High-ranking officials have been accused of making false travel claims, engaging in illegal contracts, and committing passport fraud in the latest anti-corruption investigation.
Stéphane Vincent, the former director general of Haiti’s Directorate of Immigration and Emigration, is shown in an undated photograph. He is one of three former government officials charged by the country’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC) with embezzling public funds, which includes approving the issuance of hundreds of passports without the necessary tax payments. Photo courtesy of the Office of the Prime Minister's Facebook page.
Overview
On Thursday, Haiti’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC) released a report detailing significant embezzlement cases involving former officials from the Office of Citizen Protection (OPC), the Office of Work-Related Accidents, Sickness, and Maternity Insurance (OFATMA), and the Immigration and Emigration Office. These cases have resulted in public losses exceeding $987,000. Renan Hédouville from OPC is accused of orchestrating fictitious trips, Carl François from OFATMA is implicated in illegal catering contracts, and Stéphane Vincent from the Immigration Office faces allegations of passport fraud. The ULCC has expressed concerns about the lack of effective judicial follow-up, highlighting Haiti's ongoing struggle to address corruption.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — On May 8, the Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC) released six investigative reports highlighting significant mismanagement and the embezzlement of over one million dollars within Haiti’s public institutions. The most alarming cases, which account for more than $987,000 in misappropriated state funds, involve the Office of Citizen Protection (OPC), the Office of Work-Related Accidents, Sickness, and Maternity Insurance (OFATMA), and the Directorate of Immigration and Emigration (DIE).
Former Ombudsman Renan Hédouville is accused of misappropriating funds for non-existent missions, as well as claiming per diems and airfare for ten official trips that allegedly took place between 2019 and 2024 but never actually occurred. The ULCC has identified $127,630 in expenses associated with these fictitious missions, which include:
Hédouville personally collected $15,960. His chief of staff, Régine Hédouville—his daughter—gathered $14,500. Additionally, IT coordinator Tex Willer Célafoi Louis, the former OPC director’s son-in-law, collected $11,800.
Records indicate that Louis and his wife, Régine, made a suspicious withdrawal of $23,375 from their accounts at Capital Bank and UNIBANK. Additionally, several other employees from the OPC, including Juliana Thomas Simplice and Jean Jolin Dodier, received over $28,000 in fraudulent per diem payments.
The report highlights that tickets were purchased from the Sans Souci travel agency, run by Marie France Petoia, without going through public tenders, which breaches procurement laws. Although he was summoned, Hédouville declined to appear before investigators and instead filed a lawsuit against the ULCC, alleging that his email had been hacked. A warrant for his arrest has since been issued.
The ULCC is recommending charges of embezzlement, obstruction of justice, and unlawful contracting and is calling for a Supreme Court audit of his tenure.
François and Vincent are implicated in the catering contract scandal and passport fraud scheme.
Carl François, the former director of OFATMA, is accused of selecting two catering companies—Valcuisine and Oley Event and Food Services—without conducting a bidding process. One of the co-directors, Valérie Nadia Victor, is a political ally of François, and both are affiliated with the MTV Ayiti party. The ULCC has identified this situation as a clear conflict of interest.
Valcuisine received $791,325, which accounts for 95% of the $828,025 that OFATMA allocated for food services from 2022 to 2025. Their meal costs exceeded those of the previous provider, and required tax deductions were overlooked, resulting in an additional loss of $16,570 to the state.
François, Victor, and Valmine Jean Jacques now face recommended charges of forgery, conflict of interest, and embezzlement.
"The recorded facts represent criminal offenses and warrant significant penalties to reaffirm the authority of the State."
— HAITI’S ANTI-CORRUPTION UNIT (ULCC)
In just under four months as head of the Immigration Directorate, Stéphane Vincent faces allegations of approving 556 passport issuances without the necessary tax payments, resulting in a loss of $28,120 to the state. The ULCC reports that Vincent, along with several public officials—Lesly Saint Juste, Marriantha Merone, and Rubens Pauleon—utilized a fraudulent user account under the name Fernando Victor to approve passport applications without processing payments through the treasury. The agency is seeking prosecution and sanctions, including asset freezes for all parties involved. The cases of Hédouville, Vincent, and François are part of a larger corruption investigation revealed by the ULCC, which has also identified three additional reports detailing public fund misappropriations totaling $903,076.
Four passport centers located in Delmas, Tabarre, Pétion-Ville, and Rue Lamarre in Port-au-Prince unlawfully collected $557,692 in cash under Vincent's instructions. A public contract, awarded without competitive bidding, amounted to $261,538, and an additional $83,846 was spent without proper documentation. In Saint-Marc, officials, including Washny Bien-Aimé and Castel Ertilus, transferred state funds into a personal account and paid themselves unauthorized salaries and per diems. Meanwhile, in Hinche, public official Gerline Joseph improperly allocated farmland to a personal acquaintance using forged documents.
Limited Response from the Justice System
Despite the magnitude of these offenses, the ULCC cautions that Haiti's justice system has seldom taken action. From 2004 to 2024, the agency submitted 87 reports recommending criminal prosecution, yet only one case resulted in a conviction, and four were closed—one of which was dismissed.
The agency is now calling on the judiciary to take decisive measures, including prosecuting identified individuals, freezing assets, and conducting comprehensive audits.
Editor’s note: These reports are part of an ongoing investigation into government corruption. The Haitian Times will continue to monitor developments as they arise.
