The Haitian embassy in Washington denies diversion of government funds.
The foreign minister has launched an investigation, citing diversions in the embassies in the United States, Cuba, and Dominican Republic. A Lavalas deputy in parliament has raised questions that the embassy in Washington in June 2005 received $377,000 and transferred only $130,000 to Haiti; also, that it transferred $1.9 million to another account.
The embassy, however, says that it had orders from the Haitian government to retain some dollar funds for other purchases for the government. The Haitian government was purchasing U.S. equipment for the under-equipped Haitian police, as the State Department made case-by-case exceptions from the arms embargo. The embassy says that the transfer of $1.9 million to another account was the transfer of the embassy’s bank account from Riggs Bank, when it was closing, to another bank.
The embassy says that it has complete accounts, which it sent monthly to the foreign ministry, and receipts for all expenditures.
Our sources in Haiti warn against maneuvers to distract attention from the far-better documented embezzlement by Aristide and his acolytes.