Scandals and Corruption Operations: ECC believes Fritz William Michel is not eligible for the post of Prime Minister
By a presidential decree dated July 22, 2019, Fritz William Michel is appointed Prime Minister, replacing Jean Michel Lapin. The latter had resigned the same day, having realized his inability to pass the ratification stage in Parliament, particularly because he was part of the resigning government and that in his government there were several former ministers. , some of which were considered irritants.
The very day after his appointment, Fritz William Michel is indexed in a case related to the feeding of a Twitter account, from which he analyzed the socio-political situation of the country in general and made hateful and derogatory remarks to Haitian journalists, women, etc.
If the excuse of the "false count" advanced by the concerned seems to have calmed the situation, today the corruption scandals in which is indexed Fritz William Michel, and which has taken note in the press, Together Against Corruption (ECC ), have caught the attention of the collective.
The first shocking scandal concerns the distribution of five hundred thousand (500,000) US dollars to the five (5) senators of the Group of Parliamentarians for the Strengthening of Democracy (GPRD) in order to facilitate the ratification of its general policy after it has was voted at a meeting in the Chamber of Deputies. The second concerns the case of the goats each bought thirty-one thousand (31,000) gourdes on behalf of the state.
In the face of these cascading scandals, ECC has obtained some documents describing the acts of corruption perpetrated by Fritz William Michel and proposes to share with the population the conclusions of its analyzes.
Information corroborating the involvement of Fritz William Michel in acts of corruption.-
According to the analysis of the aforementioned documents, Fritz William Michel participates in the management and / or direction of at least five (5) firms. It is :
- Caribean Products And Services (GPS) of which he is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO),
- Express Transport led by his wife Natacha Marsan
- Fish Equipment in which his wife Natacha Marsan works
- Haitian Foods whose accountant Roody Torchon is also the director of Caribean Products And Services
- Agrisol
These firms, presumably of a different nature, often provide the same services to the same department. For example, on March 10, 2017, a check number 1709FAG036 issued in the name of Caribean Products And Services charges thirty-four million five hundred and seventy-two (34,572,000) gourdes for work done in the South for the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR). Another check numbered 1709FAG037 was issued the same day, on behalf of Haitian Foods for a similar amount, thirty-four million five hundred and seventy-two (34,572,000) gourdes, for the same service provided to the MARNDR and profit from the same department.
ECC also found that these firms are solicited for all types of services. Here are some examples:
For fiscal year 2016-17, checks totaling one hundred and four million three hundred and sixty-seven thousand (104,367,000) gourdes were issued in the name of Caribean Products And Services for the purchase of:
- boxes of feathers - Senate of the Republic
- thirty (30) tons of corn seed
- agricultural tools
- office supplies
- sorghum seed
- televisions for police dormitory - RO
- chairs and tables / office chairs for police officers - RO
- beds for police officers of the RO
- Filing cabinets for police officers of the RO
Caribean Products And Services was also paid for the following services:
- Food for people - National Book Directorate (DNL)
- Services provided to the National Book Directorate (DNL)
- Work done in the South
- Agriculture and Labor Day - May Day
- Improvement of the living conditions of the inhabitants of the Cul-de-sac plain
- Office supplies for the General Inspectorate of the Haitian National Police (IGPNH)
Ninety-one million nine hundred and eighteen thousand eight hundred and forty (91,918,840) gourdes were paid to Fish Equipment for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. She was responsible for acquiring:
- Cases of oil
- Seeds of beans
- Agricultural tools
- Corn seed
- Agricultural tools
- Card and Receipt Blocks
- seeds
- Food kits for the Kore Pèp program
- Seeds and repair for the winter campaign
According to the documents analyzed by ECC, similar transactions are carried out by the five (5) firms mentioned above. They are paid by the same ministry MARNDR, for the same services and often on the same dates.
ECC also noted that Express transport and distribution directed by Fritz William Michel's wife received for the 2016-2017 fiscal year an amount totaling eighty-nine million eight hundred and thirty-eight thousand (89, 838,000) gourdes against forty one hundred and fifty-one (49, 151,000) gourdes for the 2017-2018 fiscal year.
In addition, only for the month of October 2017, Agrisol one of the firms of Fritz William Michel, cashed three (3) checks totaling twenty-two million one hundred eight thousand four hundred (22, 108,400) gourdes to provide the MARNDR:
- Agricultural seeds
- Agricultural tools
- Creole goats
Fish Equipment, one of the firms in which Fritz William Michel's wife works, was paid to provide the MARNDR with male and female goats for several million gourdes.
Agrisol and Fish Equipment were involved in government-led activities in the South. Similarly, Haitian Food, which shares the same accountant with Caribean Products And Services, was also paid for the purchase of goats and chickens.
Legal considerations.-
ECC believes that Fritz William Michel violated the law setting the rules on public procurement and public service concession agreements, published in the newspaper Le Moniteur of Tuesday, July 28, 2009 (No. 78), and that of March 12 2014, published in the Moniteur of 9 May 2014, on prevention and repression of corruption.
Article 22 (paragraphs 4,5,6, 8, 10) of the law establishing the rules on public procurement and public service concession agreements stipulates: "Can not obtain orders or subcontracting from the State, Territorial Communities or Autonomous Bodies: companies in which the members of the Contracting Administrative Entity or Bid Opening and Bid Evaluation Committee have financial interests of any kind it would be ; the spouses of public employees and officials of the Contracting Administrative Entity and their parents and second-level allies; companies affiliated with consultants who helped prepare the bidding or consultation documents; public officials of the State and Territorial Communities and their spouses; legal persons of which one of their associates is an official of the Administration or project manager. "
He thus committed the following offenses, under the law relating to the prevention and repression of corruption: Abuse of office, overbilling, trading in influence, insider trading and unlawful taking of interest, respectively provided for in Articles 5.5, 5.8, 5.9, 5.11 and 5.13 of the above-mentioned law.
Abuse of office (Article 5.5): "Abuse of office is the act by a public official of abuse of office or office, that is to say, to perform, in the performance of his duties , an act in violation of the laws in order to obtain an undue advantage for himself, another person or entity. The public official guilty of abuse of office is sentenced to imprisonment and fined two hundred thousand gourdes. "
Extra billing (Article 5.8): "Any official, public official, or representative of the State who proceeds or actually invoices, for an amount greater than the actual cost, of a good or service to acquire on behalf of the State (...) is guilty of the crime of overcharging and is punished by imprisonment and a fine of one hundred and fifty thousand to two hundred and fifty thousand gourdes without prejudice to the sanctions provided by the regulations on the markets . In addition, the amount or value of the overbilling or the resulting product will be confiscated for the benefit of the State. Any instigator, any accomplice of overcharging is punished with the same penalties as the author. "
Trading in influence (Article 5.9): "Anyone who solicits or accepts offers, donations or promises to abuse real or perceived influence for the purpose of obtaining from a public authority or public administration, distinctions, jobs, contracts or any other favorable decision for a third party shall be punishable by imprisonment from one year to three years and a fine of one hundred and fifty thousand to two hundred and fifty gourdes and the confiscation of donations received . The instigator, the accomplice of the offer, the gifts or the promise is sentenced to the same penalties and fine as the author. "
Insider Trading (Article 5.11): "Anyone who has used for his own benefit or that of a third party any privileged information or privileges he has obtained in the performance of his duties relating to the award of public contracts or on the prospects of evolution of a regulated market, is guilty of insider trading and is punishable by one year to five years imprisonment and a fine of five hundred thousand, without prejudice to the damages and possible interests. "
Unlawful Taking of Interests (Article 5.13): "by a person who is a public authority or public servant, or by a person with a public office to take, receive or retain, directly or indirectly, any interest in any undertaking or transaction of which it has, at the time of the act, in whole or in part, the responsibility for the supervision, administration, liquidation or payment, is punishable by imprisonment and a fine of one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty thousand gourdes. "
Conclusions.-
In the light of the facts analyzed, ECC came to the conclusion that Fritz William Michel has for years been at the head of a machine of corruption which, to the detriment of the State, enabled him to enrich himself with illicit way, together with his wife Natacha Marsan and his brother Salomon Ashley Prudent.
To the cascade scandals related to the management of a Twitter account that attacked Haitian citizens in irreverent and hateful language, to the distribution of several thousand US dollars to parliamentarians, including the GPRD Senators is also added the creation of at least five (5) firms which, with the complicity of high ranking personalities within the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR), have benefited from public procurement for huge amounts.
ECC considers that the Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC), the Central Unit for Economic and Financial Information (UCREF) as well as the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Port-au-Prince Court of First Instance must take up these various cases .
Similarly, the Superior Court of Accounts and Administrative Disputes (CSC / CA) is required to examine the functioning of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR) which seems to have agreed to spin many contracts of public contracts to the firms of Fritz William Michel.
Pending the results of these investigations, ECC believes that Fritz William Michel can in no way hold the post of prime minister.
Port-au-Prince, September 18, 2019
