to citizens, called clients, with which it maintains no legal link from mafia contracts with unknown amounts for which origin is unknown.

That the applicants remind you that the Minister of Economy and Finance, Trade and Industry, Wilson Laleau said to the Honorable Members, that the festivities of May 14, 2013 to commemorate the second anniversary of Tet Kale in power, which Digicel is associated, were funded by supporters of President Martelly, whose names and addresses are unknown.

It is of dubious origin mobilized funds contrary to the law of 21 February 2001 on laundering of assets derived from illicit drug trafficking and other serious offenses.

via Lawyers request court injunction against Digicel Haiti.

Jean-Claude Duvalier Rule of Law and Reason of State?

Nothing but bluff! Attendance at the Court of Appeal of the former despot of Haiti, Jean-Claude Duvalier, is nothing but a staged frightening after he was cleared, January 30, 2012, the examining magistrate Jean Carvès for crimes against humanity. There is a mounting scandal from Mr. Martelly desperate to rehabilitate politically Jean-Claude Duvalier who ruled the country with an iron fist from 1971 to 1986.

Hundreds of thousands of opponents of the deposed dictator of the time were killed or missing, according to international human rights organizations. Volunteers for National Security (VSN), commonly called the “Tonton Macoutes” became the real backbone of the grinding machine of bloodthirsty regime, had many innocent victims languishing in the jails of Fort Dimanche, the National Penitentiary, Dessalines Barracks and Police Port-au-Prince, etc ….

It is a scandal to the world nationally and internationally about the attitude of a judicial system too biased in a country plagued by systematic violence where the law of the strongest prevails. The passivity with which society reacts to file Duvalier is like a “Oscar” which was presented as a sign of excellence for the harm and damage to the whole of society some of which are far beyond repair. For every crime unpunished already opened the way for another.

via Jean-Claude Duvalier file: Rule of Law and Reason of State? «Rapadoo Observateur.

via Jean-Claude Duvalier file: Rule of Law and Reason of State? «Rapadoo Observateur.

Denis O’Brian’s Buddy Michel Martelly linked to Corruption Controversy

When Haitian President Michel Martelly visited the Dominican Republic last month, he was awarded the country’s highest honor for a foreign head of state, in large part for his efforts to lure reconstruction investment to Haiti after its catastrophic 2010 earthquake, which killed more than 200,000 people. In an interview in Santo Domingo, the Dominican capital, Martelly told TIME he’s “tried to change the perception [the world] has of Haiti as a place where nothing works,” and he listed his accomplishments so far, including $450 million in tourism investment. “Haiti is a land of opportunity,” the boisterous former carnival singer said. “Because Haiti is still a virgin.”

But a few days later, accusations of less than virgin behavior were swirling around both Martelly and one of the Dominican Republic’s most prominent politicos. In a March 31 national television broadcast, Dominican investigative reporter Nuria Piera alleged that Dominican Senator Félix Bautista — who owns or controls construction companies that in the past year have received Haitian government contracts worth more than $200 million — paid Martelly a total of almost $2.6 million during Martelly’s presidential campaign and after his landslide victory in Haiti’s 2011 election. The charge, based on spreadsheets of bank records Piera displayed on the air, was serious enough to prompt Dominican federal prosecutors to declare Bautista under investigation. Both the Senator and Martelly, whose office calls the allegation “a media lynching,” deny it.

(PHOTOS: After Quake, Carnival Returns to Haiti)

The Bautista controversy, fairly or not, is a jolting reminder of Martelly’s mixed record — and the governmental dysfunction still plaguing Haiti during its recovery — as he approaches his first year in office next month. The construction contracts in question, including one to rebuild Haiti’s legislative palace, were awarded in 2010. But late last year they became the targets of an audit by Martelly’s then Prime Minister, Garry Conille — who in February resigned largely because of pressure from members of Haiti’s parliament and Martelly’s government, who resented the scrutiny. The exit of Conille, a trusted technocrat whose appointment was backed by the U.S. and the international community, set back Haiti’s recovery efforts and highlighted the acrimonious relationship between Martelly and Parliament.

Piera’s corruption investigation suggests that Bautista, a leader of the ruling party of Dominican President Leonel Fernández, made the payments to Martelly, who was a heavy favorite to win Haiti’s March 2011 presidential vote, in order to keep winning contracts under the new Haitian government. In a joint declaration on Thursday, April 12, both Fernández’s and Martelly’s administrations called the journalist’s charges part of a vague “plot” by opponents to discredit Martelly and aid the Dominican opposition in that nation’s May presidential election.

(MORE: Quake-Ravaged Haiti Still Without a Government)

Either way, the controversy has forced Martelly off message yet again. When he met with TIME last month, he seemed to have put the Conille resignation flap behind him — his new Prime Minister choice, longtime friend and business associate Laurent Lamothe, has been approved by the Senate — and talked confidently of new investment ventures that he hoped were a signal that “Haiti is open for business.” He emphasized the positive reception he’d gotten at the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, in January, when Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien, head of cellphone powerhouse Digicel, as well as the chairmen of Marriott, Heineken and Nestle, all spoke “about what an opportunity Haiti is,” he said.

Digicel and Marriott, in fact, have since joined forces to build a $45 million, 173-room hotel in Port-au-Prince, and last month an arm of the World Bank Group pledged a $10 million fund to spur small- and medium-size businesses. The “Invest in Haiti” forum that Martelly hosted last November drew a thousand capitalists from industries like tourism, infrastructure, agriculture and textiles and resulted in $200 million in contracts. The Haitian government itself is poised to spend up to $700 million, meaning the western hemisphere’s poorest nation could see at least $1.25 billion invested inside its borders in the coming months. “Once we invest that,” Martelly told TIME, “you attract other investors and companies and they feel like things are moving. You’ll have more of that coming.”

Tomorrow:- O’Brian and Digicel Never far from Controversy –  Haiti, Digicel National Fund for Education smells fishy

via A Year Under Martelly: Corruption Controversy Sidetracks Haiti’s Effort to Rebuild – TIME.

via A Year Under Martelly: Corruption Controversy Sidetracks Haiti’s Effort to Rebuild – TIME.