Overview:
Haiti’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC) accuses Sports activities Minister Niola Lynn Sarah Devalien Octavius of embezzling $76,000 in state funds meant for nationwide celebrations. Six different new ULCC experiences reveal gas theft, ghost jobs, and mismanagement throughout state companies, a public college, and Ouanaminthe’s markets.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Haiti’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC) has requested the judiciary to prosecute the present Minister of Youth, Sports activities, and Civic Motion (MJSAC), Niola Lynn Sarah Devalien Octavius, for embezzlement of public funds and property, abuse of workplace, and felony conspiracy.
The fees are a part of a broader sample of entrenched corruption in Haitian public establishments. In only one week, the nation’s anti-corruption watchdog submitted seven new experiences outlining gas theft, embezzlement, ghost jobs, and cast contracts throughout ministries, a public college, and native markets. Regardless of repeated findings and referrals, few officers have ever been held accountable — fueling public frustration with a system many see as damaged.
In keeping with a ULCC report published Sept. 26, Octavius and shut associates diverted greater than 10 million gourdes — about US $76,923 — earmarked for the commemoration of the Battle of Vertières on Nov. 18, 2024.
Investigators describe an in depth scheme involving the minister and a number of other shut associates. They are saying Octavius conspired along with her brother, Jean Vilaire Maître, who serves as her safety chief, and the ministry’s chief accountant, Ludner Vogel Desforges, to misappropriate the state funds.
The report discovered that two million gourdes (US $15,385) had been deposited into Octavius’s private account, whereas her brother withdrew 7.66 million gourdes (US $58,923) with out justification. The accountant was additionally cited for tried embezzlement and conspiracy to commit against the law.
“Such conduct constitutes a transparent case of misappropriation of public property. On this regard, Minister Octavius have to be prosecuted in accordance with Article 5.4 of the March 12, 2014 legislation.”
ULCC investigators
The ULCC report states that Octavius bypassed authorized procedures by ordering the Ministry of Financial system and Finance, via Ketleen Florestal, to concern a examine in Desforges’s identify. That examine was later deposited into a non-public account on the Nationwide Credit score Financial institution (BNC). WhatsApp exchanges between the minister and her brother, recorded by a justice of the peace, confirmed the illicit transfers.
“Such conduct constitutes a transparent case of misappropriation of public property. On this regard, Minister Octavius have to be prosecuted in accordance with Article 5.4 of the March 12, 2014 legislation,” ULCC investigators wrote.
Regardless of the rising variety of corruption experiences—63 below Director Hans Ludwig Joseph within the final 5 years—the ULCC says solely two circumstances have ever led to convictions. Most stall in court docket, leaving a path of unanswered referrals for the reason that company’s founding in 2004.
At a Pétion-Ville honest, ULCC blends arts, debates and tradition to rally younger Haitians in opposition to corruption
Gas siphoned from the Strong Waste company
One other of the ULCC’s newest experiences scrutinized gas use on the Nationwide Strong Waste Administration Service (SNGRS) between December 2021 and April 2024. The company spent 228 million gourdes (US $1.7 million) on 396,849 gallons of diesel from the Enterprise Legacy Distribution, a non-public firm supplying gas to SNGRS. But solely 199,349 gallons — lower than half of the full — may very well be accounted for.
In keeping with investigators, 197,499 gallons of gas, valued at 125 million gourdes (US $961,241), had been misappropriated by Director-Normal Germain Paulémon and Deputy Director-Normal Max Alex Joseph, with the complicity of the company’s price range director, Bibiana Bélizaire. In the course of the hearings, each prime officers admitted to diverting the gas for private use, for workers, and even for outsiders.
“They knowingly engaged within the embezzlement of gas, distributing it to staff of the establishment, to outsiders, and likewise for his or her private use,” the ULCC concluded.
Ghost jobs at a public college
The ULCC additionally investigated the Public College of the Decrease Artibonite in Saint-Marc (UPBAS) for corruption between 2021 and 2025. The inquiry uncovered an internet of ghost jobs, fraudulent contracts, falsified invoices, and misused salaries involving Rector Wilfrid Azarre and former administrator Jean Éros Bayard III Vincent.
Investigators decided that the college acquired 32.87 million gourdes (US $252,846) in state funding throughout that interval. Of that, 22.57 million gourdes (US $173,615) had been correctly accounted for, whereas 10.29 million gourdes (US $79,154) had been both embezzled or stay unaccounted for.
Among the many alleged accomplices are financial institution cashier Yves Donis and a number of other inside officers. The ULCC has beneficial costs together with forgery of public paperwork, abuse of workplace, felony conspiracy, and embezzlement of public property.
Former Haitian tv chief arrested
A kind of earlier investigations has already resulted within the arrest of former Director Normal Gamall Jules Augustin on Sept.23. Three days after his detention and switch to Delmas 33 jail, the ULCC launched a report detailing corruption schemes involving the previous Nationwide Tv of Haiti (TNH) Director. He’s accused of abusing his workplace, falsifying paperwork, and embezzling almost 6 million gourdes (US $46,154) meant for worker debit playing cards.
Investigators additionally allege that Augustin mismanaged greater than 175 million gourdes (US $1.35 million) allotted for gas purchases between 2016 and 2025, diverting sources to non-operational TNH websites. He additional used TNH to acquire a NATCOM contract for his non-public residence and to learn his personal TV station.
The arrest of former director Gamall Jules Augustin provides to the lengthy record of corruption circumstances pursued by Haiti’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC) since 2004
Tens of millions misplaced in Ouanaminthe
Three different experiences centered on Ouanaminthe, the place investigators documented widespread mismanagement throughout main initiatives. ULCC Investigators traced greater than 66 million gourdes — over US $500,000 — misplaced throughout three initiatives: the Place d’Armes rehabilitation, the municipal market, and the border market. Officers already jailed or below scrutiny allegedly misused funds, cast signatures, and even allotted stalls to themselves. The ULCC recommends prosecution and a full municipal audit.
A authorities commissioner ordered 4 officers arrested Sept. 16 held in custody whereas an investigating decide takes up the corruption case stemming from a ULCC investigation
With these new experiences filed in only one week, the ULCC is urgent the courts to behave on what it says is an entrenched tradition of theft in public establishments.