![]() Newsletter Signup
Stay informed with the
NEW Casino City Times newsletter! |
Gaming News
South American Casino Co-Owner Killed Amid Charges of Financial Wrongdoing5 September 2001PARAMARIBO, Suriname – September 5, 2001 -- A casino co-owner was shot and killed outside a cafe in Suriname Tuesday in what police described as a drive-by shooting. Vinodh Parbhoe, co-owner of the Suriname Palace Casino in the South American country, was having drinks with friends on the cafe's porch at about 2 a.m. when he was shot three times in the chest, police said. A man in the car's passenger seat fired at Parbhoe, and the car sped off, police said. The 47-year-old businessman died outside the cafe. Parbhoe's friend Udo Carg, who was sitting beside him, was shot in the shoulder and was hospitalized in stable condition, police said. The shooting occurred just hours after a front-page story citing an anonymous source appeared in De Ware Tijd newspaper accusing the casino's foreign partners of improperly funneling $4.5 million of the casino's revenues out of the country. Jeffrey Clague, general manager of the Suriname Palace Casino, did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Police spokesman Ronald Gajadhar said police did not know the motive, and he declined to speculate about any connection between the shooting and the newspaper article. While they searched for suspects, police said they were interviewing witnesses. Authorities declined to give further details. Parbhoe's Holding Company -- owned by Parbhoe and his brother Gautham Parbhoe -- holds a 50-percent stake in the casino. Clague, originally from New Zealand, said in an interview earlier this year that the Surinamese company had helped form the casino by entering a joint venture with Dorsett Hotels & Resorts, Inc., which is owned by Conserver Corp. of America, based in Miami. Online records of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show the company changed its name to CCA Companies Inc., and a message left at the company's office was not immediately returned. Clague has said Dorsett was responsible for providing cash and expertise and managing the casino while Parbhoe's company was in charge of obtaining a gaming license and making other arrangements. |