PARAMARIBO, Suriname, CMC—Vice President Ronnie Brunswick says he has not been formally asked to assist law enforcement authorities in the Netherlands, even as media reports here suggest that he has expressed a willingness to be heard by Dutch officials amid allegations that he has links with a businessman who has been convicted on drug charges and is on trial for money laundering.
At a news conference, Brunswick was asked whether to cooperate with the Netherlands in the ongoing investigation.
“I have been hearing about that thing in the media for a few days, a few months. I am not aware of it. If it comes, we will see,” he replied.
The opposition Reform and Renewal Movement (HVB) party has called for Brunswijk’s immediate resignation. It said that during an ongoing court case in the Netherlands, it emerged that Brunswijk had ties to Piet Wortel, who is facing money laundering charges.
In 2014, Wortel was sentenced to seven years in prison by a Dutch court on drug charges.
Wortel has consistently denied involvement in money laundering, with the Dutch prosecution alleging that a quantity of gold worth more than six million Euros (One Euro=US$1.29 cents) found at his home in Paramaribo came from the proceeds of the illegal drugs trade.
Wortel has also denied this, saying he had a business relationship with Brunswick, who has gold mining operations in Suriname.
Brunswick is reported to have sent a statement drawn up by a notary to Wortel’s lawyer in which he stated that the consignment of gold belonged to him and not to the suspect.
The Netherlands has requested legal assistance from the Minister of Justice and Police, Kenneth Amoksi, but Paramaribo has so far remained quiet on the matter.
Amoksi had previously told a news conference that he had processed all requests for legal assistance and sent them back to the Attorney General.
“Indeed, a legal assistance request has been received and forwarded to the examining magistrate designated by law as the authority responsible for executing letters rogatory. The procedure is that we receive the execution documents after the examining magistrate executes them. We cannot answer the question of whether the interrogation has been consented to,” the Office of the Attorney General said in response to questions asked by the online Suriname publication Starnieuws.
However, media reports here said that the Vice President has been informing people, including politicians, that he is prepared to speak to law enforcement authorities in the Netherlands.
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