Imbert: No FATCA repeal

He dismissed a blog from former US diplomat James George Jatras, released by the Opposition on February 2, supporting Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s letter to US President Donald Trump on whether FATCA would be repealed.

The blog was released while the JSC was meeting on the bill.

Imbert also produced an August 2013 report from Price- WaterhouseCoopers (PWC) which showed that Persad-Bissessar’s former adminis tration knew the risks TT faced, if it was not FATCA compliant, were real.

“Based on the last communication I had with the United States which is last week, the United States has informed me...that is the United States Embassy has informed me that in all their communications with the US Treasury, there has been no change to the the United States’ position on the implementation of FATCA and on the requirement for compliance by this country with all of the positions of the inter-governmental agreement,” Imbert declared. Imbert added this information was shared with JSC members including Opposition MPs Dr Bhoe Tewarie, Dr Tim Gopeesingh and Opposition Senator Gerald Ramdeen.

Referring to the PWC report and comments from local economists Indera Sagewan-Alli and Valmiki Arjoon, Imbert said this is not something, “we as a Parliament should be playing politics with.” He said it is clear that everyday transactions by ordinary citizens would become “very costly and complicated because FATCA affects bank to bank relations. After highlighting several examples of this, Imbert said the Bankers Association have made the point before the JSC and in other fora that, “non-compliance with FATCA will have a severe and adverse effect on TT