Dear Editor
We refer to the May 8th editorial under the headline `Putting more pressure on the private sector to pay up employee NIS contributions’ in which you stated quote “Moreover, the records indicate that the delinquents include many prominent businesses, including banks.”
The Association has investigated your statement in respect of its member banks and wishes to inform you that our members have all confirmed that none is delinquent in respect of the remittance of employee contributions. Further, it has been confirmed that no member has any sum outstanding to the National Insurance Scheme.
Our confirmed information does not support your statement and we therefore request that you correct your statement in this respect.
Yours faithfully,
Radhakrishna Sharma
Chairman,
Guyana Association of Bankers
Editor’s note:
The reference to banks in the editorial was in relation to the practice of designating categories of their employees as self-employed, thereby removing employer liability for the payment of NIS contributions. This we are told is an infraction of the NIS rules that amounts to non-payment of contributions. We regret there was an inference that banks were not paying over deductions made on behalf of their employees.
