By Gerrino J. Saunders
Bahama Journal News Editor
The United Nations Panel of Experts on Haiti is concerned that blood money gained by illicit Haitian gangs may have been filtered through Bahamian banks so the Central Bank of The Bahamas is digging deep through financial transactions to determine whether there is any evidence to support the suspicion.
The Central Bank revealed in a statement on its website on Wednesday, 6th August that the UN Panel through the Office Of The Attorney-General issued a special notice and request of the Central Bank of the Bahamas (CBOB) to have all supervised financial institutions in The Bahamas review their client records to determine whether or not they hold funds and other financial assets or economic resources owned or controlled directly or indirectly by at least seven Haitian gang leaders who are also on the international sanctions list.
The names of those gang leaders include: Jimmy Cherizier aka Barbeque, leader of the G9 Family; Andre Johnson aka Izo leader of the 5 Segond gang, accused of rape kidnapping and drug trafficking; Joseph Wilson leader of the 400 Mawozo gang also accused of kidnappings; Vitelhomme Innocent who is on the FBI’s most wanted list; Victor Prophane a former Haitian politician accused of tracking in illegal weapons and financing gang violence; Elan Luckson head of the Gran Grif group; and Renel ‘Ti lapli’ Destina leader of the Grand Ravine gang accused of hijackings, rape and attacks on Haitian police.
The UN Panel says it wants banks to report both positive and negative findings to the Central Bank and any positive findings or hits are required to be reported to the Financial Intelligence Unit at the Attorney-General Office.
The request by the UN Panel is in line with section 3A of the International Obligations (Economic and Ancillary Measures) Amendment Act 2019 and resolution 2653 (2022).
The aim behind the request is to target individuals and entities that are contributing to the destabilization of Haiti.
According to the UN more than 1.3 million people have been displaced in Haiti as surging gang violence, lawlessness, and impunity expose the population – especially women and girls – to heightened risks of exploitation and sexual violence.
Since January, the UN Integrated Office in Haiti recorded over 4,000 individuals deliberately killed – a 24 percent increase compared to the same period in 2024.
“The capital city was for all intents and purposes paralyzed by gangs and isolated due to the ongoing suspension of international commercial flights into the international airport,” recently Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for the Americas at the department of political affairs (DPPA), told ambassadors in the Security Council.
He called on the international community to act decisively and urgently or the “total collapse of state presence in the capital could become a very real scenario”.
A wealthy businessman was slated to become president of Haiti’s transitional presidential council on Thursday, marking the first time that the private sector is in control of the country’s two executive branches.
Saint-Cyr previously served as president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Haiti and of the country’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He will be working with Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, a one-time president of an internet company in Haiti and also a former president of the country’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
However, it is believed the change in command is further threatened to destabilize the country as a powerful gang federation that has long denounced Haiti’s oligarchs pledged to overthrow the government hours before the swearing-in.
In a video message Chérizier said, “People of Haiti, take care of yourselves and help us in the battle to free the country.”
Wearing a bulletproof vest and with an automatic rifle slung around his shoulder, Chérizier rattled off the names of several neighbourhoods, asking that residents give them free passage to reach the council’s office.
A growing number of people have grumbled about Haiti’s private sector leading the country. Some of Haiti’s wealthy elites and powerful politicians have long been accused of financing and arming dozens of gangs.
As the country prepared for the swearing in, Haitians posted a flurry of warnings about violence in hopes that people could remain safe.
