Imbert: Better safeguards in place against covid19 fraud

FINANCE Minister Colm Imbert said mechanisms are in place to ensure there is full transparency in the distribution of covid19 relief measures and prevent any kind of fraud from taking place.

At a virtual news conference on Tuesday, Imbert said his ministry has very robust systems in place to prevent anyone trying to access any covid19 financial relief through fraudulent means.

"Our latest online digital portal has more security features built into that. So it is very, very difficult for a person to cheat in terms of our Salary Relief Grant (SRG)"

He said as far as the Social Development and Family Services Ministry's Income Support Grant (ISG), that ministry is improving its "detection mechanisms for who may be trying to cheat."

While some of those people slipped through the cracks last year, Imbert said, "What I am hearing is that we are doing much better. In fact, the total number of valid applications that we received for the month of May was 4,800 more or less."

Imbert said the Finance and Social Development Ministries collaborate closely on the distribution of both grants. He said if the same person applies for the SRG and ICS, that person is cancelled out.

Imbert said Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Ancil Dennis had made a comprehensive statement with respect to queries raised by the Auditor General about irregularities in expenditure on covid19 food hampers and food cards between October 2019 and September 2020. Imbert suggested any further queries on that issue be referred to Dennis.

Imbert also described Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar's claim that Government followed the wrong procedure to seek Parliament's approval for a $3 billion supplementation through the Finance (Supplementation and Variation of Appropriation) (Financial Year 2021) Bill, 2021 as "absolute nonsense."

The bill was passed by the House of Representatives and Senate on June 9 and 11 respectively.

Imbert said while Government continues to do what it can to help bar owners whose businesses have been closed under the public health regulations, there have been challenges.

"I think it has to do a lot with the informality in that sector."

Imbert said many of these people may not have National Insurance Scheme (NIS) numbers and this is one of the requirements to access the SRG. He added the ministry would continue to help those people. "We will do the best we can."

Imbert said only 1,000 out of 30,000 people associated with bars applied for the SRG. He said 15,000 people applied from the food/restaurant services sector and 13,500 from the retail sector, respectively applied for the SRG.

Imbert also said his ministry was seeking information from the construction sector about people there who would need relief. Similar to bars, Imbert said the informal nature of some construction made acquiring proper information challenging.