Suite à la publication du rapport sur l'enquête menée autour de l'utilisation du fonds PetroCaribe https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22687-haiti-flash-conclusion-of-the-petrocaribe-report-the-commission-accuses.html who claims that the PetroCaribe funds were the subject of a large-scale fraud. The former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, whose name appears in the report repeatedly as Minister of Planning and External Cooperation and then as prime minister following the resignation of Garry Conille, as co-signatory of many contracts reacted to the accusations of this report.

Also the report recommends against Laurent Lamothe "Against the members of the tender committee which are [...] Laurent Salvador Lamothe, former Prime Minister and Minister of the Planning and the External Cooperation, for flattery, concussion, misappropriation of public money and evasion of public funds, facts provided for and punished by articles 127, 128, 135, 340 and 130 of the Penal Code, and in accordance with articles 5.5, 5.8, 5.9, 5.10, 5.12 of the law of 12 March 2014 on preventing and combating corruption;"

"The Private Secretariat of Former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe categorically rejects the hasty general conclusions and abusive extrapolations of the report of the Senate Special Committee to deepen the investigation into the use of PetroCaribe funds, led by the Senator Evalière Beauplan.

While no compelling evidence has been advanced to justify the gratuitous allegations contained in this document, the Special Secretariat notes with great astonishment the flippancy with which the commission conducted its work by totally disregarding the principles of ethics and impartiality that should characterize such an approach. The Secretariat denounces the inherently subjective and particularly prejudicial nature of this "investigation report".

The Special Secretariat condemns with the utmost vehemence the proven manipulation and slander of the drafters of the document who have worked to construct a vast scheme whose primary objective is to tarnish the reputation of the former high officials of the State in question. The Secretariat can not accept the fabrication of "facts", that are fabricated "cases" of every piece and that false allegations are fomented with obscure political motives.

Indeed, the three main charges relayed by the said report against former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe have not been subject to rigorous verification, thus proving the negligence or even bad faith of the drafters of the document. All this brings the former Head of Government to question the real motivations of this exercise which is once again a false pretext to force the citizens who served their country in the difficult context of the post-earthquake of 2010 by trying to tarnish their image and obscure their achievements.

The Special Secretariat is willing to confront the data and review each proven lie referred to in this report. The former Head of Government remains unmistakably committed to the Republican principle of accountability and is determined to shine the truth in this case."

HL/ HaitiLibre