Finance Ministry will work with stakeholders on FATCA

The ministry said now that the legislation was passed by the Senate on Monday and by the House of Representatives on February 23, “the country can now breathe a little easier because we have avoided the adverse consequences of loss of correspondent banking, imposition of withholding taxes, de-risking and de-banking that would have occurred had consensus not been reached on the legislation.” In the Senate on Monday, the bill was passed with 29 senators (Government, Opposition and Independent) voting for it.

Independent Senator Stephen Creese abstained and no senator voted against the bill. In the House last week, all 39 MPs (Government and Opposition) voted for the bill.

The ministry thanked all persons who contributed to the passage of the bill, including the members of the joint select committee (JSC) formed to examine the bill.

The ministry made special mention of the efforts of the hard-working public servants in the Parliament, the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs and within its own ranks who worked tirelessly to provide the required information and draft various amendments to the bill.

In concluding debate on the bill in the Senate on Tuesday night, Finance Minister Colm Imbert praised Attorney General Faris Al Rawi, Opposition Senator Gerald Ramdeen and Independent Senator Hugh Russell Ian Roach (all members of the JSC which he chaired), for the respective roles they played in ensuring consensus was reached on the legislation.

Imbert said Al Rawi put out “120 percent” effort to provide cogent information on the bill, Ramdeen provided written amendments from the Opposition for the first time and Roach made decisive interventions at crucial moments in the committee’s deliberations.