Haiti court throws out summons for top leaders in corruption case, newspaper reports

A Haiti court has thrown out a prior summons order against three members of the Caribbean nation's ruling transitional presidential council who have been accused of corruption, local newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported on Wednesday.

The three members of the nine-member ruling council cannot be summoned by a regular court due to their presidential status, the newspaper said, citing a decision from the capital's appeals court which said the earlier summons was unconstitutional.

The court did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

Judge Benjamin Felisme had in December issued summons for Emmanuel Vertilaire, Smith Augustin and Louis Gerald Gilles.

The three members of the presidential council are accused of asking the chairman of Haiti's state-owned National Credit Bank (BNC) for some $760,000 in bribes in order to maintain his position, and receiving funds in the form of credit lines.

The three top-ranking officials have denied wrongdoing.

While they remain in their roles in Haiti's top executive council, they have been left out of the existing schedule for the executive's rotating six-month presidency.

The transitional presidential council was set up in April last year after former Prime Minister Ariel Henry was forced to resign amid spiraling insecurity as armed gangs expanded their power and territorial gains in and around the capital.

It has been mandated to help restore security and pave the way for long-awaited elections, but its administration has been marked by political infighting while gangs have continued to expand and forced hundreds of thousands more from their homes.

Over 1 million people are now internally displaced and around half the population, especially those living in makeshift camps, are facing food insecurity.

Meanwhile, police unions have criticized the government for not committing enough resources, or following their strategic recommendations to seriously fight the gangs.

"If no concrete action is taken, we will consider that the authorities have abandoned the population and the police to the hands of criminals," the SPNH-17 union said on Sunday.

Haiti's judicial system, alongside many state institutions, remains paralyzed. Its ULCC anti-corruption unit obtained just one conviction of close to 90 investigations it has submitted to Haiti's judiciary, according to figures it provided last year.