Rowley: Opposition seeking to create FATCA mayhem

Rowley spoke with the media after a book signing at the RIK Book Store in Long Circular Mall on Tuesday.

The Opposition believes, he said, “that if they do not cooperate, then they believe that mayhem will take place in the country and, in that mayhem, their position would be improved and they might have the opportunity of getting back into office.” He said, “You might find that difficult to believe. I don’t.” Rowley said he will not be “surprised at all if the Opposition manages to create mayhem in the country that would flow from them not using their vote to protect the country’s interest.

Whether you like it or not, that is it.” He said when one hears Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar voicing her opinion on the issue, “You have to ask yourself ‘Why is she saying that. Why is she doing that? And why are they risking the country’s future?’” Persad-Bissessar knew of the requirements since 2013 when she was in office, he said adding that she did not do anything then, neither in 2014 nor in 2015.

“We missed the first deadline.

We got an extension for a second deadline and this woman is here on television telling the nation that the sky would not fall in,” he said.

He continued, “As far as the Opposition is concerned, the Government is fear mongering and is crying wolf. I know she knows better than that.” The Opposition has been calling on Government to take the Tax Information Exchange Bill, commonly referred to as the FATCA bill to a Joint Select Committee.

Government has debated the bill in the Parliament and taken it to the Committee Stage, but the Opposition is still not satisfied with amendments made to it.