How US lawyers and bankers aided powerful Haitian tycoons now sanctioned over corruption by Canada – The Namibian

Two Haitian millionaires accused by Canada of corruption and enabling murderous gangs to run rampant throughout the long-suffering island nation had been helped for years by U.S. attorneys and bankers to purchase offshore corporations and such luxuries as a multimillion-dollar ocean-view dwelling in Florida, data present.

In December, the foreign ministry of Canada sanctioned Gilbert Bigio, who’s sometimes called Haiti’s richest particular person, and insurance coverage magnate Sherif Abdallah, calling them “members of the Haitian elite who present illicit monetary and operational help to armed gangs.”

Collectively, Abdallah and Bigio owned or had different hyperlinks to nearly 20 corporations and trusts created in a number of the world’s most secretive tax havens, in line with paperwork from the Pandora Papers, a worldwide investigation by the Worldwide Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

Attorneys and bankers in Miami supplied the boys with tax recommendation, letters of reference and different companies, in line with leaked recordsdata that fashioned the premise of the 2021 investigation by ICIJ and media companions.

“Canada has cause to consider these people are utilizing their standing as high-profile members of the financial elite in Haiti to guard and allow the unlawful actions of armed prison gangs, together with by means of cash laundering and different acts of corruption,” the federal government mentioned in saying the sanctions.

The blacklisting got here in response to what consultants are calling Haiti’s worst humanitarian disaster in many years. Thus far, the international ministry in Ottawa has sanctioned 15 Haitian politicians and enterprise moguls, together with Bigio and Abdallah.

“Those that make investments on this financial system at one degree or one other know they have to be able to have their very own armed teams to guard themselves,” Jacques Jean-Vernet, a professor at Haiti State College in Port-au-Prince, informed ICIJ.  “Everyone knows their practices, however nobody dares do something.”

Bigio and Abdallah didn’t reply to requests for remark.

Bigio, 87, made his fortune by means of many years of main offers. He constructed a metal mill, opened a bottling firm and purchased oil trade belongings throughout the Caribbean.

Within the early Nineties, the U.S. authorities sanctioned Bigio, his spouse, son and others for his or her help of a army coup that ousted Haiti’s first democratically elected president. Years later, a  member of a Haitian militia ‒ or personal military ‒ accused Bigio and one other businessman of paying for the 1993 assassination of a distinguished democracy activist, in line with Jeb Sprauge, author and College of California Riverside research associate. Authorities in Haiti didn’t cost Bigio with or accuse him of wrongdoing.

Years later, Bigio was the topic of constructive reporting when an organization of his supplied medical reduction after an earthquake that killed an estimated 230,000 folks. The Israeli authorities arrange a hospital on property owned by the Bigio household, in line with media stories on the time.

Publicly, Bigio stays focussed on making a living. “Our precept, which we respect day by day, is to not combine in Haitian politics,” he mentioned in a 2007 newspaper interview.

In August 2020, Haiti’s court docket of auditors criticized a authorities take care of an organization owned by the Bigio household that was scrutinized as a part of a broader probe into the alleged mismanagement of greater than $2 billion in state funds. The corporate, Repsa SA, acquired a $30 million dredging contract regardless of a authorities choice to restrict the contract to half that value.

“Is it favoritism? Is that this a poor wants evaluation?” the court docket requested. “This manner of managing improvement tasks … has brought on hurt to the challenge and to the neighborhood.” Repsa didn’t reply to requests for remark.

Abdallah, 64, owns one in all Haiti’s main insurance coverage corporations, and he was reportedly a detailed ally of a former president, Jovenel Moïse. Abdallah is the honorary consul for Italy; Bigio is the previous honorary consul for Israel. Honorary consuls are part-time volunteer diplomats who obtain a number of the perks and protections afforded skilled diplomats.

In 2018, as President Moïse got here beneath stress from rising unrest within the nation, he reportedly sought refuge in a house owned by Abdallah. Native media reported that the house benefited from diplomatic protections given to Abdallah in his place as honorary consul. Moïse was assassinated in 2021.

‘Of the utmost integrity’

Data from the Pandora Papers present that Bigio and Abdallah had been house owners, administrators or shareholders of not less than 20 offshore corporations.

Whereas proudly owning an offshore firm isn’t in itself unlawful, such corporations are used to evade taxes and commit different crimes. Offshore corporations current explicit challenges for poor international locations, together with Haiti, the place tax inspectors, police and judges typically face difficulties acquiring details about the wealthiest residents.

Bigio was related to not less than a dozen such corporations, a lot of which had been created within the Bahamas. He additionally arrange two trusts, secretive entities that may present tax advantages and that usually don’t require disclosure to governments.

The trusts had been used to profit members of Bigio’s household residing in the USA, data present. One belief invested within the gas trade. One other, the Deep Blue Belief, had a $31 million stake in Haitian corporations and owned a $3 million dwelling within the Bal Harbour enclave in Miami-Dade County.

One in every of Bigio’s most lively helpers was the Miami-based regulation agency Packman, Neuwahl & Rosenberg. “My agency has been doing enterprise with Gilbert  for over 10 years and we have now discovered him to be of the utmost integrity, to be extraordinarily ethical {and professional},” wrote agency co-founder Todd Rosenberg in a 2010 letter of reference as he helped Bigio open a checking account in Switzerland.

“Gilbert Bigio has at all times demonstrated a excessive diploma of integrity and functionality, and has been properly esteemed by his colleagues and associates,” wrote Richard Bajandas, a founding associate at one other Florida regulation agency, Perlman, Bajandas, Yevoli & Albright.

Letter of reference for Gilbert Bigio, from Florida regulation agency Perlman, Bajandas, Yevoli & Albright

Rosenberg didn’t reply to requests for remark. Bajandas informed ICIJ that he stands by his agency’s evaluation of Bigio’s status.

“No proof has ever been supplied (nor to our understanding exists) that Mr. Bigio had something to do with the gangs in Haiti,” Bajandas mentioned, commenting on the Canadian sanctions. He added that gang violence in Haiti has brought on financial hurt to Bigio and his companies.

“Pointing fingers with none proof is equally damning and is a continuation of the misinformation that has ravaged Haiti for years,” Bajandas mentioned.

Abdallah owned not less than 4 corporations registered within the Bahamas, data present. In 2017, in line with one doc, Abdallah established an organization within the British Virgin Islands to personal a $1 million yacht named Karisa.

In organising the corporate, Abdallah listed his dwelling as a Twentieth-floor house in downtown Miami.

Not far down the street labored his longtime personal bankers at Santander Financial institution. “In all my dealings with Mr Abdallah, I’ve discovered him to be of the very best private integrity and honesty,” one banker wrote in 2017. “I can unequivocally state that Mr Sherif Abdallah is an individual of the very best character.”

Santander Financial institution didn’t reply to requests for remark.

After Canada imposed sanctions, Abdallah resigned as a vice chairman of Sogebank, one of many largest monetary establishments in Haiti.

‘Diplomatic energy’

Bigio and Abdallah additionally moved collectively in one other close-knit circle: diplomacy.

Abdallah has represented Italy as honorary consul in Haiti for greater than a decade, data present. Bigio was Israel’s honorary consul in Haiti for greater than twenty years; a big Israeli flag as soon as flew outdoors his dwelling, in line with media stories.

The protections loved by honorary consuls embody the diplomat’s capacity to protect sure communications and properties from searches by regulation enforcement officers.

In 2016, in line with the Pandora Papers, Bigio and his spouse, Monique, used diplomatic passports to assist arrange an offshore firm.

Honorary consuls don’t mechanically obtain diplomatic passports, however some international locations present them. And diplomatic passports can include journey advantages, together with particular remedy by customs officers and police at airports.

“Lots of those that dominate the financial system in Haiti are additionally honorary consuls,” mentioned college professor Jean-Vernet. “Police gained’t search their properties or their locations of labor as a result of they consider them to be protected as a part of the honorary consulate. They’ve diplomatic energy.”

Ben Moore, a spokesperson for Israel’s international ministry, mentioned it vets the background of all its honorary consuls however declined to touch upon why it had appointed these beforehand sanctioned by the USA. Moore mentioned Bigio’s son, Reuven, changed his father as honorary consul greater than a decade in the past.

The international ministry in Italy informed ICIJ media associate, L’Espresso, that it promptly discovered of the sanctions in opposition to its honorary consul, who selected to “self-suspend” himself from the function. Italy is now looking for an honorary consul in Haiti to exchange Abdallah.

Contributors: Leo Sisti (L’Espresso, Italy)