ARTICLE - FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION BEGINS

THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION BEGINS
(Haiti Libre) -

Corruption, tax evasion, and smuggling are scourges in Haiti. To provide an update on the issue, Atouriste, Director of the Unit for Combating Corruption (ULCC), the 18 government commissioners, Mario Andrésol, the Director General of the National Police of Haiti (PNH), and the Directors of the Central Financial Intelligence Unit (UCREF), the Directorate General of Taxes (DGI) and of Customs gathered Monday at the premises of the DGI, as part of the Inter Institutional Committee formed in early June by Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe to support his policy of zero tolerance.

Following this meeting, during a press conference, Ronald December, the Secretary of State for Tax Reform explained "[...] We met this morning to follow up on the creation of the Inter-Institutional Committee of planning and coordination of the fight against tax fraud, against money laundering, corruption, and against smuggling [...] Today we met to establish the action plan that we will establish soon...

We know that tax fraud is a scourge for the state revenue and for the country's image [...] If some pay their taxes and others do not, the state authority can not be restored. If there are traders who pay customs duties and others not, the state authority can not be restored....

We decided to get together this morning to coordinate our actions. The DGI, and customs must provide material to the ULCC, the UCREF, and the public prosecutor. There are many decisions that were taken this morning, to establish an action plan. This will include fixed and mobile brigades that will be deployed throughout the country. We will not go into details to tell you how the plan will be executed, but I can announce that there are brigades that are established with the police, customs, DGI and even in some cases with justices of the peace, so that we arrive to effectively give an answer to all these problems that plague the society and that make it often that we depend on foreign aid; while in principle, we could ensure a set aspect of development by ourselves."

Fresnel Jean-Baptiste, the Director General of Customs has indicated that several operations have been organized in recent days, that alleged fraudsters have begun to be identified, and that more than a dozen trucks, and a large quantity of goods have been confiscated. He stressed that drivers were arrested, but also exporters and customs officials who are under investigation, and that the owners of goods, will also be brought to justice.

Mario Andrésol, for his part, has confirmed that the National Police will play its role in the fight against corruption requiring the cooperation of all citizens.