Mario Delcy, legal counsel for Antoine Jean Simon Fénélon, head of the Direction de l’Immigration et de l’Émigration (DIE), and for production director Jean Ossselin Lambert, has rejected allegations of a “fake-real” passport trafficking scheme, calling the case a setup orchestrated by the Ministère de l’Intérieur et des Collectivités territoriales (MICT).
Speaking on the morning program of Magik9 on March 30, 2026, Delcy firmly denied claims that senior officials within the DIE were involved in issuing fraudulent passports. He argued instead that the arrests were part of a deliberate attempt to trap the institution’s leadership.
According to the lawyer, tensions between the leadership of the MICT and the DIE may explain the situation. He pointed to the case of two passports issued to individuals identified as Fanfan Antoine and Jean Wesly Louis. These documents, he said, were legitimately delivered to their applicants but later reappeared during the interrogation of DIE officials by the Direction Centrale de la Police Judiciaire (DCPJ). Delcy questioned how the passports ended up in the possession of the Interior Ministry.
Earlier reports indicated that the investigation focused on the alleged issuance of Haitian passports to foreign nationals. Sources suggested that the MICT played a key role in triggering the probe, including alerting judicial authorities and allegedly organizing an infiltration operation targeting suspected fraud.
Delcy further stated that since taking office, Fénélon had identified vulnerabilities in the passport production system and had sent three formal recommendations to the MICT, including proposals to modernize the system through biometric passports. These communications, he noted, have reportedly gone unanswered.
He also criticized the sealing of DIE servers during the investigation, warning that such actions could disrupt essential state functions and harm Haiti’s international standing.
“This case puts the Haitian state in a difficult position vis-à-vis other countries. The Prime Minister must take it very seriously. There must be consequences,” Delcy said.
