Checkmate staffers to be paid by end of week

PHILIPSBURG–Checkmate Security Services staff members should all be paid their November salaries by the end of this week, security company official Chet Euton said on Wednesday.

  A number of workers had complained that they had not yet been paid their salaries. Reports were also circulating that workers were going to take industrial action over the situation.

  When contacted about the matter Euton said the company’s accounts had been frozen which resulted in a delay in the payment. The accounts were frozen after the arrest of Checkmate owner O’neal Arrindell on Monday, November 28. He was arrested in connection with an investigation called Emerald into tax fraud, forgery of documents and money laundering.

  According to Euton, the accounts are now unfrozen and monies had been transferred into accounts where workers can be paid. At some banks this process takes several working days. Most of the staff members have since been paid and efforts are underway to pay the remainder by the end of this week.

  Euton called on workers to be a little patient under the circumstances. “It is not as though we do not want to pay the workers,” he said. “We just had to go through the procedures to get things rectified. We have started paying already and some more workers have to be paid. The workers just have to hold on.”

  Euton said he himself has not yet been paid and he will wait until all workers are paid before he collects his salary. He reminded that he had made it a priority for the company to pay its staff members on time at the end of each month when he joined Checkmate and noted that the current situation is just a hiccup.

  He said there are more than 400 persons on the company’s payroll who had been affected, but most have now been paid.

  Euton was disappointed that some persons are taking advantage of the current circumstances to sensationalise and paint the company in a negative light, which he said is unnecessary.

  In the meantime, Checkmate has sent out memos to its staff members and clients to “reassure them of the quality and standard of service.”

  Euton said the operations of the company are expected to continue despite the legal issues with the owner. “It will not change anything and there shouldn’t be any issues,” he assured. “Nothing is happening with the company. It is not going downhill. We are still moving forward.”

Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/62134-checkmate-staffers-to-be-paid-by-end-of-week