Tancoo: Is Minister Imbert Entitled to Access Private Banking Information?
In a desperate attempt to prove a point, Minister of Finance Colm Imbert may have ‘hit his own wicket’ by an admission he made yesterday on social media platform “X” stating, “I checked with the EximBank today, and I was told that the businessman the paper is promoting has NEVER applied to the EximBank for access to foreign exchange. NEVER”.
This from UNC Chairman and Opposition spokesman on Finance, Dave Tancoo who says that what Imbert has revealed raises more questions than the answers the Minister was seeking – questions that Colm Imbert now has no choice but to answer, or face more than just public consternation.
“Last week I made the point that T&T’s distribution of foreign exchange is riddled with secrecy, bias and corruption and that the Government must provide clear and immediate answers as to how scarce foreign exchange is being distributed by the Central Bank. Instead of heeding my words, Colm Imbert chose to throw a hissy fit on social media, accusing one national media house of peddling inaccurate and misleading stories about access to foreign exchange.”
The Opposition MP said that he again advised the Minister that his arrogance was putting businesses at risk. “In a press release just two days ago, I noted that instead of addressing the problem, Colm Imbert was using his Government’s policy to blame the very persons who have raised the issues. Now, he has taken it even further and seems to have overreached his authority, using his high Office to access information that he then used to publicly gaslight and ridicule private citizens.”
Tancoo says that Imbert, evidently out of ideas on how to defend his Government’s incompetent handling of the current Forex crisis, has now done the unthinkable in showing citizens that there is no boundary he cannot cross to access privately protected information just so he could make a point.
“Imbert has no right to see who requested foreign exchange and who didn’t! No politician, especially one like Imbert, should have that kind of access to private banking information of people or businesses!” says MP Tancoo. “This was one of our biggest fears that we in the UNC Opposition expressed when Imbert and this PNM Government decided to do away with the current regime in favour of the Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority (TTRA). This is exactly why the Revenue Authority must be opposed – Imbert and his Cabinet colleagues will have access to everyone’s financial information for political victimization and abuse!”
In light of this serious turn of events, Tancoo says it is now more important than ever before that citizens demand that Minister Imbert state exactly what information he requested of Eximbank, how was the request made and on what basis did the bank provide said information to the Minister, who is an active politician. The EximBank must also provide an unambiguous explanation regarding the conditions under which Mr. Imbert was able to access information on the bank’s clientele.
“This Minister’s persistent tendency to breach professional codes of conduct and perhaps even the law, is a very disturbing trend. I call on Minister Colm Imbert to illuminate the matter and give us answers, given that he is presented with no less of an auspicious occasion today, to do so”.