PARAMARIBO--De Surinaamsche Bank (DSB), Suriname’s largest commercial bank, is dragging the country’s Central Bank CBvS to court over the US $100 million in private citizen’s savings that was reported vanished in January. This matter has already led to the ongoing police detention of former CBvS Governor Robert van Trikt and the pending criminal prosecution of Finance Minister Gillmore Hoefdraad.
Steven Coutinho, Managing Director at DSB said over the weekend that his bank has been trying since January to reach an amicable solution for the controversial situation that arose since commercial banks discovered that the money had disappeared from the Central Bank. The money in question regarded private citizens’ savings that the banks had been ordered to deposit in the Central Bank’s foreign exchange cash reserves; government attempted to explain that it had used the funds to purchase food, make investments and carry out foreign exchange intervention, but the commercial banks insisted that this was not the agreement they had made with the Central Bank.
Coutinho charged that the Central Bank had unlawfully allowed use of the funds for purposes they were not intended for, which is in violation of the duties of the Central Bank. He accused the Central Bank of mismanagement and said this left DSB with enormous damage, which he holds CBvS accountable for.
“We are three months down the road and we’re not seeing any movement, neither from the minister of finance nor from the Central Bank, to repair the liquidity that has been ravaged … We and in particular our customers have one simple but urgent demand: fix the situation regarding the unwarranted withdrawals,” he said.
The DSB director revealed that the point of contention in the negotiations with the Central Bank has been the Central Bank’s condition that the commercial banks not initiate criminal proceedings over the matter. The commercial banks are refusing to give this indemnification. “The Central Bank’s condition for a contractual agreement that there will not be criminal proceedings initiated, is unacceptable for DSB.”
In its civil court case that will be heard on April 30, DSB pleads for the CBvS to be sentenced for unlawfully withdrawing the foreign exchange cash reserves and ordering that the funds be deposited within five days.
The announcement of the civil court case against the CBvS comes just days after the Prosecutor’s Office announced that it had asked the National Assembly to indict Finance Minister Gillmore Hoefdraad for his alleged role in the disappearance of the US $100 million and other irregularities at the Bank. Attorney General (AG) Roy Baidjnath-Panday listed no fewer than 11 crimes the minister may have committed.
Former Governor Van Trikt, the 48-year-old son of Education Minister Lilian Ferrier, who on January 30 was discharged dishonourably for misappropriating other funds at the Bank, was also widely held responsible for the disappearance of the US $100 million. He was arrested on February 6. His business partner Ashween Angnoe, who he owned an accounting firm with, was arrested a few days later, for his alleged role in the discrepancies at the bank.
While he remains in custody, Van Trikt has told investigators that he did not act alone, which obviously hints at Hoefdraad’s involvement. In February, activists from “The Next Generation Movement” filed a complaint with the AG, in which they charged that Hoefdraad had “forced the management of the CBvS to use the disappeared cash reserves.”
