SXMElections.com

PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament (MP) George Pantophlet wants to know whether an agreement has been reached amongst government and the Social and Health Insurance SZV and the General Pension Fund APS.

In a press release on Sunday, Pantophlet said the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT on several occasions had urged government to come to an agreement as to how it will pay the arrears of these funds. CFT had also set a deadline for this May for an agreement to be reached in connection with the budget.

The MP said he was “extremely concerned” about this issue as he understands that the outstanding amounts owed to these institutions are almost a combined NAf. 300 million. Pantophlet will be sending a letter to Finance Minister Martin Hassink requesting the exact amount owed and whether an agreement has been reached.

“An instruction is apparently looming over the head of government and this has to be avoided at all costs. Any instruction will not be in the benefit of the people,” Pantophlet said.

The NA MP wants to know if any payments are currently being made to SZV and APS since the amounts keep increasing. He also wants clarity on “the disputed amounts” between SZV and government. “Is it a matter of accounting; in other words improper record keeping?” Pantophlet said his question has to do with the compliance audit of the 2013 Financial Statements.

He alluded to statements made by the General Audit Chamber that there were uncertainties due to the lack of information needed to verify the accounts. Pantophlet also asked what proposals were on the table “because in an article appearing in one of the daily newspapers in April, it was mentioned that several meetings had taken place.”