Dear Editor,
To the best of my knowledge, those who steal NIS contributions end up saving two-thirds of what they have to pay. This deprives the NIS of the funds they need to provide service and benefits to citizens who thought they were contributing to their benefits.
Over the decades, I have advocated by writing several letters offering much guidance to the various governments of the day. One of which was published in January, 2009 in the Stabroek News, entitled: `The Minister of Home Affairs should form a committee to look at the draft bill on private security organizations.’ These letters of advisories go as far back as the waning days of former President Linden Forbes Burnham’s administration, former President Desmond Hoyte’s administration, former President Dr. Cheddi Jagan’s administration, and all governments to this day without any thought or attention, except for now.
I see that His Excellency, President Dr. Irfaan Ali intends to blacklist companies that do not remit their NIS. With this, I have to say, “All praise be to God!” while complimenting and saluting him. However, I would also advise him to be very careful with these people, as it is said that “the stricter the government the smarter the scamps.” In other words, as they do now, some of these employers who tender below cost to steal NIS, PAYE, and VAT will do more of this in the future, declaring a limited number of contributions to procure or acquire compliances for tenders. The same goes for the PAYE taxes they pay for a tiny group to pull the wool over the eyes of these authorities.
Corruption is alive, rife and ripe; the operatives and tempters are seductive with sweet smiles to entrap NIS officials and those of the GRA. Many even have corrupt relationships with persons in these agencies. In my view, with all the substantial amounts that are owed to the NIS and GRA, if they were to collect just a third of that amount, the NIS would give bountifully to its contributors.
With this in mind, my suggestions to the government to curb this unethical habit are as follows:
1. Criminalize the non-remittance of NIS as a serious felony with severe imprisonment. If fines and all amounts owing are not paid then all property belonging to the individual or persons, even if it is a corporation, should be imprisoned and confiscated. I am a layman in law but I know that one cannot establish a corporation to commit fraud and theft of NIS and any other deductions. This is tantamount to fraud!
2. File private criminal actions for fraud with severe punishment for the scamps. This is another solution, dear government, that I believe will trigger the flow of money.
3. Bankruptcy should never be an excuse to avoid the remittances of NIS, VAT, and PAYE, or the gravity of the situation becomes more exacerbated. In general, private arrangements should not work, as we saw with one security firm who declared bankruptcy and then began the very minute with the same uniform, at the same location, and under a different name. Consequently, this company fooled NIS and GRA by paying for a few people, yet somehow was still able to win large-scale contracts within the country.
4. Avoid offering payment plans to these dishonest people. NIS and GRA came up with the idea that they will try to negotiate a payment plan with the people. However, they need to realize that not everyone is like Roshan Khan or any other honest individuals of this country where they will stick to being honourable. We saw one security service, operated by a former Senior Military Officer and an Attorney at Law whose books were seized by the GRA for failure to pay any corporate taxes, and who, subsequently, vowed to pay it but never did. They were cleverly using a tricky private compensation system for workers, while at the same time hogging the wealth of NIS, PAYE, and VAT.
At this juncture, I am respectfully advising the Government of Guyana to at least start by taking private criminal actions while working to criminalize the theft of NIS, PAYE taxes, and/or VAT. One method that would work to a certain degree is blacklisting. However, be wary of those who have a penchant for such deceit and will try every trick in the book to deceive you.
Yours faithfully,
Hajji Dr. Roshan Khan Snr.
