PARAMARIBO, Suriname, Jan 20, CMC – The Court of Justice has sentenced former finance minister, Gilmore Hoefdraad, to 10 years in jail, reducing an earlier conviction that was accompanied with a 12 year jail term.
Hoefdraad, a former governor of the Central Bank of Suriname (CBvS), was sentenced in absentia on Monday. He was also fined SRD500,000 (One SRD=US$0.02 cents), or alternatively serve a 12 month jail term.
He had originally been sentenced in absentia by the Surinamese Court of Justice to 12 years in prison for violation of the Anti-Corruption Act and the Banking Act. He had been accused of having cooperated in the sale of real estate that placed the Central Bank of Suriname at a disadvantage.
The ex-minister had appealed against this conviction and had gone into hiding since July 2020 and the Court of Justice Monday gave the Attorney General the authority to initiate a criminal investigation into the case, with the former finance minister facing the risk of further prosecution.
Hoefdraad was among several high level officials charged with, among other things, complicity in money laundering, complicity in embezzlement, complicity in forgery, and violation of the Anti-Corruption Act.
The Court stated that “the suspects acted systematically and shrewdly with a view to their own financial gain.”
The prosecution alleged that 17 properties were also paid for with state funds via the CBvS, nine of which were later revealed not to be in the CBvS’s name, even though no debt settlement ever took place.
The Court of Justice also reduced the five year sentence of Ginmardo Kromosoeto to four years, with Justice Alida Johanns, the press judge, explaining the verdict to the media following the marathon hearing, which lasted nearly six hours.
The judge said that Hoefdraad and Kromosoeto were the only suspects charged with participating in a criminal organization , while their co-defendants Faranaaz Hausil, Robert van Trikt, and Ashween Angnoe were not.
Van Trikt has been given a six years unconditional sentence, fined SRD500,000, alternatively 16 months’ imprisonment, and the repayment of EUR625,000 (One Euro=US$01.29 cents) the State.
But the Court overturned the forfeiture of the Orion Capital Investment NV property of which he is the sole shareholder.
Van Trikt, who was in pretrial detention from February 6, 2020, to February 27, 2022, was released early on humanitarian grounds.
“After the verdict is served, the Public Prosecution Service will determine whether Van Trikt still needs to serve a sentence and then, if necessary, order his detention,” said Justice Johanns.
Angnoe, a certified public accountant and business partner of Van Trikt, was sentenced to four years’ unconditional sentence, fined SRD150,000, or alternatively serve a 12-month prison sentence, and repayment of EUR 625,000 to the State.
Furthermore, the confiscation of the Range Rover found on the suspect has been ordered. Hausil, who was Chief Legal Officer at the Central Bank of Suriname, was absent from the hearing for special reasons. She was sentenced to two years’ unconditional sentence and a fine of SRD100,000, alternatively a 10-month prison sentence.
The Court also ruled that Hausil never suggested to Van Trikt that he was acting in violation of the Banking Act and thus made a material contribution to the criminal acts.
CMC/ak/ir/2026