Who paid for that house in Canada? Haitians Demand Answers

Celestine said she had a radio station called Model FM, which she had set up in a rural area, but which had grown to the point where it was set up in the suburbs of Port-au-Prince. The station actually has a small reserved office in the suburb of Petionville with no signs. When The Times visited him twice, the office was closed or there was a person who could not provide information about the station. Even a brochure.

Celestine said she also has a gas company called PetroGaz-HaitiBut by its very nature, it appeared to violate legal barriers to profit from state funds. Although politicians are allowed to do business, the Constitution prohibits them from entering into contracts with the state, which Mr. Celestine said had been with the company for four years.

The Haitian government’s anti-corruption unit is burning down It has been released he: purchase investigation in February near Celestine’s home in Canada. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Force, a national police force, said it could not determine whether it was also investigating the deal. Under Canadian regulations, the purchase must have raised a red flag, he says. Gary ClementFormer head of the RCMP unit investigating money laundering.

As a senator, Celestine is considered a “politically open person.” Canadian money laundering regulations, which means that financial institutions must be diligent in finding the source of more than $ 100,000 in remittances. Mister. Clement explained that these rules applied to Ms. Celestine as a “PEP” woman.

Celestine said that everything about the purchase is top-notch. “If it hadn’t been clean, it would have had a lot of trouble with the banks in Miami,” he said, adding that he regularly transferred between $ 20 million and $ 30 million to Turkey to buy iron import businesses because of what he said. “I’m afraid if my money is not clean.”

But Celestine and her Montreal attorney, Alexander Bergevin, declined to answer further questions or provide the names of their import company or farm. His wife, an advisor to the Haitian consulate in Montreal since 2019, did not respond to a request for comment.

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