Al-Rawi blames UNC over FATCA

He said Opposition Leader Kamla Persad- Bissessar was a member of both administrations.

Shrikissoon said he was very perturbed that Parliament had spent so much time on this model of FATCA legislation that brought no benefits to TT, rather than an alternative model where the onus falls on the Central Bank to get a United States taxpayer’s details from his private bank for the Board of Inland Revenue to forward to the US tax authorities.

He resented that after 54 years of Independence, TT’s legislative agenda is dictated by a foreign power, the US.

Al-Rawi empathised with Shrikissoon’s call, saying FATCA could have been enacted by the banks requiring customers to consent to their details being sent to the US, or alternatively asking them to close their accounts, but said the Government is now bound by the trajectory set by its predecessor.

He described Opposition Senator Gerald Ramdeen as “ludicrous and nonsensical” for complaining that the Government had failed to set up a joint select committee (JSC) on FATCA last September.

Al-Rawi said this was impossible because a JSC must include Opposition nominees but the Opposition had walked out of the Senate and stayed away.