On March 17, 2026, the Netherland’s Public Prosecution Service (“Openbaar Ministerie” or “OM”) announced that it reached out-of-court settlements with three Surinamese banks to resolve a suspected money laundering incident that occurred in 2018. According to the OM, Hakrinbank N.V. agreed to pay €166,000, while Finabank N.V. and De Surinaamsche Bank N.V. each agreed to pay €124,000 to resolve the allegations.
In 2016, OM prosecutors allegedly joined with other government agencies, including Dutch Customs and the Netherland’s Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (“FIOD”), to investigate a possible laundering scheme that involved bulk money shipments routed through the Schipol Airport. In 2018, the FIOD reportedly seized €19.5 million in cash notes, which were en route to Hong Kong, that originated from the Surinamese banks. Investigators determined that the three banks were possibly culpable for money laundering after finding that they allegedly failed to adequately check the origins of the cash in Suriname. More specifically, the banks allegedly failed to properly verify the customers of currency exchange offices, which turned out to be clients of the banks.
According to the OM, the settlement amounts are appropriate for a money laundering offense because they reflect the age of the case and involve the lesser offense of negligent money laundering, as opposed to habitual or intentional money laundering that are more serious charges. The lesser offense was charged because there was no evidence to support that the laundering was intentional or that all seized funds had a criminal origin.