Imbert: Too important to fail

He explained that under the House’s Standing Orders should a vote be put to a vote and it fails, “it can’t be brought back under six months.” Imbert continued, “If we had allowed the Opposition to continue in the way they were behaving and we had been reckless and decided to put this matter to a vote...today for example...it is obvious that they would not have voted for it.” Imbert said has this happened, TT would have been seen as an “irresponsible country” and, “that would have sent an entirely wrong signal to the US Treasury...

the American authorities.” Saying this was Government’s major concern, Imbert said he hoped to receive a response from the US Treasury for a FATCA extension next week. He also said US Ambassador to TT John Estrada, has said he would speak with officials in the US Treasury while he is in Washington DC. Imbert stressed this, “is not a time for nervousness... it is a time for being purposeful.” He rejected Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s claim the bill was a distraction from the 2016/2017 Budget which he will present in Parliament on September 30- the FATCA deadline for TT compliance.

“That’s statement is ridiculous.

Why would I want to distract from the Budget?” he asked. Imbert said Persad-Bissessar was well aware of the Budget process and countered that it was the Opposition that was trying to hamper the Budget’s preparations. Imbert indicated that since 5 am yesterday, the Government started working on amendments to the bill once it saw a newspaper ad from the Opposition on FATCA.