On November 5, 2026, the Supervisory Board (Raad van Commissarissen, RvC) of Suriname’s Telecommunications Authority (TAS) formally submitted a criminal complaint to the country’s Prosecutor General, targeting two high-profile figures: former TAS director Wendy Jap-A-Joe, and Harish Monorath, the current Minister of Justice and Police who previously served as TAS’s supervisory board president. The complaint centers on alleged corrupt activities tied to the creation and execution of a 2021 employment agreement, which the RvC says was deliberately hidden from official administrative oversight for years, with unauthorized financial benefits disbursed without legally required government approvals. Signed on behalf of the RvC by current supervisory board president Emanuel Scheek, the document requests Suriname’s Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie, OM) to launch a full independent criminal investigation into individual and potential collective liability for the two named officials, as well as any other public servants who may have been complicit in the arrangement. The contested employment contract was formally signed on November 1, 2021, by both Monorath, acting in his then-role as TAS supervisory board head, and Jap-A-Joe, the agency’s sitting director at the time. The RvC asserts that the terms of the agreement may constitute a violation of Article 13 of Suriname’s Anti-Corruption Act, which prohibits unlawfully obtaining improper financial advantages or intentionally inflicting financial harm on state-run institutions. The contract’s terms impose extraordinary, far-reaching financial obligations on TAS: they include an initial gross monthly salary of $4,000 USD, plus representation and expense allowances, two annual performance bonuses, holiday stipends, pension contributions, a €125,000 EUR life insurance policy, full medical coverage for Jap-A-Joe and her entire family, extended wage payments during periods of work incapacity, and the right to take ownership of an official TAS service vehicle free of charge upon the termination of her employment. Most notably, a clause in the agreement stipulates that under certain circumstances, Jap-A-Joe would be entitled to a minimum 24-month notice period, followed by a severance package equal to 36 full months of her base salary and all associated benefits. The RvC is calling on prosecutors to investigate who authorized these unusually generous terms, the exact decision-making process behind the agreement, and whether relevant competent government bodies ever formally approved the arrangement. Investigators have also been asked to audit the total sum of funds that have already been disbursed under the contract, and calculate the full scope of outstanding financial liabilities TAS may face as a result of the unvetted deal. A particularly damning element of the RvC’s submission is that the 2021 employment agreement was never found in TAS’s official governance records, and the head of the agency’s Human Resources department confirmed the document is also missing from Jap-A-Joe’s official personnel file. The RvC states that despite repeated formal requests, Jap-A-Joe repeatedly refused to provide the current board with a copy of the agreement or any accompanying proof of required government approvals. Compounding these concerns, the RvC notes that as TAS director, Jap-A-Joe held signatory authority that gave her exclusive power to authorize payments on behalf of the entire agency – placing her in a unique conflict of interest position where she could approve and disburse payments tied to her own personal employment contract, with no prior oversight from authorized regulatory bodies. The board is asking prosecutors to verify whether the document was intentionally kept out of official administrative systems, and if multiple public officials coordinated to conceal the arrangement. Under Suriname’s Telecommunications Facilities Act, the terms of TAS director’s employment must be formally approved by the relevant sector minister, following consultation with the TAS RvC and final sign-off from the Council of Ministers. The current RvC says it has found no documentary evidence that this mandatory procedure was ever followed for the 2021 agreement, and that former responsible ministers have stated in response to inquiries that they had no knowledge of the contract or its lavish terms. Prosecutors have been requested to formally interview these former ministers, and conduct full searches of relevant ministerial and national government archives for any related documentation. Beyond questioning the legal validity of the employment agreement, the criminal complaint outlines serious corruption allegations, and asks judicial authorities to expand their probe to include potential charges of embezzlement, official misappropriation of funds, fraud, forgery of official documents, and other criminal offenses as evidence emerges during the investigation. The RvC argues that existing circumstances point to a coordinated, intentional scheme where TAS public funds were diverted outside all legally mandated procedures to deliver improper financial and material benefits to the parties involved. To support the investigation, the RvC is requesting that prosecutors seize all relevant original copies of the employment agreement, draft versions, related digital records, and full TAS financial administration documents, and conduct formal interviews with all involved board members, HR staff, and former ministers. The submission of the criminal complaint follows a landmark October 26 district court ruling, which determined that Jap-A-Joe’s legal appointed term as TAS director had expired due to the passage of time. The court also ruled that any contractual extension of her executive authority conflicted with existing national telecommunications regulations, and that no proof had been submitted demonstrating that the mandatory approval process for her employment terms had ever been completed. The 2021 agreement was provisionally suspended by the court, pending a full substantive ruling on its legal validity in follow-up civil proceedings. Jap-A-Joe has contested the legal implications of the end of her appointed term, and the case is currently the subject of an ongoing appeal. The RvC emphasizes in its complaint that the recent civil court ruling does not on its own establish criminal liability, but provides additional, corroborating grounds to justify launching a full criminal investigation. The board adds that alongside the criminal proceedings, it reserves the right to hold all involved public officials personally, and potentially jointly, liable for any financial losses that TAS has incurred as a result of the unregulated agreement. A full copy of the criminal complaint has also been distributed to the national government, Suriname’s National Assembly, and the national Court of Audit for transparency and oversight purposes.