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### Viewing cable 08PARAMARIBO128, CORRUPTION IN SURINAME: A HOW-TO-MANUAL

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
08PARAMARIBO128 | 2008-03-28 10:10 | 2011-02-10 16:04 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Paramaribo

`

    VZCZCXRO7215
    PP RUEHAO
    DE RUEHPO #0128/01 0881054
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    P 281054Z MAR 08
    FM AMEMBASSY PARAMARIBO
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0082
    INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
    RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 1525
    RUEHAO/AMCONSUL CURACAO PRIORITY 1242

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARAMARIBO 000128

    SIPDIS

    SIPDIS

    WHA/CAR FOR JACKIE ROSHOLT, INR FOR BOB CARHART, USEMBASSY
    BRASILIA FOR BRIAN BUTCHER

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/01/2018
    TAGS: KCRM PGOV NS
    SUBJECT: CORRUPTION IN SURINAME: A HOW-TO-MANUAL

    REF: A. 2007 PARAMARIBO 470
    ¶B. 2007 PARAMARIBO 444
    ¶C. 2007 PARAMARIBO 120

    Classified By: Ambassador for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

    ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. This cable details methods of small-scale,
    endemic corruption in Suriname. While large scale corruption
    is common and makes the news, small scale corruption is
    pervasive (ref A). Current rejection by Government of
    Suriname (GOS) officials of corruption allegations in the
    U.S. International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR)
    released February 29, as well as contentious discussions in
    the Surinamese National Assembly over a new corruption law
    highlight continued denial at the highest levels. END SUMMARY

    --------------------------------------
    All the Land You Want for Free--or Fee
    --------------------------------------

    ¶2. (C) In Suriname, plots of land are often the currency of
    corruption. Though approximately 65% of the country is
    uninhabited, land is hard to come by for the average
    Surinamer. Ownership of government land is regulated by a
    byzantine maze of laws which create opportunities for
    corruption. The country's legislation states that every
    Surinamer over the age of 18 is entitled to a piece of
    government land for a nominal yearly rent, and entrusts the
    Land Management Office (LMO) with the distribution and
    registration of these plots. In practice, the road from
    submitting an application to the actual granting of a plot is
    long, arduous, and rampant with corruption. Those who are
    able pay large sums of money ease their way past the many
    procedures the LMO demands--and those with political
    connections obtain exceptions--while the average Surinamer
    can wait literally a lifetime before his or her request is
    granted. It is rumored that employees at the LMO take bribes
    for speeding up grants of land requests, and politicians are
    accused of selling land, obtaining it for free (ref A), or
    giving it away as political favors. Rabin Parmessar,
    prominent local politician, was asked by players on the
    soccer club he heads for cell phones in the presence of a
    Post employee. Parmessar reportedly said, wait until I'm
    President in 2010, and I'll give you all the land you want
    (instead).

    ---------------------------------
    Two Paychecks are Better than One
    ---------------------------------

    ¶3. (C) The majority of political parties in Suriname are
    ethnically based, and tend to reward their constituents
    directly with government largesse. Rewards range from plots
    of land, to job contracts, to jobs in the civil service.
    While packing Ministries with political allies is in itself
    not corrupt, the practice of collecting pay without work
    is--having multiple jobs for which one may or may not show
    up is common in Suriname. To cite just one example, XXXXXXXXXXXX, head of a non-governmental children's rights
    organization, told Post that of the eleven GOS social workers
    he deals with, eight are not functioning, and three are
    not functioning well. Similarly, in Suriname's interior,
    semi-autonomous traditional tribes make all sorts of
    arguments to create new (paid) dignitaries, through which the
    funding is stretched, said Minister of Regional Development
    Michel Felisi. Often, the line between corruption and
    patronage is hard to discern; when asked what the economy of
    the poor, under-populated district of Coronie is based on,
    Parliamentarian Remie Tarnadi told Post simply, the State.

    ----------------------------------------
    Cost of a Permit: A Couple of Cookies
    ----------------------------------------

    ¶4. (C) Corruption can be found at whatever level one
    chooses. According to Robbie Simson, Director of a bank in
    Suriname,s rural center of Nickerie, if the owner of a
    corner store has a problem with his permit, a couple of
    cookies or a Fruta (a local soft drink) for a visiting
    inspector are enough to take care of his problem. Rural
    parliamentarian Remie Tarnadi told PolOff matter-of-factly
    that he gives his salary away to help his people, a coded
    reference to a simple vote-buying and patronage mechanism.
    Bureaucrats in 2007 were caught adding numerals to the money
    figures in invoices and splitting the profits with
    contractors, and splitting up large payment vouchers into
    smaller amounts just under the U.S. $1,400 minimum to escape
    regulation. Lax enforcement, coupled with the practice of

    PARAMARIBO 00000128 002 OF 002

    political parties to use government institutions as
    self-staffed fiefdoms which don't communicate with other arms
    of the large bureaucracy, and a lack of transparency all make
    these sorts of routine corruption difficult to track or
    punish.

    --------------------------------------------- -----
    A Private Sector Example: Kickbacks in Journalism
    --------------------------------------------- -----

    ¶5. (SBU) Corruption is by no means limited to the huge
    State sector and its employees. One example is kickback
    schemes in journalism. Most journalists work freelance, and
    competition for news stories is high. According to a Post
    employee who worked as a journalist, Surinamese journalists
    kick back some of the money they receive for writing stories
    to editors who give them assignments. For example, if a
    story is worth $20, the editor will pick a journalist he can
    count on, give him or her the story, and get $5 of the $20
    back when it is written, while the journalist receives $15
    and the business owner pays the bill. Journalists who have
    contracts complain they get fewer stories because there is
    nothing in it for the editors. In addition, journalists take
    money from companies and political parties in return for
    positive coverage, or extort it.

    --------------------------------------
    Corruption in the News: Deny and Delay
    --------------------------------------

    ¶6. (C) The GOS is not ready to tackle the problem. After
    the February 29 release of the U.S. International Narcotics
    Control Strategy Report (INCSR), GOS Attorney General Subhas
    Punwasi was among several prominent justice sector officials
    who reacted with public outrage to the sentence
    ...drug-related corruption of the police, courts and
    military... inhibits the GOS,s ability to identify,
    apprehend, and prosecute narcotic traffickers. Punwasi told
    the media, that is absolutely not true... on the contrary,
    we know with certainty that we are holding our own against
    the mafia. This despite being told directly several months
    ago by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents about some
    of the problems that have now been published in the INCSR.
    Meanwhile, in February the coalition and opposition, after a
    bitter debate about whose administrations had been more
    corrupt, jointly sent the newly minted corruption draft law
    back to the Ministry of Justice and Police for adjustments in
    a rare show of solidarity, citing inconsistencies and a lack
    of clarity. The law had been years in preparation. It is
    unclear how much of Parliament's hesitation has to do with
    self-defense, and how much with legitimate objections.

    ¶7. (C) COMMENT: Suriname has made some progress in
    tackling high-profile cases of corruption (refs B, C) in
    recent years. However, corruption in myriad forms remains an
    accepted practice in Suriname. It is both a method of income
    generation and a way of bypassing bureaucratic
    inefficiencies, and will likely remain vibrant as long as the
    bloated state sector continues to employ a stunning estimated
    50% of the formal workforce. END COMMENT
    SCHREIBER HUGHES

`