Cutting a Deal: Baby Doc's Retirement Fund

By Bryan Schaaf on Friday, June 1, 2007.

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Switzerland has been holding US 6.2 million dollars in accounts that were established by Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. Since his exile in 1986, he has been living quite cozily in France though it has been said his ex-wife, made off with most of the funds. Under a deal proposed by Switzerland a large portion of the money would go to humanitarian projects in Haiti while some would be released back to Baby Doc. The Haitian form of government under the Duvaliers has been described as a "kleptocracy" - meaning that aid and trade was encouraged only to the extent that the government officials would profit.

Proving that the money was a result of graft and corruption, we hope, will not be difficult to prove. The Haitian government is trying to do so, though the window of time will be limited. He and his father inflicted incalcuable damage to the country. For Baby Doc to be allowed to keep money stolen from the Haitian people is simply unnaceptable. We hope that the Swiss government will make the right decision and not hand over any money whatsoever.

By Laura MacInnis

GENEVA, May 22 (Reuters) - Switzerland is set to return 7.6 million Swiss francs ($6.2 million) next month which it seized in accounts belonging to former Haitian ruler Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, a senior Swiss official said on Tuesday.

Under an agreement proposed by Switzerland, a large portion of the frozen funds would be given to Haiti for humanitarian projects but the rest will be given back to the former dictator, exiled in France, and his family. The funds, blocked since Duvalier was ousted in 1986, will be released on June 3 unless the government in Haiti produces last-minute evidence tying the money to corruption or crime, said Paul Seger, legal adviser at the Swiss Foreign Ministry.

"There is a glimpse of hope that we will find some kind of miracle solution before that date," Seger told Reuters in a telephone interview, noting Haitian investigators have promised to intensify their efforts as the deadline approaches.

"The settlement will foresee that the majority of the money will be used for projects of a humanitarian and social nature in Haiti," Seger said, declining to specify the amount until the deal is signed. Over the past 20 years, Switzerland has returned nearly $1.3 billion in loot stashed by Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos, Peru's former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos and Nigeria's leader General Sani Abacha to their homelands.

Legal and practical hurdles have so far prevented such a resolution in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, where authorities failed to gather adequate legal proof that the Duvalier fortune was ill-gotten. Similar issues have also ground proceedings to a halt in the case of 8 million Swiss francs ($6.49 million) belonging to the late Zairean strongman Mobutu Sese Seko, held since 1997.

Authorities in the country -- now the Democratic Republic of the Congo-- have not yet produced evidence that the funds were illicit. Swiss law requires the funds to be released by the end of 2008 if no resolution is reached in the case.

"We will have a bit of time," Seger said. Judicial experts argue that poor countries, particularly those with institutions ravaged by war and unrest, need legal assistance to recover money stashed abroad by corrupt leaders.

Switzerland has argued for faster global implementation of a U.N. anti-corruption convention that criminalises bribery, money laundering and the embezzlement of public funds. The pact obliges countries to return illegally acquired assets.

Interesting article. Does

Submitted by Organic Baby (not verified) on Sun, 07/20/2008 - 22:18.

Interesting article. Does anyone have an update on how this case is progresing now? Let's hope the money finally goes where it's needed.

false info added

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/28/2008 - 08:46.

people you need to be well formed, before you add a comment on the internet.
simone was jn claude duvalier his mother, not his wife. benette michel was his wife, who stole haiti's fortune and left.
the world is already upside down, by putting false information on the people's mind. you'll get them more silly.
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thank you for sharing this

Submitted by best penny stocks (not verified) on Fri, 02/22/2008 - 07:56.

thank you for sharing this info
it was very helpful

I was in Haiti just a few

Submitted by Baby Store (not verified) on Tue, 01/22/2008 - 01:05.

I was in Haiti just a few years ago building a church. I know that the Lord can change this place; when the people cry out to him. It is interesting to read this information and get a first hand report. Thanks for the post.

condition for Haiti's independence

Submitted by Gracchus (not verified) on Tue, 08/14/2007 - 14:14.

What you said is half true.

Haiti got his independence through fights, defeating the strongest army of that time, the French's Napoleon Bonaparte army. But to keep this independence, with the threat of the return of Bonaparte's army, to claim "their territory", the Haitian government at that time negotiated with the French government to pay indemnity $$ to the former slaves owners;some say that was a smart move, it protects our independence and others see it as treason, we got it through fights, we could keep it through fights.

But in regard to whether or not the Haitian government is still paying that indemnity to this day, No! that had stopped long time ago.

Aristide, with a salt of demagoguery, tried during his last presidency to have the French government to pay back that money that we have paid long time ago. Many say, for this reason, the French government supported, orchestrated his overthrow in 2004.

Thanks.

Gracchus.

conditions of independence

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 08/05/2007 - 12:47.

Can anyone tell me if it is true that as a condition of independence in 1804, Haiti agreed to pay a substantial sum of money to France, on a yearly basis, which continues to this day?

If this is true, why is this not questioned? If this is true, perhaps Wyclef jean could get the attention of Bono and Angelina Jolie, to demand the nullification, the forgiveness of this abhorable condition.

would this not help Haiti significantly?

thoughts, anybody?

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hello this is a true haitian

Submitted by ambraz@earthlink.net (not verified) on Sat, 07/28/2007 - 19:40.

hello this is a true haitian speecking i say take some of the money and give some to him you may ask why ? well he's one off us too who grew up in a brutal unadicate unlawfull regime even if he said go right they go left anyway iam not said he was allinnocent example we still in big trouble we should be ok by now at leasse i want someone to tell me how can i help rebuilt my country get my pride back so they stop calling us poorest country in westant world

Duvalier's Swiss accounts

Submitted by Haiti Support Group (not verified) on Tue, 06/05/2007 - 01:36.

Haiti Support Group press release - Swiss government extends freeze on Duvalier's accounts, 4 June 2007

Good news! - Following moves by a Miami-based law firm representing two victims of the Duvalier dictatorship, and a spirited lobbying campaign by Haitian, Latin American, and European NGOs over the last week, the Swiss government on Friday announced it had extended a freeze on Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier's Swiss bank accounts for a further three months.

The money, 7.6m Swiss francs (£3.1m/US$6.2m), has been frozen for the past five years as the Haitian government has argued for its release, but was due to be surrendered to Duvalier on 3 June.

Now the accounts will remain blocked for a further three months from 3 June, according to Swiss government spokesman Oswald Sigg. He stated that the Swiss foreign ministry would now try to resolve the situation with the Duvalier family and representatives of Haiti's government. It was still the Swiss government's aim to find a solution in favour of the Haitian people, added the spokesman.

Congratulations to Marc Henzelin, the lawyer acting for Haitians, Etzer LaLanne and Father Gerard Jean-Juste, who obtained an order from the Geneva state court blocking one of Duvalier's accounts in Switzerland in respect of a suit successfully filed in the US. District Court in Miami in 1988.

Congratulations also to the Haitian Platform to Advocate for Alternative Development (PAPDA), the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad), the Swiss Haiti Platform, Jubilee South Americas, the Haiti Advocacy Platform UK-Ireland, and the Coordination Europe-Haïti, for petitioning the Swiss authorities to halt the release of Duvalier's accounts.

The Haiti Support Group has today written to Haiti's minister of foreign affairs calling on him to seize the opportunity provided by the extended freeze and quickly come up with the documentation proving that Duvalier's money was accumulated as a result of criminal and corrupt actions during the dictatorship. On submission of this proof, the Swiss government will be obliged to hand over some - perhaps all - of the money to the Haitian authorities. The money can then be used for socio-economic programmes to help counter poverty and stimulate economic development in Haiti.

_______________________________________________________________

Forwarded as a service of the Haiti Support Group - solidarity with the Haitian people's struggle for human rights, participatory democracy and equitable development - since 1992.

Web site: www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org