By Sue-Ann Wayow
FOR fiscal 2021, millions in arrears would have been paid to the National Insurance Board for members of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force.
The arrears would have accumulated over a period of time.
In 2021, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds said, there would have been outstanding monies owed to the board and provisions would have been made for that when questioned about reductions in NIS from $30.2 million to $20.4 million for the Defence Force for the 2022 fiscal year.
Hinds was answering questions posed by Opposition Members on Wednesday during the Standing Finance Committee in Parliament.
He said, “We are allegedly indebted to the NIS in certain sums and for reasons I am familiar with and those figures are being audited, we speak in order to ensure that we arrive at the correct figure and payment will continued to be made to the NIS.”
Hinds said that he will provide the exact figure at a later date and further explained that officers including the Air Guard and Coast Guard paid a lower NIS sum because of other benefits such as dental care.
Speaking specifically about the Air Guard, he stated that some $8million was settled in 2021.
He also assured that there were no deductions from officers which were not paid.
