The Dutch Prosecutor’s Office in the Northern part of the Netherlands on Monday decided to prosecute 3 Surinamese banks for their alleged involvement in the money laundering of € 19.5 million. According to the Dutch Prosecutor’s Office that money that came from the illegal drug trade in Suriname was seized at Schiphol in April 2018.

A Surinamese top banker claimed that the Dutch Prosecutor’s Office was using a smoke screen to cover up its mistakes. “We were not even served with a writ for Monday’s trial. This is not a legitimate trial.”

The Dutch newspaper Financieele Dagblad published a story which indicates that the Dutch Prosecutor’s Office carried out an investigation and found out that multiple people deposited huge sums of money in cash. One of these Surinamese businessmen even deposited one million Euros cash. A Dutch Prosecutor’s explained that the huge sums of money were divided into smaller amounts of cash before being deposited at a bank on the same day in order not to raise any red flags. During the trial in The Hague it became evident that the Dutch Prosecutor’s Office has put the Hakrinbank, De Surinaamsche Bank and the Finabank in its cross hair. “These banks were recently invited to a meeting for questioning but did not respond.”

Sources told Times of Suriname that the banks received the invitation via email last Friday. This is not the usual procedure which is why the banks did not accept the invitation. Local bankers explained that the Dutch Prosecutor’s Office is stalling for more time…[+]