'Rapport 'International Narcotics Control Strategy' zonder inhoudelijk bewijsmateriaal''Rapportage met misleidende analyses en data in het rapport'
De regering is het niet eens met het negatieve beeld dat geschetst wordt over het land in het Amerikaanse rapport 'International Narcotics Control Strategy'. De regering heeft een protestnota gestuurd naar het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken van de Verenigde Staten als reactie op de publicatie van het landenrapport uitgegeven in maart.
De VS wordt gewezen op de hantering van beweringen zonder inhoudelijk bewijsmateriaal en onjuiste weergave van feiten en rapportage met misleidende analyses en data in het rapport, aldus hetministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken woensdag 30 mei 2018 via het Nationaal Informatie Instituut.
Het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken van de VS wordt eveneens geattendeerd op de inspanningen die de betrokken instanties en autoriteiten van Suriname op het gebied van drugsbestrijding hebben gepleegd en blijven plegen en de successen die zijn geboekt op voormeld gebied.
Suriname zal verdere stappen blijven ondernemen ter versterking van het drugsbestrijdingsbeleid en blijft gecommitteerd aan de samenwerking met de betrokken Internationale instanties en autoriteiten om de drugshandel en druggerelateerde criminaliteit te bestrijden.
OVERVIEW
Money laundering in Suriname is closely linked to transnational criminal activity related to the transshipment of cocaine, primarily to Europe and Africa. According to local media reports, both domestic and international drug trafficking organizations are believed to control most of the laundered proceeds, which are primarily invested locally in casinos, real estate, foreign exchange companies, car dealerships, and the construction sector. Public corruption also may contribute to money laundering, though the full extent of its influence is unknown. Profits from small-scale gold mining and related industries fuel a thriving informal sector. Much of the money within this sector does not pass through the formal banking system. In Suriname’s undeveloped interior, bartering with gold is the norm for financial transactions.
VULNERABILITIES AND EXPECTED TYPOLOGIES
Goods such as agricultural products, fuel, cigarettes, alcohol, and medicine are smuggled into the country via Guyana and French Guiana and are sold below market prices. Other goods are smuggled into the country with the primary aim of avoiding payment of import duties and other taxes. There is little evidence to suggest this smuggling is funded by narcotics trafficking or other illicit activity.
Contraband smuggling likely does not generate funds later laundered through the financial system. There are indicators that TBML occurs, generally through the activities of local car dealerships, gold dealers, and currency exchanges (cambios). Money laundering may occur in the formal financial sector through banks and cambios.
There is no evidence the formal banking sector facilitates movement of currency derived from illegal drug sales in the United States. Local drug sales of cocaine in transit through Suriname are usually conducted in U.S. dollars, which may be deposited domestically.
KEY AML LAWS AND REGULATIONS
Suriname has taken a number of steps recently to improve compliance with international AML standards. For example, the International Sanctions Act (O.G. 2016 no. 31) was enacted on February 29, 2016 and came into force on March 3, 2016 to amend the International Sanctions Act (O.G. 2014 no. 54). This law establishes as a legal entity a Council on International Sanctions, with the responsibility of supervising all service providers for compliance with the International Sanctions Act.
On February 29, 2016, the Law on detailed amendment to the Law on Personal Identification Service Act (O.G. 2016 no. 32) was enacted. It was brought into force on March 3, 2016 to amend the Personal Identification Services (WID) Act. This law is directly related to the CDD obligations applicable in higher risk situations and is intended to make enhanced CDD mandatory for Suriname’s NPOs.
The Law on detailed amendment to the Law on Disclosure of Unusual Transactions Act (O.G. 2016 no 33) was enacted on February 29, 2016 and came into force on March 3, 2016 to amend the Disclosure of Unusual Transactions Act (O.G. 2002 no. 65, as amended in O.G. 2012 no. 133). The overarching intent of this amendment is to further improve the AML mechanisms linked, in part, to the Act on Capital Market (O.G. 2014 no. 53).
On February 29, 2016, State Decree (O.G. 2016 no 34) was enacted with the overarching intent to implement article 2, section 1 of the Act International Sanctions (O.G. 2014 no. 54).
CDD rules and STR requirements cover banks and credit unions, asset managers, securities brokers and dealers, insurance agents and companies, currency brokers, remitters, exchanges, auditors, accountants, notaries, lawyers, real estate agents, dealers in gold or other precious metals and stones, gaming entities and lotteries, and motor vehicle dealers.
The exchange of records between Suriname and other countries is possible via individual MOUs and mutual legal assistance requests.
Suriname is a member of the CFATF, a FATF-style regional body. Suriname’s most recent mutual evaluation can be found at: https://www.cfatf-gafic.org/index.php/documents/cfatf-mutual-evaluation-reports/suriname-1
AML DEFICIENCIES
On November 25, 2015, the CFATF issued a public statement asking its members to consider the risks posed to their financial systems by the strategic deficiencies in Suriname’s AML regime. On November 10, 2016, the CFATF recognized Suriname’s improvements in the legislative and regulatory areas and called on Suriname to continue making further improvements to achieve full compliance with international AML standards.
Suriname has requirements for enhanced due diligence procedures for foreign, but not domestic, PEPs.
During the period January to September 2016, 115 of the 306,619 STRs received by the FIU led to investigations.
Suriname is not a member of the Egmont group. Additionally, the Government of Suriname is not party to the UNCAC.
ENFORCEMENT/IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES AND COMMENTS
Suriname ratified the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances in 1992. A bill on international sanctions was passed in the first half of 2016.
A gaming board was established by Law in 2009. In March 2016, the Minister of Justice and Police met with the three-member leadership team of the Gaming Board. The Board presented a plan to start operational activities in the near future. Other than the three members, the Board has no personnel.
From January to September 2016, there were four money laundering prosecutions and no convictions.
Suriname is a transit zone for South American cocaine en route to Europe, Africa, and, to a lesser extent, the United States. The 2016 introduction of direct flights between the United States and Suriname could create additional opportunities for drug trafficking. Suriname’s sparsely populated coastal region and isolated jungle interior, together with weak border controls and infrastructure, make narcotics detection and interdiction efforts difficult. There is little evidence of drug production in Suriname.
The Government of Suriname is officially opposed to narcotics trafficking, but little political will has been demonstrated to pursue vigorous enforcement. Corruption pervades many government offices in Suriname and may also play a role. Local criminal investigations of allegedly corrupt acts are rare and local prosecutions even rarer. President Desire Bouterse and Member of Parliament Ronnie Brunswijk have been convicted of drug trafficking in absentia in separate court cases in the Netherlands and France. Dino Bouterse, son of President Desire Bouterse, was sentenced in March 2015 to 16 years in prison for drug smuggling and other crimes.
Suriname installed an automated biometrics border control system for travelers at points of entry in 2013 and amended the criminal code to allow DNA as evidence in 2014. The National Assembly approved the “Acquisition and Sentence Transfer Enforcement” law in October 2016. This legislation is meant to establish the conditions under which a sentence issued by a foreign court would be applied within Suriname, as well as the conditions involved in applying the verdicts of Surinamese courts abroad.
Cargo containers carry most of the narcotics smuggled through Suriname, but smaller fishing vessels also carry drugs out to sea for transfer to larger freighters. A U.S.-funded, UN-sponsored Container Control Unit operates at the Terminal of Nieuwe Haven (Port of Paramaribo) and assisted in two drug investigations in 2016. Their operating protocol requires permission and oversight of Surinamese Customs authorities.
During the first 11 months of 2016, Surinamese authorities arrested 156 suspected drug traffickers and seized 851 kilograms (kg) of cocaine; 8,827 liters of liquid cocaine; 46.3 kg of marijuana; 19,466 MDMA (ecstasy) tablets; and trace amounts of hashish and MDMA in powder form. A 32-person Combating International Drug Trafficking (BID) team screens airport passengers on flights bound for the Netherlands.
There is one free, government-run detoxification center; other treatment centers are run by non-governmental organizations. In 2014, law-makers adopted new legislation allowing treatment for drug addiction as an alternative to criminal sentencing. As of October 2016, implementing protocols for this legislation were still being drafted.
Suriname is a party to the Inter-American Convention against Corruption and Migrant Smuggling and the Inter-American Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters. Suriname has a bilateral maritime counternarcotics enforcement agreement with the United States, as well as agreements with the Netherlands, Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia.
In 2016, the United States provided training, technical assistance, and material support to several elements of the Surinamese Police. The United States encourages the Government of Suriname to increase narcotics interdiction, as well as subsequent investigations and prosecutions.
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