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Aristideâs Former Security Chief was U.S. Informant?
EFLThe former security chief for deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has been identified in court as a U.S. government informant in its investigation of alleged drug trafficking by members of Aristideâs administration. No evidence has been presented in open court linking Aristide -- now in Jamaica making arrangements to go to South Africa -- to a suspected narcotics conspiracy in the widening federal probe of high-ranking officials in his toppled government. But an attorney said in court that former Aristide security chief Oriel Jean -- extradited in early March from Canada on a drug-smuggling conspiracy charge -- was cooperating with the federal government. On Friday, lawyer Lawrence Besser, representing a former commander in the Haitian National Police, said Jean ââwas seeking favors from the governmentââ such as a reduced sentence in exchange for information about Aristideâs inner circle. Federal prosecutors objected to Besserâs identifying Jean as a confidential source. An identified confidential source? Isnât that an oxymoron? Besser said his client, Rudy Therassan, a commander in the Haitian National Police, also provided information to the U.S Drug Enforcement Agency until last year. Therassan was arrested in Miami-Dade County earlier this month on a warrant alleging he received hundreds of thousands of dollars to protect cocaine shipments passing from Colombia via Haiti to the U.S. At Therassanâs detention hearing, Besser also identified another government informant, Beaudoin ââJacquesââ Ketant, as the drug trafficker who paid Therassan $150,000 for each planeload allowed to land on a major highway in Haiti. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lynn Kirkpatrick again objected but did not say whether Ketant or Jean were informants. Iâm just objecting on general principles. In February, Ketant said in a Miami federal courtroom that he couldnât have thrived without paying millions in bribes to his close friend, Aristide. Ketant was sentenced to 27 years in prison and ordered to pay $30 million in fines and forfeitures. I thought Haitians were poor. After his sentencing, Miami attorney Ira Kurzban, general counsel to the Haitian government and an advisor to Aristide, said that Ketantâs accusation ``is just another piece of the effort to politically assassinate President Aristide.ââ Posted by: Super Hose 2004-05-28 |
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