Overview:
Haiti’s Anti-Corruption Unit has reminded former senior officers, together with the 9 members of the now-defunct Transitional Presidential Council, that they need to declare their belongings inside 30 days of leaving workplace, as required by a 2008 legislation. The warning comes amid corruption allegations involving CPT members and renewed scrutiny over accountability and judicial immunity.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Haiti’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC) has formally ordered former senior public officers—together with the 9 members of the now-defunct Transitional Presidential Council (CPT)—to declare their belongings inside 30 days of leaving workplace, as required by legislation.
The order, issued Feb. 9, follows the official finish of the council’s mandate and prompts a compulsory disclosure rule underneath Haiti’s 2008 asset transparency legislation.
The council ruled Haiti from April 2024 to February 2026, with a mandate to revive safety and arrange elections amid deep political instability throughout a interval of deep political instability.
Below the legislation, former officers should submit an “exit declaration” detailing their belongings on the finish of their time period. The submitting have to be made with the clerk of the civil courtroom within the official’s place of residence.
“This necessary formality aligns with the rules of accountability and transparency within the administration of public affairs,” Jacques Ludwig Joseph, director normal of the ULCC, stated as a reminder to the previous officers. “Failure to conform inside the prescribed time-frame might lead to judicial proceedings.”
What the legislation requires as corruption allegations forged a shadow
The ULCC officers stated the requirement comes from the law of Feb. 12, 2008, that obliges sure classes of political leaders, civil servants and public officers to declare their belongings each earlier than assuming workplace and after leaving it.
Articles 2, 6, 7, and 14 of the legislation empower the ULCC to supervise compliance and, when vital, to provoke investigations to confirm whether or not declared belongings correspond to officers’ precise holdings.
The company stated it might evaluation declarations submitted by public officers to find out whether or not belongings acquired throughout their mandate have been lawfully obtained.
The reminder comes as corruption allegations proceed to encompass some former CPT members.
In a earlier report, the ULCC urged prosecutors to pursue expenses in opposition to three former presidential advisers—Smith Augustin, Louis Gérald Gilles and Emmanuel Vertilaire—over alleged extorsions and bribery on the Nationwide Financial institution of Credit score (BNC). Investigators stated the officers have been accused of pressuring the financial institution’s director normal to extract giant sums of cash in trade for permitting him to stay in workplace.
Different allegations circulated within the media, although not substantiated by ULCC findings, have implicated further CPT members. Leslie Voltaire was talked about in reference to alleged misuse of public funds, whereas Edgar Leblanc was cited in reviews suggesting he might have obtained cash from Prime Minister Alix Fils-Aimé and not using a clear justification. Voltaire didn’t publicly reply, and Leblanc known as on journalist Thomas Rudy Sanon to clarify the claims made in opposition to him.
Through the CPT’s tenure, controversy additionally erupted over month-to-month funds of 5 million gourdes (about $40,000) allegedly obtained month-to-month by every adviser from funds earmarked for intelligence operations. A number of CPT members declined to remark publicly on the matter in early 2025.
In an October 2024 report, the ULCC criticized how these funds have been dealt with.
“The truth that Mr. Smith Augustin declared this intelligence-related quantity as advantages or emoluments—regardless of it not constituting an expense—highlights the necessity for higher oversight and centralized administration to stop misappropriation,” the ULCC investigators stated on the time.
A decree that shields former officers from accountability
Earlier than leaving workplace, CPT members adopted a controversial decree in December 2025 reorganizing the Excessive Court docket of Justice. The decree grants the courtroom unique jurisdiction over instances involving senior officers, together with the president, prime minister, ministers and secretaries of state.
Below the decree, solely the Chamber of Deputies—by a two-thirds vote—can provoke impeachment proceedings, and strange courts are barred from listening to instances associated to offenses dedicated within the train of official duties.
Human rights and girls’s rights teams, together with the Nationwide Human Rights Protection Community and Nègès Mawon, condemned the measure, warning it successfully shields former officers from prosecution.
“This decree violates the Structure and the precept of the hierarchy of norms,” the organizations stated in a joint assertion. “It creates de facto judicial immunity and locations former leaders past the attain of strange justice.”
With the CPT’s exit, the ULCC’s reminder has renewed debate over whether or not Haiti’s authorized mechanisms for transparency and accountability could be enforced in follow.
Former CPT members and different senior officers have till early March to adjust to the asset-declaration requirement. The ULCC says failure to conform might result in judicial motion.