Armcor owes NAPSA K9m

ARMCOR Security Limited owes the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) more than K9mllion in unremitted contributions stretching over a period of 18 months.
The security firm has not been remitting its statutory obligations to NAPSA since November 2012, when the last contribution was made and risks being slapped with additional penalties.
An additional amount of more than K3.9 million was owed in penalties for failure to pay the statutory obligations for its employees.
According to documentation obtained by the Times in Lusaka yesterday, Armcor Security has further defaulted on a payment plan for 23 transactions amounting  to K1.7 million, to cover the period of default.
The security firm was written to by NAPSA Area Manager Tapeya Phiri on June 23, 2011, expressing concern over the outstanding contributions and penalties.
“Our records indicate that you have not remitted statutory pension contributions on behalf of your employees for the period; March 2000, December 2001, August 2006, April 2010 and September 2010 to NAPSA.
“Our records further show that you have outstanding penalties to the sum of K3.9million levied on contributions that were remitted late as per attached employer statement,” the letter read in part.
Mr Phiri said it was a statutory obligation to remit the contributions together with supporting employees’ details to the Authority within the period specified by the law and that failure to do constituted a violation of Section 15 (1) and (2) as read with 51 (1) (d) of the NAPSA Act number 40 of 1996 of the laws of Zambia.
“This letter therefore serves as a demand for documentation for the periods quoted above and for you to settle all the outstanding contributions plus the accumulated penalty within seven days from the date of receipt of this letter. Failure to comply, without lawful excuse, will leave us with no option but to seek legal redress against your organisation,” the letter adds.
Armcor chief executive officer, Gary Wadey declared in an agreement terms application to abide by the terms of payment for the payment plan for the unremitted amounts, but the firm had continued to default, indicating that out of 33 payments, only 10 had been cleared as of April this year.
Some of the security firm’s workers said on condition of anonymity that it was not fair that deductions were being made from their monthly earnings but not remitted to the Authority towards their retirement packages.
“I work very hard to serve my employers and I’ll be reaching my retirement age very soon. I am worried how I will sustain my life because Armcor is not remitting to NAPSA,” the worker said.
Another employee appealed to the Ministry of Labour to intervene in the matter and ensure that the worker’s plight was priority.
“There is a problem which I believe the Ministry of Labour should look into. The company hasn’t remitted any money since 2012, this is serious and the Government should please look into this case,” the worker said.