The Working People’s Alliance (WPA) says it is extremely concerned about recent developments in the banking sector where sworn affidavits submitted by clients to banks have been refused.
In a statement on Friday, the party said it has received several complaints from disgruntled clients of some banks whose sworn affidavits from Justices of the Peace, Commissioners of Oaths to Affidavits and from the Notary Public have been refused by those institutions.
The WPA, a former member of the governing APNU+AFC coalition, said it is even more alarmed at complaints that self- employed persons have been instructed to present Statements of Income that are prepared, stamped and signed only by certified accountants and accounting firms.
“The fees for such work are pegged at approximately 80, 000 dollars. Is this development a collaboration between the banking institutions and agents within the accounting fraternity? It should be noted that these high fees have serious negative implications for the poor”, the WPA said.
The WPA, which withdrew from A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) last August, said that since it has been reliably informed that these measures are of recent vintage and that consumers have not been formally notified of the changes, it feels that the banking institutions should clear the air.
In the meantime, it pointed out that the changes in question run contrary to the Statutory Declaration Act Chapter 5:09, Article 3 (1) which reads as follows:
“Subject to the provisions hereinafter contained wherever confirmation of any written instrument or allegation, or the proof of any debt or of the execution of any deed or other matter is required, any judge, magistrate, justice of the peace, notary public, commissioner authorized to administer oaths to affidavits, or other officer now by law authorized to administer an oath, may take the declaration of any person voluntarily making it before him, in the form of the Schedule”.
