CORRUPTION IN SURINAME: A HOW-TO-MANUAL

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