What meaning should be inferred from the burlesque on Monday, May 14th when police, acting on the orders of whom we do not know precisely, descended with the speed of a strong wind upon the Haitel headquarters, escorting the company's CEO in handcuffs to the office of the investigating judge to be questioned about the Socabank case, the private bank whose management was turned over to the National Credit Bank (BNC) by the Bank of the Republic of Haiti (the BRH)?  

Whether it was a case of genuine or imagined bankruptcy at Socabank, whether or not Mr.  Ciné was involved, those are not the real questions, because justice, that is to say the one that does not allow itself to be manipulated, points the way to the path to be followed in handling a case like this, and this is especially true given that Franck  Ciné, who can not be above the law, was already available to the judicial authorities, since he was issued an order forbidding him from leaving the country.  

The real question is rather the following: what signal is the judiciary or a sector within the justice system thinking it is sending by dealing with the Haitel CEO in this manner? What is the real significance of this whole circus show?  

 Are there people who want to trap the government and President  Préval, who want to keep away the investors, after all the sacrifices that have been made to restore a minimum of security in the country.  

Since President Préval has gone all the way to the White House to affirm that conditions are now ripe for relaunching foreign investment in Haiti, one can not imagine that he would be the one who gave the green light to the treatment inflicted upon Franck Ciné.

That would be like appealing to investors with one hand and driving them out with the other.  

If this is the fate reserved for Franck Ciné, a Haitian citizen, a leading business man who has invested more than US$200 million in Haiti and provided employment for more than 2,000 people and introduced and initiated cell phone technology in Haiti, foreign businessmen must be asking themselves why they should expect to fare any better.  

Most sectors who have voiced disapproval and frustration over Monday's excesses, wrongly or rightly accuse members of the "de facto board of directors" of the BRH of having a political quarrel with the former directors of  Socabank, including Franck Ciné and still believe today that they have sufficient political backing to settle scores with the Haitel CEO.  

And according to some members of Parliament commenting on May 14, they really gave the Haitel CEO a hard time: mobilizing a bailiff, police officers creating psychological panic at Haitel, humiliating scenes of police officers putting the handcuffs on the business man, all just for a simple appearance before a judge to answer some questions.  

In the same circles, it is said that there are some people close to the Central Bank board of directors who are taking advantage of the privilege of being in the in-crowd with high-level political officials to tolerate such abuses. It doesn't matter to them that the shame of May 14 is the same as rescinding the invitation to investors, because, they reason, Préval will deal with it!

The government authorities, especially President Préval, should intervene to prevent people who believe they are all-powerful because they travel in the same circles as senior government officials from utilizing their influence to settle personal scores, fuel dissension, revive old disputes and harm the country. 

There are of course some people who will dare to make allegations of interference in judicial affairs if they are prevented from wringing the necks of Haitians they consider to be their adversaries.  

Unfortunately for them, witness indicate that it was not justice that was acting in the Ciné case, but rather abuse, excess of power and above all settling of scores.  

Otherwise, the judicial system would have focused long ago on the cases of those who, over the the past  three years at the National Palace, at the office of the Prime Minister, in the Ministries, or in the diplomatic missions have been accused of embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars.  

Why all this silence about the cases of individuals who looted the undersea resources of the country? And especially those who made a bundle in the passport case.  

Would it be that they are above the law?  

Why then Franck Ciné? What do people want from him? Who wanted to send the "savage brigade " of the national police to Haitel? Are there people who have their eye on Haitel? Who are they?  

Investors beware, there is danger!

President Préval should keep a closer watch over the Socabank case in order that justice may follow its course in an efficient manner. Because some people might have things to hide when they attempt to short-circuit the work of the judiciary by using obscure and oblique means.  

Port-au-Prince, May 16, 2007- (AHP)- The former head of the FRAPH criminal gang, Emmanuel (Toto) Constant, said Tuesday during a hearing in New York that he would like to return to Haiti where he is accused of murder and torture, after having successfully remained in the United States for more than a decade.   

Accused of involvement in numerous cases of murder, abduction and rape during the period of the coup d'état against President  Aristide (September 1991 to October 1994), declared that he has no fear of being sent back to Haiti. He made that statement at the New York state Supreme Court in Brooklyn, where he had been brought to hear the verdict in his trial on charges of mortgage fraud.   

Attorneys in the office of the state attorney-general as well as federal prosecutors asked Judge Abraham Gerge to go ahead with issuing the sentence against Toto after the judge declared a postponement in the sentencing following a request for postponement by the Center for Constitutional Rights, which argued that the Haitian judicial system is too weak and unstable to try the dangerous Constant, who is the son of a former officer of the Haitian Armed Forces (FAD'H ). 

The Haitian authorities in turn argues that they are up to putting Toto Constant on trial, a déclaré Ajay Bhatt, an attorney with the Department of Homeland Security.  

The attorney proposed that  Toto Constant plead guilty of the charges of having defrauded individual lenders out of $1.7 million. He could receive from five to 15 years in prison.  

Emmanuel Constant asked to speak at the hearing, declaring that the charges against him in Haiti are of a political nature and that he should thus not be prosecuted in the United States. Human rights organizations report that thousands of supporters of President Aristide were tortured or killed by the thugs of  Emmanuel Constant, who took refuge in the United States in 1994 after President Aristide returned from exile.  

The records of FRAPH were seized by the United States military. The names of foreigners who collaborated with Mr. Constant's  paramilitary group were blacked out. The uncensored version of the documents has never been returned to the Haitian authorities.   

Despite an order issued in the U.S. for his deportation,  Emmanuel Constant was permitted to remain in the United States because, U.S. authorities said, there was political instability in Haiti. He had been keeping a low profile in the U.S. living with relatives in New York until he was arrested last year for mortgage fraud.  

In the mean time, the second highest official of FRAPH, Louis Jodel Chamblin, who fled to the Dominican Republic, returned to Haiti in January 2004 to take part in the armed movement against President Aristide, alongside former Haitian soldiers and convicted criminals such as Jean Tatoune. 

Having been sentenced in absentia by a Haitian court for his role in a massacre during the coup d'état that began in 1991, Chamblin turned himself in to justice officials after the interim regime took power (March 2004) as part of what many have described as a huge masquerade.  

Shortly before he turned himself in, Mr. Chamblin had a private meeting with the interim Justice Minister  Bernard Gousse. And one month later he was set free by the interim government.   

The disarmament process is on the right track, according to the head of the national disarmament commission  

Port-au-Prince, May 16, 2007 (AHP)- The president of Haiti's national disarmament commission,  Alix Fils Aimé, indicated Wednesday that the disarmament process, begun more than two years ago, is on the right track, but that much remains to be done before Haiti will be truly pacified.  

The program, known as DDR (Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration) has seen progress in several cities in recent weeks, including Petit Goâve,  Cap Haïtien and some towns in the Central Plateau, said Mr. Alix Fils Aimé, who also announced that firearms were recovered in the Martissant district of the capital.

Alix Fils Aimé appealed to the population to remain vigilant and continue their collaboration with the security forces because, he said, there are still armed and dangerous elements circulating around the country who can strike at the lives of peaceful citizens.  

Alix Fils-Aimé announced that about 200 individuals will soon enter the reintegration program.

He also declared that meetings between the private sector and the Commission have led to considerable progress.  These meetings  are organized, he said, with the objective not only of recovering firearms but also with the goal of greater stability and security throughout the country, he said.  

The talks have focused on three essential points: the legalization of weapons that are permissible, the hand-over of weapons that are part of Haiti's national patrimony such as weapons of war, and finally the possibility for members of the business community to return to some districts where it has been impossible for them to carry on their business due to insecurity.  

In this regard, Alix Fils-Aimé said that a branch of a New York commercial bank and a cell phone company will resume selling their services in Cité Soleil.

Port-au-Prince, May 15, 2007 (AHP)- Evalières Beauplan, who presides the Senate Foreign Affairs Commission, asked President Préval once again Tuesday to make changes at the diplomatic missions in order, he said, to project a different image of the country to the international community.  

"Those who wish to invest in Haiti are foreigners; we should convince them that Haiti is experiencing a new era, with clear signals from our diplomatic representatives", declared Mr.  Beauplan.

Changes also need to be made in the civil service and in the government delegations in the provinces, declared the Senator, observing that these people have bathed enough in corruption since they were appointed by the interim regime.  

It is up to President Préval to know who he wants on his team and what results he wishes to obtain, said Mr. Beauplan.  

AHP May 15,  2007  1:15 PM

The head of the finance and anti-corruption commission of the House of Deputies condemns the treatment inflicted upon the CEO of  Haïtel and urges President Préval to intervene to stop the judicial system from veering off course  

Port-au-Prince, May 15, 2007 (AHP)- Jonas Coffy, president of the Finance and Anti-Corruption Commission of the House of Deputies, spoke out Wednesday against the treatment of the CEO of the cell phone company Haitel, Franck Ciné, in the case of Socabank, a private bank that was declared insolvent.  

Mr. Ciné, a leading member of the business community in Haiti and a majority stockholder of  Socabank, was led in handcuffs to the office of the investigating judge on allegations of involvement in the actual or presumed bankruptcy of Socabank.  

Deputy Jonas Coffy views what happened to Mr. Ciné as political machinations because, he said, the accusations against him of swindle, fraud and criminal association do not hold water.  

Investigations by the Parliament have found that Socabank never was insolvent, said mr. Coffy, deploring that the Central Bank (BRH) intervened politically in this matter rather than playing its mandated role as regulator.  

has there ever been a single Socabank customer who had difficulty withdrawing money from the bank, asked the Deputy, pointing a finger in the direction of  high-level BRH officials named by the interim government as being to blame in this affair.  

Jonas Coffy deplored that there has been no follow through by the government in response to the numerous recommendations of the Parliament. He urged the government to intervene to bring a halt to the alarming drift he observes at the level of the judicial system.  

Minister of Justice René Magloire will soon be asked to appear before the Parliament to provide explanations in connection with this case, said the Deputy.  

AHP May 15, 2007  12:40 PM

Port-au-Prince, May 15, 2007 (AHP)- The Haitian Ministry for Public Health held a ceremony Tuesday at which it signed a financing  agreement valued at roughly $2 million with the Canadian and Brazilian governments in connection with a vaccination campaign in the South and Southeast of Haiti.  

The campaign will run over a three month period from October to December 2007 

Canada's Ambassador to Haiti,  Claude Boucher, said that this agreement will make it possible to improve the health situation in Haiti by addressing the urgent health needs of newborns and the most vulnerable among the population.  

Close to 500,000 children will be vaccinated under this program, said Mr. Boucher.   

The diplomat praised the participation of Brazil in the efforts to stabilize Haiti and said he finds that the decision to work with Brazil on this vaccination campaign is a significant and strategic one, because Brazil has a lot of experience in this area.  

The Brazilian Ambassador to Haiti, Paolo Cordeiro Da Pinto, said he too is very pleased with this initiative because it enables Brazil to join with a developed country to come to the aid of Haiti.  

This is a new opportunity for Brazil to be able to place its funds and experience at the service of others, declared Da Pinto, emphasizing the valuable experience of his country in the field of avaccination.  

He said he hopes that this cooperation will continue in other areas to help Haiti develop.  

For his part, the Minister for Public health, Dr.  Robert Auguste, who initialed the contract, praised the commitment of the Canadian and Brazilian authorities to accompany Haiti in the area of health.  

According to Dr Auguste, this vaccination campaign, which begins in October, will make it possible to immunize a majority of the children  who will be born over this period, in order that once they become adults, they will be able to take on their responsibilities.  

AHP May 15, 2007  12:10 PM