The government is exploring additional ways to fortify the security of the Pension books issued by the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security to avoid duplication or the production of fake copies.
This comes in light of several concerns swirling in the public domain about the heightened use of fake pension books for encashment.
General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo underscored the seriousness of this issue, as the practice deprives pensioners of the pension funds they rightly deserve.
“My big fear was that if they draw down the money on someone’s book, then the pensioner who goes there would not get their money. So, the police are looking into this is not a new matter, and I expect that they would take condign action with anyone who is involved in this,” he said during his weekly press conference at Freedom House.
He said that the Ministry of Finance is considering a new method of printing the pension books.
“They would have to be almost embossed so that they would have additional security features that would be hard to replicate. So right now, he is looking at this, and I hope it does not delay the printing of the books,” he said.
Dr Jagdeo pointed out that the old age pension will be increased to $41,000 per month, and this is already being taken into consideration for the printing of new books.
“The sum of money, we know. [The minister] has to now get these books printed in a manner that they can’t be replicated, and we need to take strong action against those who try to subvert the system,” the GS said.
In September, the Human Services Ministry explained that the unauthorised books do not bear the security features and colours of the official books. It was emphasised that anyone found guilty of committing this fraud will face the full brunt of the law.