{"id":1560,"date":"2018-02-28T21:27:59","date_gmt":"2018-03-01T02:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.ca\/?p=1560"},"modified":"2018-02-28T21:27:59","modified_gmt":"2018-03-01T02:27:59","slug":"the-squandering-of-the-petrocaribe-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/?p=1560","title":{"rendered":"The squandering of the PetroCaribe Fund"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is Michel Martelly looking for accomplices ?<\/strong><\/p>\n

he results of the inquiry\u00a0conducted by Senator\u00a0Evali\u00e8re Beauplan\u2019s Senate Special Committee, after that led by the former\u00a0president of the Senate, Senator\u00a0Youri Latortue, have triggered a lively debate that will likely continue for\u00a0a long time. The findings, we should\u00a0note, point fingers at more than a\u00a0dozen former senior officials of past\u00a0and present governments, including\u00a0two former Prime Ministers. In the\u00a0brouhaha of this mega conspiracy\u00a0against the public treasury, ex-President Michel Martelly confessed to\u00a0having taken his share of the booty. He even boasted about investing\u00a0some of it in hotels that he clearly
\nidentified: Marriott and Best Western. More than a month has elapsed\u00a0since he publicly made the statement, yet there hasn\u2019t been any public rebuttal from those two North\u00a0American companies, which settled\u00a0in Haiti after the January 12, 2010\u00a0earthquake.<\/p>\n

By saying that he invested in the\u00a0two American hotels, former President Martelly admits to embezzle- ment. Meanwhile, those who worked\u00a0for him are categorically denying\u00a0any wrongdoing. That pits Mr. Martelly against two former Prime Ministers, Cabinet Ministers, Directors\u00a0General and others fingered in the\u00a0reports of the Senate\u2019s special commissions about the heist of the PetroCaribe Fund. Thus, those who are\u00a0fighting tooth and nail to permanently postpone their appearance in court\u00a0have resorted to a lost cause. Fortunately, almost all sectors of Haitian\u00a0society are united in denouncing the\u00a0criminals involved in the vast conspiracy against the country. The people demand that the guilty be prosecuted, that the billions of dollars\u00a0stolen be reimbursed, and that they\u00a0be jailed as punishment.<\/p>\n

Admitting his participation in the\u00a0vast theft, Mr. Martelly seems to be\u00a0proud about belonging to the team of\u00a0shameless robbers. Without any embarrassment, he declared that \u201cthere\u00a0was robbery\u201d of the PetroCaribe\u00a0Fund. Having been a central figure in\u00a0this shameful operation, Mr. Martelly\u2019s revelations are worth their\u00a0weight in gold. Certainly, the judicial\u00a0authorities entrusted to deal with the\u00a0case must take his public confession\u00a0into account. After all, who could\u00a0pretend to know more about this\u00a0scandal than Michel Martelly ? In\u00a0that light, the likes of Laurent Salvador Lamothe, Jean-Max Bellerive\u00a0and others targeted in the Senate\u00a0reports have only to refer to the\u00a0words of the former president to convince themselves that theft did\u00a0indeed take place. By admitting his\u00a0crime, Martelly also implicates his\u00a0accomplices. And when the former\u00a0government officialstry by all means\u00a0to clear their names, that appears as\u00a0if they would let Martelly carry the\u00a0burden of the crime alone.<\/p>\n

In any case, by his own statements, former President Michel\u00a0Martelly has blown open the cover of\u00a0the whole affair which has been the\u00a0subject of much chatter and many\u00a0published commentaries. Those who
\nderogatorily criticize the reports of\u00a0the two special Senate commissions\u00a0are wasting their time. On top of
\neverything, the majority of Haitians\u00a0won\u2019t lose their grip on this affair. The whole country is about bent on
\nsettling score, restitution of stolen\u00a0funds and imprisonment of the offenders. Notwithstanding the efforts of\u00a0the eulogists, hired journalists, and\u00a0other mercenaries of the pen who\u00a0favorably paint the former public officials ! Accused as they are, they\u00a0must face the music in a public trial.<\/p>\n

Michel Martelly\u2019s confession\u00a0draws attention to another situation :\u00a0the use made of the stolen millions of
\nthe PetroCaribe Fund. By saying that\u00a0he invested his loot in Best Western\u00a0and Marriott, the former bald-headed\u00a0president has identified some of his\u00a0comrades-in-crime. Nearly two\u00a0months after Martelly\u2019s revelations, the companies mentioned have failed\u00a0to publish rebuttals. As the proverb\u00a0goes, \u201csilence means consent.\u201c In\u00a0the process, the evidence is piling up\u00a0regarding the squanderers of the\u00a0PetroCaribe Fund.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, Michel Martelly\u00a0said \u201cthere was theft\u201d of millions of\u00a0the account fueled by Venezuelan
\npetroleum products. Then he added\u00a0that he invested his share of the loot\u00a0in Best Western and Marriott. Meanwhile, the officials of the hotels\u00a0don\u2019t contest him. So doing, they\u00a0agree that they had indeed received\u00a0investment money from Mr. Martelly. What better proof is needed that a\u00a0crime was perpetrated in the PetroCaribe Fund. There\u2019s another consideration to be made in the case. By\u00a0accepting Michel Martelly\u2019s investment, the owners of the two hotels\u00a0are complicit in the illicit activities of\u00a0the former president. In other words, they are involved in a transnational\u00a0money laundering case.<\/p>\n

Whether the investor in this case\u00a0was the President of the Republic of\u00a0Haiti, that doesn\u2018t absolve him of\u00a0such an offense. Consequently, American law should be applied to\u00a0shed light on the relation existing\u00a0between Martelly and the two American-owned hotels. Officials of Best\u00a0Western and Marriott must answer\u00a0some questions. In accord with\u00a0established protocol, was there proper vetting of the investor to find out\u00a0the origin of his money ? As is\u00a0known, Haiti\u2019s public administration\u00a0is deeply involved in corruption, illicit trafficking and money laundering. It\u2019s important to note that banks\u00a0in Florida had seized Martelly\u2019s two\u00a0homes for defaulting on his mortgages. So, where did he get the millions to invest in the American\u00a0hotels ?
\nIt is unclear as to why the former Haitian president mentioned\u00a0publicly his investments in those
\nhotels. In doing so, however, he has\u00a0exposed some of his accomplices in\u00a0the squandering of the PetroCaribe Fund.<\/p>\n

\n

la version int\u00e9grale de l’article de l’\u00e9dition du 28 f\u00e9vrier 2018 de l’hebdomadaire Ha\u00efti Observateur se trouve en P. 11, \u00e0\u00a0 cette adresse :\u00a0http:\/\/haiti-observateur.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/H-O-28-fev-2018.pdf<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is Michel Martelly looking for accomplices ? he results of the inquiry\u00a0conducted by Senator\u00a0Evali\u00e8re Beauplan\u2019s Senate Special Committee, after that led by the former\u00a0president of the Senate, Senator\u00a0Youri Latortue, have triggered a lively debate that will likely continue for\u00a0a long time. The findings, we should\u00a0note, point fingers at more than a\u00a0dozen former senior officials of past\u00a0and present governments, including\u00a0two former Prime Ministers. In the\u00a0brouhaha of this mega conspiracy\u00a0against the public treasury, ex-President Michel Martelly confessed to\u00a0having taken his share of the booty. He even boasted about investing\u00a0some of it in… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1539,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,14],"tags":[172,324,463,604,874,1223,1331,1340],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1560"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}