Surinamese businessman sentenced in the Netherlands for money-laundering

Surinamese businessman Bidjai Parmessar, 43, was acquitted of all drug charges by a high court in The Hague, the Netherlands Monday, but he has been sentenced for money laundering.

Parmessar, who Surinamese and Dutch judicial authorities believed to be the biggest drug lord in Suriname, was arrested in 2005 in Paramaribo but, since the Surinamese-born businessman holds Dutch nationality, he was extradited to the Netherlands for prosecution.

In 2006 a court in Rotterdam sentenced him to a 10-year jail term for two cases of drug trafficking in 1995 and 2002. Parmessar was among others charged with allegedly leading a criminal organisation, drug trafficking, money-laundering and forgery.

The former owner of several casinos, liquor stores, car sales and money transfer offices in Paramaribo was accused of organising large cocaine shipments from Columbia to Suriname, which were eventually trafficked to Europe, especially to the Netherlands.

Over six years of investigations, including over 160,000 phone taps during the so-called ‘Ficus Operation’, which cost the Dutch judicial authorities around euros 7 million in 2005, have resulted in numerous arrests in Suriname and the Netherlands.

Owners and managers of the so-called Yokohama Group of Companies, which operates casinos, cambios, money transfer offices, car sales and liquor stores in Suriname, were suspected of belonging to a criminal organisation.

This organization allegedly smuggled enormous quantities of cocaine from Suriname to Holland and laundered the revenues through their companies in both countries. Several of the suspects were subsequently sentenced to serve time or community service.

In 2006, Parmessar appealed his sentence. The higher court dismissed the drug charges on Monday due to a lack of evidence, but stated that his involvement in the money-laundering scam has been established sufficiently and therefore sentenced him to a 4 year and 6 months prison term.

The accused, who was released in 2007 pending the hearing, has been ordered to report to the prison authorities to serve the remaining 8 months of the jail term.

Parmessar’s defence lawyers expressed satisfaction with the ruling, since the drug trafficking sentence by the lower court has now been dismissed. However, they said that the conviction related to money-laundering charges came about due to the scope and complexity of the case. They believe that the Court in the Hague does not understand the differences between the Surinamese and Dutch legal systems and as a result their client was sentenced to jail.

According to attorney Nico Meijering, his client would have never been sentenced in Suriname for his alleged involvement in the money-laundering scam.

The court has established that the businessman was involved in the laundering of euros 60,000 through a money transfer office in the Netherlands he had close ties with. Meijering also contends that even if Parmessar was the manager of the money transfer office in the Netherlands he could never have known about the illegal activities of his personnel since he was running his businesses from his offices in Paramaribo.

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