Dewnarain Poetoe
Dewnarain Poetoe was in 1950's and 1960's member of the parliament of Suriname.
He worked as a cashier at a branch of De Surinaamsche Bank in the district Nickerie. On New Year's Eve 1954 there was a report of a burglary at that branch. It soon became apparent that there was a staged break-in in an attempt to cover up long-standing fraud. Poetoe was identified as the prime suspect and he was arrested. He made a partial confession and in May 1958 he was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison, less 1.5 years in pre-trial detention.[1] At the election a month later he was nevertheless elected as a member of the Estates of Suriname in the Nickerie district as a NOP candidate. The other NOP candidat, Jan Kolhoe, was also elected at the same district. Poetoe was a member of parliament for some time until he was sentenced on appeal to 3 years in prison for his role in the embezzlement of 350,000 Surinamese guilders.[2] After he had served most of that sentence he returned to the parliament at the end of 1959.[3] In 1963 he was reelected and in 1967 he did not participate in the election. In the elections of 1969 he was unsuccessfully an NPS candidate for the district Nickerie.
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