VZCZCXRO3979
PP RUEHQU
DE RUEHPU #0199/01 0311757
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 311757Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5221
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 1399
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA PRIORITY 1222
RUEHQU/AMCONSUL QUEBEC PRIORITY 0704
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 1117

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 000199 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR 
S/CRS 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR LAC/CAR 
INR/IAA (BEN-YEHUDA) 
WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM HA
SUBJECT: DEPUTIES SCRUTINIZE FORMER MFA SPENDING 
 
PORT AU PR 00000199  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  This message is sensitive but unclassified -- protect 
accordingly 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The chamber of deputies' foreign affairs committee, 
led by Committee President Sorel Francois (Famni Lavalas), 
accused former foreign ministry employees, including the 
Haitian ambassador to the U.S., Raymond Joseph, and the 
consul general in New York, Felix Augustin, of corruption and 
mismanagement of funds, citing two separate checks totaling 
almost US $2 million (76 million Haitian gourdes) that 
ministry officials reportedly deposited at the central bank 
for payment to Haitian diplomatic missions abroad for May 
¶2005.  The money never arrived at the diplomatic missions and 
no one can account for the funds.  Without proper funding, 
Ambassador Joseph explained in a testimony before the 
committee on January 18, the Haitian embassy in Washington 
transferred passport fees to cover operating expenses, 
transactions which had raised Francois' suspicion while he 
was in Washington reviewing diplomatic operations in October 
- November 2006.  Ambassador Joseph told the committee that 
he used "irregular methods" to fund the embassy's operations 
in the absence of state funding (referring to part of the 
missing US $2 million that was intended for his embassy), but 
he assured the committee that he was never involved in 
corruption.  On this account, the foreign affairs committee 
appeared satisfied with the Haitian Ambassador's response. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Committee members further questioned Joseph (at 
the same hearing on January 18 with Augustin, at which 
Foreign Minister Renald Clerisme was also present) regarding 
evidence of transfers to shell companies in Miami. 
Ambassador Joseph explained that he was given "orders by 
telephone" by the interim government to make the 
transactions.  Members expressed scorn for this explanation, 
stating that there was no such thing as "orders by telephone" 
for official government business, and sarcastically asked 
Joseph who he thought he was to make such transactions 
without official orders: "the President, or a 
super-minister."  For this, Ambassador Joseph had no 
response.  Nevertheless, Francois publicly declared that the 
committee was satisfied with the outcome of the hearing and 
with the Preval government's plan to move the case to the 
oversight office for review.  Francois told Poloff on January 
25 that he still believes that Ambassador Joseph made illegal 
transactions, but does not have enough evidence to prove it. 
He plans to press the government to continue the 
investigation. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Following the committee hearing, the government's 
oversight office summoned two former foreign ministry 
administrators, Harold Bruno and Reynold Dorfeuille, on 
January 22 to give their account for the missing US $2 
million.  Bruno claimed that he gave the checks, as well as 
an order to send them abroad, to the central bank, but that 
other government officials gave instructions not to send the 
money.  "I know the payroll was not completed, but the money 
was not sent into my personal account like you think," Bruno 
said.  When asked where the money went, Bruno replied that it 
was used to service the MFA.  Ultimately, the government's 
oversight office determined that it could not make a decision 
based on the evidence and instructed the accounts office to 
investigate the issue further.  Francois, and Finance 
Committee President Jonas Coffy (also from Famni Lavalas and 
Francois' partner in his anti-corruption campaign) denounced 
the oversight office's ruling to further investigate the 
affair, arguing that they already had sufficient evidence to 
bring legal charges. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Comment: Francois and Coffy's anti-corruption 
drive, directed at interim government officials and begun 
with much fanfare shortly after parliament's inauguration 
last May, appears to be sputtering out.  Other parliamentary 
allies appear to have lost interest, and with no expertise or 
capacity of their own (and no apparent appetite within the 
current government to pursue the charges) corruption within 
the interim government looks set to become another in a long 
line of accusations will not be sufficiently investigated or 
clarified.  Ambassador Joseph appears to have emerged 
relatively unscathed.  He told the Ambassador prior to his 
 
PORT AU PR 00000199  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
testimony that he had disarmed his accusers by simply 
agreeing to appear before the parliament, much to their 
surprise.  Documents that Francois provided to the Embassy 
regarding Joseph's transactions indicate that he did indeed 
transfer large sums of money from the Embassy's operational 
accounts, but that these transactions were countersigned by 
other Embassy officials and documented with the foreign 
ministry. 
SANDERSON