A Haiti court has dismissed a previous summons against three members of the ruling transitional presidential council, reported by local newspaper Le Nouvelliste on February 20. The court ruled that the three council members, due to their presidential status, cannot be summoned by a regular court, deeming the initial summons unconstitutional according to the capital's appeals court decision.
The court did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Judge Benjamin Felisme had issued summons in December for Emmanuel Vertilaire, Smith Augustin, and Louis Gerald Gilles. The trio faces accusations of soliciting $760,000 in bribes from the chairman of Haiti's state-owned National Credit Bank (BNC) to maintain his position, allegedly receiving funds as credit lines.
While maintaining their positions on Haiti's top executive council, they have been excluded from the current rotational six-month presidency schedule. The transitional presidential council was created in April last year following the resignation of former Prime Minister Ariel Henry amid escalating insecurity fueled by expanding gang activity in and around the capital.
The council aims to restore security, facilitate overdue elections, but has faced internal conflicts while gang-related violence persists, forcing hundreds of thousands more from their homes. The country now has over 1 million internally displaced people, and approximately half the population, notably those in makeshift camps, are grappling with food insecurity.
Criticism from police unions has been directed at the government for insufficient resource allocation and not fully implementing strategic measures to combat gangs. The SPNH-17 union warned, "If no concrete action is taken, we will consider that the authorities have abandoned the population and the police to the hands of criminals".
Haiti's judicial system, like many state institutions, remains in a state of paralysis. The ULCC anti-corruption unit reported obtaining only one conviction out of nearly 90 investigations submitted to Haiti's judiciary last year.