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Monday, June 20, 2005
An ongoing corruption investigation found Surinames Public Works Minister Dewanand Balesar being grilled in front of Police for more than 6 hours.
But public prosecutor Garcia Paragsing said the minister was not questioned as a suspect or witness. For tactical reasons he gave evidence "in person". And police cannot bring charges yet because of ministerial immunity. An indictment is only possible after parliament removes his immunity and impeaches him.
Since the new parliament has not yet been inaugurated, it is unlikely that this will happen soon. But Several subordinates have stated that the minister was involved in the corruption.
Investigations by the Fraud Squad and other investigating units revealed that contracts for garbage collection were awarded to fictitious contractors. Perhaps more than 24 of these fraudulent contracts were discovered and allegedly more than 100,000 Surinamese dollars (US$35,000) were cashed in by fraudulent government officials and other individuals in this conspiracy.
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