A sitting member of Suriname’s National Assembly (DNA) from the National Democratic Party (NDP), Jennifer Vreedzaam, has formally submitted a request to the national Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to launch a full audit of the legality and procedural propriety of two land use agreements inked by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (LVV). The formal petition, dated October 29, 2025, targets two separate deals: a January 13, 2026, 20-year land lease contract with Braganza Marketing Group N.V. for more than 9,300 hectares of state-owned land in the Para district, and a September 25, 2024, agricultural development agreement with Suriname Green Energy Agriculture N.V. Vreedzaam emphasized in her official correspondence that the partial documentation currently available to her raises substantial red flags about potential deviations from statutory regulations, administrative protocols, and binding government resolutions during the negotiation and signing stages of both contracts. She noted that existing records are insufficient to confirm that all mandatory legal guardrails were followed, and is seeking clarification on whether involved ministry officials exceeded their official authority when finalizing the terms of the agreements. The high-profile Braganza deal, signed by acting LVV director R. Toekoen and company representative Lionel Blokland, grants the firm conditional access to 9,366.72 hectares of state land for large-scale mechanized commercial farming and associated agricultural operations for a 20-year term. The contract stipulates that Braganza must bring no less than 10% of the allocated land under active cultivation each calendar year, with automatic termination of the lease if the requirement is breached, and retains full state ownership of the land, barring any transfer of usage rights to third parties without prior written ministerial approval. Notably, the agreement also mandates the establishment of a US$100,000 community development fund, but no clauses in the publicly available outline of the contract specify clear governance frameworks, spending oversight rules, or eligible beneficiaries for the dedicated fund, a gap Vreedzaam identifies as a major unaddressed accountability risk. The second targeted agreement with Suriname Green Energy Agriculture N.V., represented by director Roy Kong Yong Foek, covers agricultural development in a parcel of land that was previously allocated for alternative public use. This probe request builds on Vreedzaam’s November 2025 prior petition to Suriname’s Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM) to investigate potential criminal offenses linked to land allocation processes in the Wayambo region, where she flagged unaddressed tenure rights of Indigenous and tribal communities and documented gaps in inclusive, legally compliant decision-making for lands these groups hold traditional claims to. Vreedzaam confirmed that the Public Prosecutor’s Office has already initiated its separate criminal investigation, but argues that a parallel, dedicated review by the independent Anti-Corruption Commission is critical to fully assess the legality, cost-effectiveness, and administrative integrity of the two formal LVV contracts. She stressed that non-compliance with established rules for state land allocation and public agreement drafting directly undermines core principles of good governance, public transparency, and legal protection for marginalized Indigenous and tribal populations with traditional stakes in the affected territories. The parliamentarian has formally requested a timely response from the ACC, offered to provide additional supporting evidence and detailed contextual briefings to commission investigators, and confirmed she will submit full copies of both land agreements and her earlier correspondence to the Prosecutor General to support the upcoming review.
Vreedzaam schakelt Anti-Corruptie Commissie in voor onderzoek naar LVV-gronddeals
