DON’T BLAME US

He said Persad-Bissessar, who failed to do her work when in Government, was “now inciting the United States to hurt us, by attempting to engage the (US) ambassador publicly on matters where she is failing to do her duty in the Parliament.” The PNM takes no responsibility for that outcome, he said.

“We will take responsibility for conducting the affairs of State in a decent and forthright and transparent manner and we expect that will impress those who will have to adjudicate in our circumstance.” The failures the Persad-Bissessar government, he said, was against a background where the Financial Investigations Unit has said there has been, in recent years, $3.7 billion worth of suspicious transactions in the country and no one has been prosecuted.

The government who knew that, Rowley said, “sat there and refused United States assistance in getting it done.” At a press conference held yesterday at his St Clair office, in Port-of-Spain, Rowley criticised Persad-Bissessar for publicly engaging US ambassador, John Estrada, “even as we are waiting for the United States to rule on our case,” and questioning his “suitability and his interpretation of our actions here in Trinidad and Tobago.” The People’s National Movement (PNM) Government, he said, will not take blame for the non passage of the Tax Information Exchange Bill 2016 to enable this country to become FATCA compliant.

The Opposition’s request for the Bill to go to a parliamentary Joint Select Committee because of concerns - specifically the powers of the Finance Minister - which was already enacted in 1989 in the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) Act, Rowley said, was “a red herring of nonsense.” The Finance Minister who has responsibility for the BIR, he said, will be the one to interface with Inland Revenue Services of the US. While Government has no document or commitment from the US Government on an extension of September 30 deadline to become FATCA compliant, Rowley said, Government was confident its request will be granted based on its commitment to pass the Bill.

Lambasting the Opposition for the delay in the passage of the Bill, Rowley said that the terms of reference for US assistance to fight financial crimes had been waiting for a sign off by Persad-Bissessar government over the past three years.

Declaring that, “This Government will sign it,” Rowley said, “The only reason why it will be signed is because we do not need them in the Parliament otherwise they would have blocked that too,” referring to the non-passage of the FATCA- enabling legislation in the Parliament last Friday.

He said that “best known to the last government, they failed to sign off on it to allow the US to assist TT with respect to our financial arrangements, FIU, casino gambling, money laundering, and terrorism financing.” Noting that the international Customs Mutual Assistance Agreement (CMAA), a treaty that allows the customs authorities in different countries to exchange information, intelligence, documents and assistance, was also “languishing” under the previous administration, Rowley said Finance Minister, Colm Imbert, made arrangements and Government finally signed that arrangement.