Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 13, 2022 News
Kaieteur News – Suriname’s main opposition party is demanding that three of the country’s ministers be prosecuted for breaking the law when they entered into a billion-dollar contract with Danish-owned Company Hybrid Power System Group (HPSG).
Suriname’s Foreign Minister acknowledges in an interview with Danwatch that the law has not been complied with. Suriname’s Foreign Minister Albert Ramdin acknowledges to Danwatch that mistakes have been made in the process, but says there has been no corruption involved in the HPSG agreement. The agreement with the Danish-owned company Hybrid Power System Group should have been the first step for a small country in South America, Suriname, towards becoming a green superpower in South America. However, following danwatch and Ekstra Bladet’s revelations last November that HPSG has lied about its partners and has no experience with green energy, the case has become a major political scandal for the country’s government.
And now the HPSG scandal is taking another unexpected turn. Suriname’s main opposition National Democratic Party (NDP) announced on Wednesday a petition to the country’s Attorney General to launch criminal proceedings against the three ministers who have signed the billion-dollar agreement with HPSG. Ministers are accused of breaking the country’s Electricity Act and anti-corruption law.
In a recent interview with Danwatch in Suriname’s capital Paramaribo, the country’s Foreign Minister Albert Ramdin acknowledged that the law has not been complied with, but he denies that there is corruption.
“There has been no corruption in this process, and we have been completely transparent and open about the purpose of this enterprise. There has been no criminal activity,” Albert Ramdin told Danwatch.
‘Damaging our economy’
According to the petition to Suriname’s Public Prosecutor’s Office, the electricity agreement is ‘disadvantageous in every respect, burdensome and detrimental to our economy’. Under the agreement, Suriname has committed to buy electricity from HPSG for around DKK 15.8 billion over a period of 25 years.
But the opposition does not believe that Suriname needs the amount of energy that the state should absorb from HPSG’s green hydrogen power plant, which is scheduled to be completed next year. The agreement is therefore, according to the opposition NDP, in violation of the country’s anti-corruption law, which stipulates that politicians and officials must not enter into agreements that intentionally inflict a financial disadvantage on the state or stipulate financially unfavourable conditions.
And then the NDP believes that the contract – which was signed by the foreign minister, the finance minister and the minister of natural resources – was a violation of Suriname’s Electricity Act, which requires energy contracts to be obtained through public tenders, where several companies have the opportunity to bid for the contract.
But HPSG won the billion-dollar contract without a public tender.
According to one of Suriname’s most prominent politicians in the debate over corruption, suspicions of corruption in the HPSG agreement are widespread among the public and among politicians, but the burden of proof can become difficult to lift in a courtroom.
“It can be very difficult to prove this claim. The strongest accusation is the violation of the Electricity Act, which, among other things, has disregarded the requirement for public tenders,” Angelic Castilho, political leader of the anti-corruption party DA91, told Danwatch.
‘No corruption or crime’
Danwatch visited Suriname in December, where we interviewed the country’s Foreign Minister Albert Ramdin at his office in the capital Paramaribo. He denied that there has been corruption in the process, but acknowledged that the law has not been complied with.
“We are pleased with your investigation because it has given us a lot of information and it points to some inadequacies,” Foreign Minister Albert Ramdin told Danwatch.
‘But I want to make it clear that there has been no crime or corruption involved in this case. “Absolutely not.”
The foreign minister acknowledges that the electricity deal was not put out to public tender, but he says the responsibility lies with Suriname’s state electricity company. “No, there was no public tender because all energy is drained by the electricity company.”
– But it’s illegal under Surinamese law?
“Yes. So the law is the Electricity Act. And I think the electricity authorities have issued a statement on it.”
– But under Surinamese law, there must be a public tender, and this was not done?
“I have to take a closer look. I know that this is a problem that has taken place. It hasn’t been picked up by the experts, otherwise they wouldn’t have advised like that.” It remains to be seen whether Suriname’s attorney general, Garcia Paragsingh, will bring a case against the ministers. The Public Prosecutor’s Office has not returned Danwatch’s request for comment. (Danwatch news https://www.facebook.com/politiektrafassi)
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Apr 19, 2024
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