Corruption in Haiti occurs at one of the worst rates in the world. Corruption disrupts all attempts to establish a rule of law, a sustainable democracy, and to improve the quality of life of Haiti's people.
Haiti's score on Transparency International's 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index is 16 on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). When ranked by score, Haiti ranked 169th among the 182 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison with regional scores, the best score among the countries of the Americas was 75, the average score was 42 and the worst score was 10. For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 89 (ranked 1), the average score was 42, and the worst score was 9 (ranked 181, in a two-way tie).
Haiti has also had multiple incidents of military unrest.
Contributing factors Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, is plagued by corruption, gang violence, drug trafficking, and organized crime. The effectiveness of public finance and the rule of law has been severely undermined by years of political volatility. Challenges include reconstruction following Hurricane Matthew, which struck in October 2016, and continued recovery from the devastating earthquake that struck early in 2010.
Close to 60% of the population lives below the national poverty line. Twenty-five percent of Haiti's people live in extreme poverty.
Corruption is a severe and widespread problem in all levels of government. Although there has been some progress since 2008, when Haiti was rated the world's fourth most corrupt country, there remains much room for improvement.
Robert Klitgaard, an expert on the subject, wrote in 2010 that corruption in Haiti "is not the activity of a few rogue officials or politicians" but is more like "organized crime", with corrupt procurement deals arising through collusion and kleptocratic racket.
In a January 2012 article, Peter Worthington stated that Haiti's dependency on foreign aid and corrupt legacy have hurt the nation's development more than the growing trend of educated Haitians emigrating.
Impact on business The Heritage Foundation describes Haiti as one of the most difficult environments for business with outdated regulatory boards in place. Haiti's score on the 2018 edition of the Index of Economic Freedom, published by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, was 55.8, making its economy the 124th-freest in the world. Haiti is ranked 25th among 32 countries in the Americas region in the Index, and its overall score is well below the regional and world averages. Poor economic management and crippling natural disasters have taken a terrible human and economic toll in Haiti. The effectiveness of public finance and the rule of law has been severely undermined by years of political volatility.
Mary Anastasia O'Grady of The Wall Street Journal argues that Haiti's policies discourage profitable business, despite the government's complaints about its inability to collect tax revenue. O'Grady noted that while most Caribbean nations take an average of 31 days to establish a business, in Haiti it takes an average of 97 days, and wrote that in Haiti a small elite hold control over most of the nation's markets, making economic mobility in the private sector nearly nil.
Police After Operation Uphold Democracy in 1994 (the U.S.-led intervention that toppled the brutal and corrupt Haitian military dictatorship that had ruled the country since a 1991 coup), the Haitian National Police was established. By 1997, it was reported that an estimated 6,000 police officers "were trained at a U.S.-funded academy to replace the army and tens of thousands of paramilitary police, auxiliaries, and informers" used in the period of military rule.Associated Press, Haitians struggle with police corruption (November 26, 1997). However, through the 1990s and 2000s, the police force continued to suffer from serious corruption problems; police have engaged in excessive force, theft, drug trafficking, kidnapping rings and politically motivated killings.Lorne Matalon, Haitian Police Chief Battles Widespread Corruption, NPR Day to Day (February 21, 2006).
Four former Haitian police officials were charged in 2005 in the U.S. with helping traffickers ship Colombian cocaine out of Port-au-Prince on a flight to the United States.
In 2005 (under the René Préval government), a reformer, Mario Andresol was appointed as director general of the National Police, declaring at the time that 25% of the police force was corrupt.Mats Lundahl, The Political Economy of Disaster: Destitution, Plunder and Earthquake in Haiti (Routledge, 2013), p. 236. Andresol purged the police force of a large number of corrupt officers, and the Préval government took other steps toward police reform; for example, a Haitian National Police Reform Plan was introduced in 2006, calling for an increase in the size of the police force and the vetting of current officers "to get rid of the corrupt and outright criminal".Lundahl, p. 236. However, a 2011 report by Michel Forst, the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, said that police reform efforts were "being hampered by unacceptable political, operational and financial obstacles that are jeopardizing the changes for success in a process that is fundamental for re-establishing the rule of law in Haiti".
History
Corruption has always been "endemic" in Haiti, but "became widespread that it bankrupted state finances" under the rule of Jean-Claude Duvalier ("Baby Doc").Philippe Girard, Haiti: The Tumultuous History – From Pearl of the Caribbean to Broken Nation (Parlgrace MacMillan: 2005), p. 112. Under Duvalier's regime (1971–1986), Haiti's transportation network was plundered, and regime elites frequently "raided the accounts of state monopolies" such as the Régie du Tabac (Tobacco Administration) while failing to pay taxes.Girard, p. 112.
Economist Leslie Delatour described Haiti's economy as one in near-shambles Legal experts have cited a lack of judicial integrity in the country. Two experts in public administration, Derick Brinkerhoff and Carmen Halpern, said that government corruption is ingrained in Haitian politics.
Aristide presidency (1991, 1994–96, 2001–04) Upon taking office the first time in 1991, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide said he would provide a new start and fight corruption. In September 1991, however, a military coup removed Aristide from power. Aristide regained power from 1994 to 1996 and then again from 2001 to 2004. During Aristide's three presidential administrations, according to a 2009 report, corruption thrived.
When Senator Dany Toussaint was indicted in May 2001 for complicity in a journalist's murder, he accused Judge Claudy Gassant of pressuring defendants to implicate him. Toussaint's followers protested, and Gassant resigned and left the country.
In 2004, an exiled Haitian drug lord, Beaudouin Ketant, said at his sentencing in the U.S. that Aristide controlled 85% of the cocaine flow through his country, and that Aristide had demanded bribes from other drug traffickers for years.
A 2005 report by the Financial Intelligence Unit Central (UCREF) stated that virtual companies called SEPA-N food supplies, Quisqueya store, and VJLS COCSOBFO were founded by Aristide and used to divert public funds. The report leveled embezzlement charges not only at Aristide but also at former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and over a dozen former ministers.
Aristide's government, according to the UCREF, had funneled more than 21 million USD in public funds into private shell companies. A considerable portion of this embezzlement was used to support charities he owned in an alleged public relations stunt to improve his image.
In July 2008, evidence was uncovered by an investigative journalist alleging that Aristide had embezzled millions from Haiti's budget via a fraudulent 2003 contract with a New Jersey firm, IDT Corporation, and that Aristide's illicit profits had been stashed in a Turks and Caicos bank. An investigation led to a $1.3 million fine for James Courter, president of IDT. Despite calls for Aristide's prosecution, nothing was done by Haitian authorities.
Prime Minister Pierre-Louis (2008–09) In a July 2009 interview, then-Prime Minister Michèle Pierre-Louis stated that corruption in Haiti is entrenched due to the system of cronyism in which insiders in the racket are promoted in the system. She claimed, therefore, there is little means of electing a legislature with integrity. However, she was soon harshly criticized for these comments, since she was herself accused of corruption on the grounds that much of the foreign aid received after a series of hurricanes in 2008 had purportedly gone missing on her watch. In October 2009, the Haitian Senate gave her a vote of no confidence and ousted her.
Préval presidency (1996–2001, 2006–11)
When Rene Préval became president for a second time, in 2006, he inherited a political crisis, with a small elite controlling the nation's wealth. In 2006, Haiti was at the very bottom of Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI). Preval promised a fight on poverty and his Prime Minister, Jacques Édouard Alexis, said the government would implement "draconian" measures to combat corruption. To aid in this front, Préval named Judge Claudy Gassant as Government Commissioner in August 2006.
In May 2007, Préval deemed anyone implicated in corruption as enemies of the state. There was great hope that Gassant, who had an impressive reputation for integrity, would make a difference. Instead, his efforts proved a disappointment, and ultimately, he resigned in August 2008 and went to the Dominican Republic. Préval's presidency, in the end, was marked by an increase in violence and corruption. The Preval/Alexis government went on to undermine anti-corruption efforts by the interim Gérard Latortue presidency of 2005, withdrawing charges against Aristide and releasing several imprisoned Aristide associates who had been incarcerated for corruption.
In 2007, the Heritage Foundation publicly asked the Senate to explain why several members had voted for a resolution that benefited a bank called SOCABANK. Allegedly, the senators had received bribes, but nothing was done about the charges.
The year 2008 has been called Haiti's "annus horribilis for corruption." In 2008, Haiti was 177th of 180 countries on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.
In September 2008, a Senator disclosed that there was an investigation into the Prime Minister's office of alleged forgery. The investigation uncovered connections between applicants for government positions and payments made to the Prime Minister's office, as well as others in power. But the investigation did not lead to any action. Also in September 2008, it was revealed that the signatures of relevant authorities had been faked in an ONA request for $30,000 in project funding for what turned out to be a fictitious organization. No action was taken. In December 2008, Senator Joseph Lambert was linked to the murder of a Police Commissioner's wife in a case involving drug traffickers, but he was never charged.
In 2008, a Police Chaplains International revealed that members of the judiciary and police force were divvying up embezzled funds in Port-de-Paix.
Martelly presidency (2011–2016)