On October 21, a major administrative and law enforcement controversy has emerged in Suriname, after the country’s Minister of Justice and Security Harish Monorath launched a formal investigation into the unapproved presence of uniformed police personnel at the headquarters of the Telecommunicatie Autoriteit Suriname (TAS), Suriname’s national telecommunications regulator.
Monorath confirmed to local outlet Starnieuws that he initiated the probe after receiving unconfirmed reports of police personnel stationed at the TAS facility during official working hours. Initial inquiries with senior police leadership revealed that no formal order was ever issued to deploy officers to the regulator’s premises, and no coordination about the deployment was ever held with commanding officers, the minister said.
The deployment of uniformed on-duty police to TAS cannot be explained by any official police report or request for law enforcement assistance filed with the service, Monorath added. That fact has raised serious questions about the unauthorized use of police resources in what appears to be an internal TAS leadership transition.
TAS President Commissioner Emanuel Scheek told reporters on Tuesday that the regulator had requested police support to ensure an orderly handover of the director position from outgoing leader Wendy Jap-A Joe to the TAS board. According to Scheek, the deployed officers were later recalled by their superiors, a detail that deepens the confusion around the incident.
Monorath called the situation “remarkable”, noting that officers were present at the TAS without the knowledge of their chain of command, and that while reports indicate the officers withdrew on an order from a senior figure, it remains unclear who issued that instruction. The formal investigation now underway is tasked with answering three core questions: why officers were present at TAS, who authorized their deployment, and on what legal or administrative basis the officers acted.
As a precautionary step, Monorath has also reached out to Prosecutor General Garcia Paragsingh to clarify what legal authority police have to operate at the TAS facility in this context. The Prosecutor General delivered a clear and concise response: Suriname’s police force has no official business to carry out at the TAS in relation to this matter.
Further details released by the minister show that the first officers deployed to TAS came from the Munder police precinct, with an officer from the elite Quick Response Team (QRT) later arriving at the site. But QRT leadership has also denied authorizing any vehicle or personnel deployment to the TAS, matching the denial from senior regular police leadership.
Monorath has emphasized that the investigation’s core goal is to pinpoint who bears ultimate responsibility for the unauthorized deployment. All officers involved in the incident have been ordered to report to the Police Investigations Department starting Wednesday morning to give statements.