Former Suriname Veep Arrested

News Americas, PARAMARIBO, Suriname, Weds. Nov. 18, 2020: The former vice-president of the CARICOM South American nation of Suriname has been arrested by police there as part of an investigation into the alleged destruction of equipment in the vice presidential office after his party lost power in the May elections.

“Based on that interrogation and the statements of others, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has deemed it necessary to detain him as a suspect,” President Chandrikapersad Santokhi said of the arrest of Michael Ashwin Adhin.

But Rabin Parmessar, leader of the National Democratic Party (NDP) in the Parliament, which was once led by former president Desiré Delano Bouterse, is challenging the arrest of Adhin, and disputes statements made by the Justice and Police Minister, Kenneth Amoski, who also confirmed the arrest of the former vice president.

Amoski said that “there were agreements with the Public Prosecution Service that he (Adhin) would register with his lawyer on Friday, November 13, but did not register”

He said that Adhin was also due to have registered with the authorities on Monday, but failed to do so, adding “he has therefore been found and arrested for arraignment.”

Santokhi’s Progressive Reform Party (PRP) won the May 25 elections and after the new administration took office in July, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has intensified investigations into possible crimes by politicians and officials of the previous Bouterse government.

Former Finance Minister Gillmore Hoefdraad is the subject of a fraud investigation and is thought to have fled the country.