Haiti: the Court of Auditors again pins the power in the Petrocaribe scandal

Anti-government demonstration in Port-au-Prince on November 18, 2017, after a Senate report criticizing the management of the Petrocaribe fund between 2008 and 2016. (Illustrative image) HECTOR RETAMAL / AFP

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The corruption of public administrations is once again under the magnifying glass of the Superior Court of Auditors. The third and last report on the management of Petrocaribe funds was published on Monday August 17th. This represents more than two billion dollars in aid lent to Haiti by Venezuela between 2008 and 2016. As with previous audits, the observation is clear: between 2010 and 2016, the management of hundreds of millions of dollars has been calamitous at best fraudulent at worst.

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With our correspondent in Port-au-Prince, Amélie Baron

No cost estimate before the start of work, no reliable accounting document, no call for tenders ... The more than 1000 pages of the report of the Court of Auditors are a litany of administrative errors.

But the abuses linked to the Petrocaribe funds are far from being revealed because the Court never examines whether the projects financed with millions of dollars were relevant.

Was it good for the tourism ministry, for example, to distribute 5,000 dairy cows to farmers? Was it necessary to build this pier or this section of road rather than another? These questions are not asked. Also many documents were not transmitted by the ministries.

The Morne-à-Cabri project is potentially one of the biggest scandals: following the 2010 earthquake, 1,500 housing units and an industrial park were to be built on the outskirts of the capital. Launched in 2012, the project was stopped in 2014. Yet 46 million dollars have indeed been paid to a Dominican company. And the Court of Auditors says today that it has not been able to trace any contract.

Against the recommendations of the Court of Auditors and despite popular demonstrations organized since 2018, Haitian justice has yet to prosecute the dozens of former ministers and senior leaders involved in the Petrocaribe scandal.

► To read also: Petrocaribe Fund: the edifying report of the Superior Court of Auditors

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  • Haiti
  • Corruption

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