U.S. firm paid into Aristide account, suit alleges

A dismissed U.S. telephone company executive is alleging that his bosses agreed to make payments to the ''private bank account'' of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in a deal with Haiti's state-owned phone company, Teleco. The allegation surfaced in a wrongful dismissal lawsuit filed in federal court in New Jersey by Palm Beach County resident D. Michael Jewett against IDT Corp. of Newark. Aristide was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Miami attorney Ira Kurzban, who represents Aristide, told The Herald the former president ''was never involved in any illegal dealings concerning Teleco or any other matter.'' He said Jewett ``is commenting about a rumor he heard someone else say. These kinds of rumors have no credibility.'' Jewett acknowledged in an interview with The Herald that he has no hard evidence to back up his allegations and that they are based on comments he heard from IDT's executive vice president for international business development, Jack Lerer. [more