Originally: Embezzlement found in Aristide administration
Port-Au-Prince – A probe of former Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide’s administration turned up evidence of embezzlement and other irregularities, according to a report by the country’s central economic and financial investigation agency.
The agency demanded that Aristide, currently in exile in South Africa, and his former government ministers be called to testify about “assets stemming from drug trafficking and other serious offences, the extraction of public funds, abuse of authority, misappropriation of funds and corruption involving government officials.”
The investigation found that nearly $127 million were spent by the administration between 2001 and 2004, above and beyond the budget, and there were irregularities in spending in the presidential accounts.
In July, another probe also found evidence of corruption and embezzlement within Aristide’s administration, noting that nearly $20-million in public funds had been diverted to private accounts in Haiti and the United States between February 2001 and February 2004. – Sapa-AFP