CHIEF PROSECUTOR'S TESTIMONY MOLLIFIES SENATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 001476 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/31/2017 TAGS: PGOV PREL HA SUBJECT: CHIEF PROSECUTOR'S TESTIMONY MOLLIFIES SENATE REF: A) PORT AU PRINCE 1447 B) PORT AU PRINCE 1442 C) PORT AU PRINCE 1345 D) PORT AU PRINCE 1126 Classified By: AMBASSADOR JANET SANDERSON. REASON: 1.4 (B),(D) Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Port-au-Prince Chief Prosecutor Gassant's deferential appearance before the Senate August 30 has sharply reduced tensions between the government and the legislature. A minority of Senators insists that the Senate still must summon the Prime Minister for a vote of no confidence. Senate President Lambert, who played a central and responsible role in defusing the Gassant confrontation, will be a key factor in whether that vote comes about. End summary. Prosecutor Smoothes Ruffles Feathers -------------- ¶2. (U) Port-au-Prince Chief Prosecutor Claudy Gassant appeared with Justice and Public Security Minister Rene Magloire before the Senate Committee on Justice and Security August 30 and answered questions about the prosecutor's liberal use of preventive detention in corruption investigations. Their performance met with the general satisfaction of committee members. Following the hearing, Senate President Joseph Lambert effusively praised Gassant and Magloire for complying with the Senate committee summons. Lambert declared that with the appearance of Minister Gassant and Prosecutor Gassant, the prestige of the Senate had been restored and legislative and executive institutions had emerged strengthened. Even avowed Alexis rival Senator Yourie Latortue made conciliatory remarks to the press after Gassant's testimony. Gassant himself, whose testimony was televised, comported himself in uncharacteristically deferential fashion during his testimony and in subsequent press interviews, saying his previous refusal to comply with the Senate summons was due to a death of a relative -- and to threats against him by certain Senators. ¶3. (U) There is a finite possibility that the Senate could still interpellate Prime Minister Alexis. Press reports point to Senator Gabriel Fortune saying that the Senate's earlier resolution to interpellate Prime Minister Alexis still stands, and that the Senate should follow through with it in coming weeks. (Note: Fortune lacks standing among his Senate colleagues. End note.) Senate President Lambert did not rule this out, but pointed out the constitutional provision that allows the Senate to interpellate the government for a vote of no confidence only once a year. President Preval Satisfied -------------- ¶4. (C) President Preval met with the Ambassador at the Port au Prince airport August 30 prior to his departure for Miami (for dental work, the President said). He expressed satisfaction at the way the Senate committee hearing had transpired. Gassant had acquitted himself well. President Preval believed the Senate hearing would defuse tensions temporarily, but that some legislators would continue to attack government ministers. Rushing in to see the President off, PM Alexis told the Ambassador he expected that some Senators would continue their campaign against the government. The Ambassador suggested to Preval that Senate President Lambert had played a positive role in defusing this confrontation, but Preval would say only that the government had ''talked a lot'' with him. ¶5. (C) Preval asked the Ambassador for her opinion of the arrests of prominent businessmen David and Fritz Brandt and Franck Cine. The Ambassador assured him that if the government had a case against these individuals, it should bring them to justice. On the other hand, she noted, we were not the only ones noticing that arrests of businessmen were in the glare of publicity but that there was virtually no news about investigations of government officials. Preval agreed that corruption involved both the bribe-giver and bribe-taker. In his August 24 meeting with leaders of Haiti's business community, businessmen requested amnesty for past delinquencies. Preval refused, saying that he wanted them to identify the government officials with whom they had cooperated in past illicit transactions. Corruption is more dangerous to Haiti than security or gangs: Haiti is gaining control over the latter problems, but corruption is embedded in society. PORT AU PR 00001476 002 OF 002 Comment -------------- ¶6. (C) The arrests of Cine and The Brandts may well be part of a Presidential strategy to cow private sector leaders into cleaning up their act. When combined with Prosecutor Gassant's temporary defiance of the Senate, they produced another threat by the parliament to summon the Prime Minister -- a tried and true tactic of the legislature to reassert its influence over the government. President Preval and Senate President Lambert cooperated to defuse the confrontation by getting the zealous and aggressive Port-au-Prince prosecutor to testify respectfully before the Senate, and then having all sides claim victory. We are unable to predict whether the minority of Senators will succeed in reviving the no confidence vote, or whether Senate President Lambert has the votes to defeat it. What is clear is that Lambert is playing an increasingly important and responsible role. SANDERSON