Haiti drops lawsuit against Aristide

[MDeibert*]

I am no legal expert but this sounds more like "withdrawn with the option to refile" than "dropped." Whether Preval will pursue it or not is anyone's guess.

MD


Posted on Thu, Jul. 06, 2006


MIAMI
Haiti drops lawsuit against Aristide

BY JAY WEAVER
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com

Haiti's government has dropped its corruption lawsuit against ex-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in a Miami federal court, leaving the door open to refile it later.

The lawsuit, which accused the ousted leader of stealing ''tens of millions of dollars'' from the Haitian treasury and state-owned telephone company, was dropped by the government in a notice filed Monday with the court. It gave no reason for the decision.

The Haitian government reserved the legal right to refile the suit later against Aristide and others in his administration, which collapsed under pressure from an armed rebellion in 2004.

Lawyers for the Haitian government had asked a Miami federal judge for more time in March to pursue the suit, arguing they were unable to serve a summons on Aristide because he is living in exile in South Africa.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke granted the request.

Then last month the Haitian government's lawyers gave Port-au-Prince officials until June 30 to decide on a legal course of action -- pursue the suit now or drop it temporarily.

Former interim Prime Minister Gérard Latortue has said the real cause of the delay was a dispute over money with the Chicago law firm handling the civil case. The firm, Winston & Strawn, did not reply to requests for comment.

Officials in the newly elected government of President René Préval, once an Aristide ally, declined to comment on the case.

Filed last November, the 74-page suit alleged Aristide ``abused his power and deceived and betrayed the Haitian people by directing and participating in ongoing and fraudulent schemes.''

The suit, which never led to any substantive actions, was based on two reports by Haitian government investigators that accused Aristide of illegally pumping millions of dollars in public funds into shell companies and into his private charities.


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Miami Herald staff reporter Jacqueline Charles contributed to this report.

[jafrikayiti*]

Maybe the Boulos klan, Haiti Demokkkracy Project and their imaginative (I mean investigative) journalists shall be the ones to pick up the lawsuit?

[Bouli*]

What about that for a title:
EXPERT M. DEIBERT HAS DISCOVERED CORRUPTION IN ARISTIDE