(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – Police arrested the head of the customs’ Special Laws department last Saturday for aiding and abetting fuel fraud. This senior inspector is in charge of levying excises on imported fuel. Sources tell de Ware Tijd that small trawlers regularly berth at Domburg to sell excess fuel. To customs chief August van Hamme, this arrest is a blow, especially since a deputy inspector was arrested in the Surpost case two weeks ago. He was accused of forging car documents imported by the mail service. The customs executive admits that these incidents are in no way good for the department’s image, specifically now that high ranking officials are involved. ‘We regret these incidents, but the law is the law. If these men are guilty they will be punished, if not they will be rehabilitated,’ says Van Hamme. He says that the arrests were made by the police in an ongoing investigation and not by customs officials. ‘There’s no way predict how the investigation would go. I won’t be surprised, but I hope that nothing adverse happens,’ Van Hamme says, responding to questions whether he expects more arrests to follow. An expert explains that there is nothing wrong with selling excess fuel as long as the vessel is not registered in Suriname. But that is where the shady deals begin. Insiders tell de Ware Tijd that the authorities have been suspecting trawlers to bunker fuel at sea, and then return to sell it on shore. Their profits soar since they wrongly fill in documents, leaving out the exact quantity of fuel. The customs inspector has aided in these shady deals. One such trawler can store up to 40,000 liters of fuel. De Ware Tijd has learned that every two weeks a trawler comes in to sell its ‘excess’ fuel, amounting to an enormous sum of money. The captain of the trawler was also arrested.
