Revelations about the embezzlement allegations at ISPAN

Documents obtained by AyiboPost complicate the explanations provided by the Ministry of Culture and Communication in this case

Lire cet article en français

A human rights organization has accused officials from the National Heritage Preservation Institute (ISPAN) and officials from the Ministry of Culture and Communication of possible embezzlement of funds in a project dedicated to the restoration and protection of heritage.

This ISPAN initiative represents a budget of several hundred million gourdes for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.

In a report dated September 18, the Fondasyon Je Klere (FJKL) questioned disbursements involving figures from the Ministry of Culture and Communication.

The day after the publication of the denunciation, the ministry published a « formal denial » concerning a sum of 1.6 million gourdes cited in the report, an amount allegedly received directly by Minister Patrick Delatour.

Contrary to the FJKL’s accusations submitted to the Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC) on September 18, 2025, « no debit card was issued to the Minister of Culture and Communication, the architect of monuments Patrick Delatour. Nor was any fee paid to the Minister from this fund, » the ministry maintained.

AyiboPost cannot confirm whether the minister actually received undue funds from this project.

But interviews with people involved in the initiative at ISPAN and the government, and documents obtained, complicate the ministry’s explanation.

A version of an internal ISPAN document lists a group of people who were to receive « management fees » for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. The minister was among them, with an amount of one million six hundred thousand gourdes.

AyiboPost spoke with one of the three signatories of the document. This senior ISPAN official claimed on two occasions to have actually signed and sealed it.

The minister is not entitled to fees from ISPAN’s investment budget and the public administration does not pay these amounts by debit card for reasons of traceability and audit, the senior official said.

« We have just worked on this document, we have another version, » he said. « In the document we produced, the minister is not in it and no transfer has been made. »

A version of an internal ISPAN document lists a group of people who were to receive « management fees » for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. The minister was among them, with an amount of one million six hundred thousand gourdes.

Asked why the minister signed the document as it was illegal for him to receive money from the project, the other signatory said: « It has happened to me before that I sign documents without having time to analyze them. I then ask the accountant or my secretary not to send them because I would have to check them afterward. I foresee something like this happening. Between the ISPAN administrator who thinks the minister is entitled to this, and the final administrator who reviews everything and knows the minister is not entitled to this, he will tell him. It is his job not to let the minister, who is an architect with no knowledge of financial and accounting systems, [continue]. »

Following the changes mentioned by the ISPAN executive, AyiboPost is unable to confirm, at the time of publication, who actually received funds, or to what extent.

AyiboPost forwarded the page in question to Minister Delatour via WhatsApp. He did not respond to a request for comment sent to his ministry’s email address.

Contacted by telephone on Monday, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Culture and Communication, Paul Villefranche, said it was a « fake » created using technological tools. Villefranche had not received the AyiboPost page at the time of the call, but he knew it had been sent to the minister’s WhatsApp numbers and was aware of the detailed request for comment.

The “Development, restoration and protection of heritage sites” project is to be implemented by ISPAN, an autonomous body under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture and Communication.

The FJKL denounced the transfer of money to officials of this ministry as part of the project. Following the ministry’s memo, ISPAN published a clarification. Neither party explicitly denied the potential transfer of funds to employees of the Ministry of Culture and Communication.

According to a public law specialist contacted by AyiboPost, if Minister Delatour had indeed received money from a project budgeted for an autonomous body under his authority, this would be a clear case of conflict of interest.

Read also: The behind the scenes of the “corruption pact” between members of the CPT and the BNC

According to this specialist, ISPAN does not have the legal right to pay remuneration from its projects to civil servants of the central state administration.

According to Article 106 of the 2005 decree regulating public administration, cited by the specialist, « central administration officials may be made available to local authorities and autonomous bodies to carry out administrative assistance or support missions. »

In such a configuration, the decree continues, « these civil servants continue to be paid by their original administration. »

Questioned by AyiboPost, the ISPAN executive declared: « ISPAN does not pay the officials seconded to the project, the institution grants them expenses, which is perfectly legal. »

The state often pays extremely low salaries, which pushes some ministries and autonomous organizations to award bonuses and additional expenses to their employees. The director of ISPAN, for example, reportedly receives 69,000 gourdes net and 30,000 gourdes on his debit card.

The practice of paying fees and bonuses several times higher than the beneficiaries’ salaries and sometimes outside the law encourages abuses and corruption, according to public administration specialists.

The ULCC has been asked to take up the case. As part of a traditional investigation, the institution must gather evidence, interview stakeholders within the relevant ministries and institutions, and determine whether the law has been violated before making recommendations to the courts.

The state often pays extremely low salaries, which pushes some ministries and autonomous organizations to award bonuses and additional expenses to their employees. The director of ISPAN, for example, reportedly receives 69,000 gourdes net and 30,000 gourdes on his debit card.

Insecurity complicates access to sites under ISPAN’s responsibility. But changing the fiscal year from October would have resulted in the loss of funds already budgeted, in a fragile political climate. One of the sources involved in the project said he had concerns about this, which explains the efforts to disburse the funds.

AyiboPost does not have any concrete data on the activities actually carried out or on the amounts actually spent for the fiscal year despite several requests.

The documents consulted by AyiboPost may have been cancelled during discussions between ministries and ISPAN in a context of persistent opacity in Haitian public institutions.

An ISPAN official contacted promised to provide evidence of activities carried out during the fiscal year on the project. AyiboPost was unable to meet with him before publication. This article will be updated if the meeting takes place.

AyiboPost also contacted one of the architects involved in the project. He claims to have recently signed an architectural programming contract worth 650,000 gourdes per month for August and September. He must submit his report before the final payment, scheduled for September 30, 2025.

The professional explains that he has already submitted a preliminary report to ISPAN, covering in particular the methodology applied as well as a prototype of architectural programming.

This specialist states that he has no information regarding the rest of the project.

By : Widlore Mérancourt

Cover : Portrait de Patrick Delatour, ministre de la Culture et de la Communication. Photo : ISPAN HAITI