WASHINGTON, Jan 3 (IPS) – U.S. lawyers who have been moving to recover the money and property that Haiti alleges were stolen by former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier and his wife Michele Bennett Duvalier have hit their first jack-pot.

Michael Krinsky, a New York lawyer representing the Haitian government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, told IPS Wednesday that a long-running case to recover the assets of the couple who fled the Caribbean country 10 years ago is finally producing results.

In a judgement made public this week, a New York court has ordered the Bank of New York to return to Haiti 350 thousand dollars from a frozen account owned by the former first lady.

But this may just be the tip of the iceberg.

Haiti alleges that the couple who are now divorced and residing in southern France pilfered 120 million dollars from the Haitian economy before they fled on a U.S. airforce jet Feb. 7, 1986 following several weeks of demonstrations by Haitians who were fed up with abuse and corruption.

The hasty exit of the dictator known as ‘’Baby Doc’’ ended the 28-year Duvalier dynasty that began when his father Francois ‘’Papa Doc’’ Duvalier gained the presidency in 1957.

In the first ruling in the on-again-off-again case, a New York judge on Dec. 18 set Michele Duvalier’s debts to Haiti at six million dollars.

‘’That was the amount we were able to show came into the jurisdiction of New York,’’ said Krinsky, who is with the Manhattan firm, Rabinowitz Boudin Standard Krinsky and Lieberman.

He said the assets included a condominium in Manhattan, allegedly owned by the former first lady through a front corporation she controls.

‘’We’ll be seeking recovery of that,’’ the lawyer said. ‘’And we’ll be proceeding expeditiously in Europe’’. He declined to say which countries may be involved.

Some of the assets in the United States are under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Treasury. When the Duvaliers were forced out of Haiti, the U.S. government froze bank accounts and other properties pending the outcome of the litigation.

But the case has dragged on for more than nine years. Court proceedings were dismissed for failure to prosecute when former Haitian leaders did not cooperate.

But President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was an outspoken critic of the latter Duvalier’s dictatorship, instructed lawyers to reopen the case after he was sworn into office Feb. 7, 1991. Proceedings again ran into trouble when the military, led by Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras seized control of Haiti in September that year, forcing Aristide to flee to Venezuela and then to Washington.

The money will come at a crucial time for Haiti, which returned to constitutional rule when U.S. forces returned Aristide to office in Oct. 1994.

Haiti is desperate for cash to rebuild the country’s infrastructure and provide health care, education, and homes to a population of 7.2 million.

Following elections last month, a new government, led by president-elect Rene Preval will have to address the acute poverty in a country whose per capita income of 225 dollars makes it the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.

In fact a report just released here warns that steps must be taken to address health conditions which remain among the world’s worst.

The 1994/95 Haiti Survey on Mortality, Morbidity and Utilisation of Services, conducted by L’Institut Haitien de L’Enfance (IHE) and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), says that only 131 of every 1,000 children live past their fifth birthdays.

Not only is the child mortality rate the highest in this hemisphere, two of every five children aged three to four years old suffer chronic undernutrition, according to the report.

Krinsky says he expects the 350 thousand dollars at the Bank of New York will be unfrozen ‘’within the next couple weeks’’. (END/IPS/YJC/96)

Origin: Washington/HAITI/ ----

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