On April 26, new contradictions emerged surrounding the recently dismissed Supervisory Board (Raad van Commissarissen, RvC) of Canawaima Management Company, deepening uncertainty around an unfolding public controversy centered on disputed invoices and questionable personnel decisions.
The now-dismissed board issued a vehement denial this week that it ever possessed the controversial invoices that have recently entered the public domain. Richenel Vrieze, the former chair of the RvC, confirmed that neither the full board nor Canawaima Management Company itself has ever examined the documents in question. This immediate denial has placed serious questions over the origin of the leaked invoices, which have become the core of the public scandal. Repair firm Sardha has already filed a formal police report over the documents, alleging forgery, as the company states it never actually submitted the invoices that have appeared in public.
Alongside denying access to the invoices, Vrieze has launched sharp criticism of the process that led to his board being removed from office. He claims that the fundamental principle of due process, which requires allowing all parties to state their case before action is taken, was completely ignored in the dismissal. “Despite reaching out to the responsible minister in writing to request a hearing, we were given no opportunity to present our side of the story, and no response was ever forthcoming,” Vrieze stated in his remarks.
The controversy has become further complicated by conflicting accounts of the membership status of RvC member Abdul Madhar. Madhar claims that he stepped down from the board effective February 10, a date that holds particular significance: it is the very same day that Vrieze’s board, which included Madhar and fellow member Edgar van Genderen, was originally appointed to its three-year term by Minister Raymond Landveld. Madhar says he offered his resignation verbally, and already holds a partial copy of the official dismissal resolution for his position.
This document names Fandi Bogor as Madhar’s replacement on the RvC, a development that the former board says it was never informed of. Notably, Bogor has since been appointed as a member of the newly installed RvC that replaced Vrieze’s dismissed board. Vrieze counters Madhar’s claims, stating that the former board never received any formal notification of Madhar’s resignation. “Nothing was communicated to us formally. Madhar participated in all board deliberations and was kept fully informed of every decision the board took,” Vrieze explained. He added that Madhar is still officially registered as a board member with the Suriname Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a registration that was completed on March 19, when Madhar was personally present to complete the paperwork.
Contradictions grow even deeper: Vrieze confirmed that Madhar also co-signed a formal notice of default addressed to Lesley Daniel, Canawaima’s terminal manager, a document that was never delivered because Daniel was not present at the work site at the time. This runs counter to Madhar’s claim that he had already left the board long before that document was drafted.
Vrieze also moved to clarify his own temporary role as acting terminal manager at the South Drain facility. He confirmed that he served in this interim position between March 13 and March 29 2026 under a formal written authorization, and that the permanent terminal manager only returned to the site on April 16. He also rejected widespread accusations that he holds undisclosed family or business ties to companies that have secured contracts from Canawaima, calling the claims entirely unfounded and stating no such links exist to his knowledge.
To date, key questions surrounding the Canawaima controversy remain unanswered. It is still unclear who leaked the disputed invoices to the public, and what formal basis was used for the decision to dismiss the full RvC. With the former board’s categorical denial of ever holding the documents and conflicting testimony over board membership and internal decisions, the fog around the scandal has only continued to thicken.
