An investigation of nearly two years, of the Unit for Combating Corruption (ULCC), in 2012 at the request of Alix Célestin, the Director General of the National Port Authority (APN) revealed that 143 checks issued by the shipping agency "Seabord Marine of Haiti S.A" to the order of the APN between 24 January 2008 and 18 July 2011, for a total of nearly 10 million US dollars were falsified and misappropriated.

To achieve this fraud, fraudsters had created a company the "APNI/Import-Export". With the help of accomplices, the 143 checks written manually included a space after the beneficiary "APN" which allowed to adds "I-Import-Export" for these checks then become payable to the "APNI-Import-Export", a company holding an account at the Banque Nationale de Credit, whose holder was identified as Ulrick Duplessy.

Faced with this vast misappropriation of funds the ULCC referred the case to the Court of First Instance (TPI) of Port-au-Prince on 3 December 2014 for legal suites, recommending in its investigative conclusions that "Ulrick Duplessy andJoseph Bernard Jean [Accounting Controller for Seaboard Marine] are prosecuted for theft, forgery and use of forgery and money laundering," and also that proceedings are initiated against Marie Lamercia Mercredi, Francoise Violène Fleurime and Jean Robert Merisme (holders of enterprises beneficiaries of checks issued by APNI / Import-Export) for "complicity in theft, forgery and complicity in forgery and money laundering complicity at the expense of the APN."

Finally, for not having required from shipping agents the payment of their fees by certified checks, the ULCC recommends that be prosecuted, in accordance with Article 150 of the Criminal Code, Jean Evens Charles, former Director General of the APN, Guivard Jean Nelson, Finance Director and Marguerite Danielle Augusma Jérôme, head of collection service.

However, 7 months later no action has been made or announced by the TPI on this important fraud...

TB/ HaitiLibre