A leaked 2025 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Braganza Marketing Group and a group of Mennonites from Belize has pulled back the curtain on opaque financial arrangements tied to thousands of hectares of earmarked land for large-scale agricultural development in Suriname, contradicting public statements made by Braganza’s leadership. Dated November 27, 2025, the document was shared with regional outlet Starnieuws by environmental activist John Goedschalk, who has long tracked controversial land development projects in the country. Its contents directly conflict with written claims Braganza Director Lionel Blokland provided to Starnieuws just last week.
The core terms of the MoU outline a structured financial deal that would see the Mennonite group acquire 100% of the shares in a local Surinamese company called Agriculture New Surland N.V. Once the share acquisition is complete, land rights for roughly 9,410 hectares of territory would be transferred to the company. The total price tag for this transaction is listed as US$1.693 million, and the agreement names key representatives from both sides: Jacob Olfert Friesen and Heinrich Hamm for the Mennonites, and Christiaan Rudolf Souverein for Braganza. Additional signatories include Peter Schmidt alongside the named Mennonite representatives.
Most notably, the MoU directly contradicts Blokland’s categorical denial to Starnieuws last week that Braganza was selling any land to the Mennonite group. When asked if Braganza or any affiliated party was receiving per-hectare payments for the land, Blokland avoided a direct answer, noting only that there were agreements in place regarding investments and mutual financial obligations, but that these details were not open to public scrutiny. The leaked MoU confirms that as of late November 2025, a concrete financial structure had already been finalized that explicitly links the share transfer to land rights for the 9,410-hectare plot.
The payment schedule laid out in the document is equally revealing. According to the MoU, the Mennonites had already transferred US$250,000 to the bank account of Braganza Marketing Group N.V. by the time the agreement was signed. A second payment of US$596,900 would be made directly to Braganza next, bringing the total paid to 50% of the overall sum. A third installment of US$423,450 would follow one year after the transaction closes, with a fourth and final payment of the same amount due two years post-transaction. All installments are designated to be deposited into Braganza’s accounts, adding up to the total sum of US$1.693 million. Notably, the US$250,000 down payment and the overall US$1.69 million total were first reported earlier this year by the international environmental news platform Mongabay, which also reviewed a copy of the MoU related to the Mennonites’ relocation and development plans in Suriname.
When broken down by the total acreage, the per-hectare price works out to roughly US$180. This figure conflicts with the US$150 per hectare figure recently cited to journalists by Belizean Mennonite representative Peter Petersen. The MoU does not clarify where Petersen’s US$150 figure originated, but it does confirm that a large sum of money is directly tied to the land rights deal for the 9,410-hectare plot.
Blokland’s response last week attempted to distance Braganza from the Mennonites’ internal financial arrangements, claiming that any internal accounting within the Mennonite communities was a private matter. He did acknowledge that Braganza and Mennonite-owned entities had agreements for investments and mutual financial obligations, but refused to disclose any specific dollar amounts. The leaked MoU, however, includes concrete figures, explicit payment deadlines, and names Braganza as the direct recipient of all payments. At the same time, Starnieuws cautions that it cannot confirm based on this single document whether all the terms laid out in the November 2025 MoU have been implemented unchanged, or whether subsequent agreements have altered the original terms.
The phrasing surrounding the 9,410 hectares of land also raises new questions about compliance with existing public land regulations. A separate January 13, 2026 agreement between Braganza and Suriname’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (LVV) states that the Surinamese government retains full ownership of the state land in question, and Braganza only holds a functional, non-transferable right of use. Any transfer of rights to third parties requires prior written approval from the LVV. This creates a clear conflict with the November 2025 MoU’s plan to transfer land rights via a share sale to the Mennonite group, raising questions about how the two agreements align.
For Goedschalk, the contradictions between Braganza’s public statements and the terms laid out in the leaked MoU demand full transparency. The activist has monitored large-scale agricultural development and the Mennonites’ planned expansion in Suriname critically for several years. Back in 2023, he released public documents detailing land applications tied to Terra Invest and Ruud Souverein, noting at the time that he was not claiming the land had already been allocated, only that applications had been submitted. Now, with this new leaked document in hand, Goedschalk is renewing his call for complete public disclosure of all financial and legal structures behind the current wave of agricultural development projects in Suriname.