ANOTHER MINISTER-LEVEL CORRUPTION SCANDAL IN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARAMARIBO 000120 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CAR - LLUFTIG, MBUFFINGTON E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL NS SUBJECT: ANOTHER MINISTER-LEVEL CORRUPTION SCANDAL IN SURINAME REF: 06 Paramaribo 38, 06 Paramaribo 29, 05 Paramaribo 589 PARAMARIBO 00000120 001.2 OF 002 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On March 6 opposition parliamentarian Jiwan Sital presented documents in Parliament which allegedly detail that the 30th birthday party of Alice Amafo, the Minister of Transport, Communication, and Tourism (TCT) was financed out of the Ministry's budget. Newspapers published copies of signed invoices clearly marked Minister Amafo's birthday party, and reported that the Ministry funded the Minister's 30th birthday for an amount equal to at least U.S. $12,850. The alleged corruption has led to calls for the resignation of the Minister. Amafo, inexperienced and unskilled in handling the press, appears an easy target for dismissal. However, the strong support of important coalition figure Ronnie Brunswijk will make it difficult for President Venetiaan to fire Amafo, as such an action could risk disbanding the coalition, resulting in the possible fall of the Venetiaan administration. END SUMMARY -------------- A lavish birthday party -------------- ¶2. (U) Suriname's Government Accounts Act requires Council of Ministers approval for expenditures between 4,000 and 30,000 SRD (approx. U.S. $430 and $10,700). For expenditures above 30,000 SRD, Ministries have to offer a public tender. While the total cost of the birthday party is estimated at SRD 75,000 (USD 26,785),it is alleged that 36,000 SRD (USD 12,850) came out of the Ministry's budget. Parliamentarian Jiwan Sital of the opposition party A-1 charges that a birthday party organizing committee was established within the Ministry of Transport, Communication, and Tourism, and that the committee took the money out of the budget in lots of less than 4,000 per item in order to side-step the Accounts Act. Some of the receipts were made out to a catering company owned by Amafo's mother. In addition, according to Sital the committee pressured parastatal companies such as the telecommunication company Telesur, the national transport company, and the tourism authority, all of which fall directly under Amafo's Ministry, to donate large sums of money for the birthday party. -------------- Jaded Public, Upset Politicians -------------- ¶3. (U) The latest scandal for the government follows other scandals at the Ministries of Public Works, at Agriculture, Fisheries, and Animal Husbandry in 2005, and the implication of former Minister of Trade and Industry Siegfried Gilds in a money laundering scandal in 2006. Public reaction to the birthday party scandal has ranged from calls for firing and return of the money to reminders that Amafo is far from the first to engage in questionable use of her office. While members of the opposition and some from the coalition have called for Amafo's immediate resignation, President Ronald Venetiaan has tried to defuse the situation, saying that the government will analyze all the information first and report back to Parliament on Tuesday March 13. -------------- Stand By Your Minister -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Amafo is a member of coalition partner A- Combination. Ronny Brunswijk, former rebel leader during the interior war in the late 1980's and early 1990's and currently a member of parliament and the most powerful figure in the A-Combination, argued publicly that the civil servants at the Ministry of TCT should have known the regulations in the Government Accounts Act and should have informed the Minister: it was their duty to protect her because of her inexperience. A-Combination stated on March 8 that it will back up its Minister on this issue. The reasons may be more than political: Amafo is the subject of persistent rumors that she is pregnant, and Brunswijk is widely believed to be the father. ¶5. (SBU) COMMENT: President Venetiaan is trying very hard to keep his eight party coalition together and so must choose between firing Minister Amafo or letting her retain PARAMARIBO 00000120 002.2 OF 002 her ministerial position to keep A-Combination happy. Neither is an attractive option; if A-Combination stands behind Minister Amafo, firing her could disband the coalition and bring down the government; but avoiding the issue or making excuses for Amafo could cause public outrage and would certainly increase already strong public disgust with the government. Post expects Venetiaan to put the skills he has honed in previous scandals to good use - Surinamese politics is nothing if not nuanced. If Minister Amafo is indeed pregnant, announcing as much and having Amafo resign on grounds of health and family concerns presents the option of using one scandal to nip another in the bud. END COMMENT