Baby Doc Tries to Do Good

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Baby Doc Tries to Do Good

Wikimedia Commons

Bad company: The former dictator, pictured in 1971 at the age of 19, was an ally of U.S. President Ronald Reagan before his ouster.

In a transformation befitting of Charles Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol,” Haiti’s former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, now back in his homeland after years in exile, wants to lay his hands on millions of dollars, he says, to help rebuild his catastrophe-ridden homeland.

His lawyer says Duvalier wants to unfreeze millions held in Swiss bank accounts in order to aid his people. —JCL

CNN:

An American attorney representing Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier said Saturday that the former dictator returned to Haiti in hopes of recovering millions frozen in Swiss bank accounts and channeling them through a U.S. intermediary to help rebuild his troubled homeland.

In the past, Duvalier has attempted to personally claim the $5.7 million in a bank account belonging to a family foundation. But attorney Ed Marger said the highly controversial and polarizing former leader now wants to use the money to help Haiti, devastated a year ago by a massive earthquake.

“He doesn’t want the funds for himself,” Marger told CNN. “He wants a transparent entity to release the funds.”

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TAGS: baby doc corruption dictator embezzlement exile france haiti jean-claude duvalier reagan

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By Sol, January 24, 2011 at 2:51 pm Link to this comment

The World bias in favour of the rich and powerful is so damn obvious that makes anyone alive sick to death. Here we go again. He run out of money in France and it is time to replenish the bank accounts. So he wants access to international donations right? Well here is what this man deserves - a bullet in the middle of his head. It is amazing that the international community is still debating this man. His friends in high places will make arrangments for him to get his hands where he wants them. Just watch him.

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By Lafayette, January 24, 2011 at 3:59 am Link to this comment

{aac: What are they waiting for. }

The funds have been sequestered in Switzerland, which passed last year a law they call the “Duvalier Law”, which comes into effect this January 31st.

The Haitian government must make a formal application for the funds, which supposedly has been done. So, it is now just a question of waiting for the law to come into effect.

Switzerland has already blocked the funds of the Tunisian Ben Ali and Trebelsi (Ben Ali’s wife’s maiden name and the major half of this Cosa Nostra) families - so it’s not that they are sleeping on such matters.

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By skimohawk, January 23, 2011 at 11:06 pm Link to this comment

from the cited article:

“He doesn’t want the funds for himself,” Marger told CNN. “He wants a transparent entity to release the funds.”

Anybody want to buy a bridge?

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By Conden, January 23, 2011 at 8:19 pm Link to this comment

Baby Doc does want that money for himself; he should be in jail.

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By aacme88, January 23, 2011 at 7:38 pm Link to this comment

Well, if Bob Barr has anything to do with it, you know it’s all on the up and up.

“I deal with allegations all the time,” he says. Absolutely truthfully.

And Baby Doc being back in the country and available for prosecution may cause Haiti to relinquish the right to the disputed $5.7M if they don’t prosecute.
What are they waiting for.
He wants the money, and his estate (Haiti) back.

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