Former Suriname Vice President Ashwin Adhin arrested Associated Press Text size Copy shortlink:
PARAMARIBO, Suriname Former Vice President Ashwin Adhin has been arrested in an investigation into the alleged destruction of equipment in the vice presidential office after his party lost power in the May elections, President Chandrikapersad Santokhi said Monday.
Santokhi said in Parliament that Adhin, who is a legislator, had been detained and questioned. Based on that interrogation and the statements of others, the Public Prosecutor s Office has deemed it necessary to detain him as a suspect, the president said.
He gave no specifics. But Parliament member Reshma Mangre of the president s Progressive Reform Party has said that people in the vice president s office destroyed expensive media equipment. She said three people were arrested.
Can the new government lead Suriname into a prosperous, more stable, and less corrupt future?
Although 2020 will go down as one of the worst years for most countries, it was a pivotal time for Suriname.
The small, Dutch-speaking South American country had a critical election; its economy was upended by poor economic management by the outgoing government; the coronavirus pandemic created even more economic damage; and there were discoveries of commercially largescale offshore oil reserves. Under these changes, the old Suriname that existed on the periphery of the global economy evaporated. The world has arrived in Suriname in the form of multinational oil companies, investors and the United States, China, and the Netherlands. These new arrivals are not going away any time soon. With a population of a little under 600,000 people, Suriname has entered the 2020s as a hotspot for business and global politics. For the new government, the pressure is on.