Overview:
The Port-au-Prince prosecutor’s workplace has launched Antoine Jean Simon Fénélon and 9 workers of the Immigration and Emigration Directorate after questioning them in a passport fraud investigation. They continue to be underneath a journey ban because the probe continues.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Prosecutors have launched the pinnacle of Haiti’s immigration company and 9 different staffers detained final week in a passport fraud investigation. Nonetheless, Immigration Director Antoine Jean Simon Fénélon and his staff stay underneath a journey ban because the case strikes ahead.
In a public statement after his launch, Fénélon denied wrongdoing.
“Immediately, I stand with a transparent conscience,” he wrote on Fb, describing the ordeal as a tough however clarifying expertise. “I stay dedicated, with respect for the legislation, for fact, and for public service.”
Fénélon and his group was launched March 26, three days after the Haitian Nationwide Police (PNH) picked them up March 23 for questioning by the Port-au-Prince Prosecutor’s Workplace. The Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ) had held the suspects for a number of days earlier than transferring them to prosecutors.
Prosecutor Fritz Patterson Dorval mentioned the ten officers are prohibited from leaving the nation pending the result of the investigation, which has now been referred to an investigating choose.
Authorities haven’t but introduced formal prices within the probe.
Immigration chief Antoine Jean Simon Fénélon and employees stay in custody over an alleged passport trafficking community involving international nationals
Deal with irregularities echoes previous corruption
The arrests adopted a focused police operation on the Directorate of Immigration and Emigration (DIE), the place a justice of the peace additionally ordered the passport manufacturing workplace sealed as a part of their inquiry. The investigation facilities on the alleged manufacturing of passports for foreigners utilizing Haitian residents’ tax identification numbers (NIF).
The Ministry of the Inside, which oversees DIE, reportedly alerted judicial authorities and supported an operation to uncover the alleged community of fraudsters.
The case has renewed longstanding considerations about corruption and weak oversight inside Haiti’s passport system, a problem that has surfaced repeatedly lately.
An analogous scandal broke out in Might 2025 involving ex-DIE Director Stéphane Vincent. Haiti’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC) alleged that Vincent approved the issuance of 556 passports with out required tax funds, leading to an estimated $28,120 loss to the state.
Vincent denied wrongdoing, and no prosecution has been introduced in that case.
Haiti’s judicial system total continues to face scrutiny over its means to handle corruption circumstances involving senior state officers.