Hernan Arbizu: In the four years of Macri it was very easy to get money, Suspicious Operations Reports fell drastically. The tax amnesty law was altered by decree so that the brother of the then president could launder and the OECD reports with more than 1,900 accounts of possible evaders were shelved, in which there were even some of those who had accepted laundering. The system is updating and it is complex. But one thing is to run it from ten meters behind, another from three hundred meters and quite another is not to run it. During the government of Cambiemos, it ceased to be controlled.
Q.: Is Argentina an exception or does this happen all over the world?
HA: It happens from China to the United States and from Greenland to Argentina, here the problem is the volume with which it happens. To get an idea, international banks calculate offshore business and assign quotas to countries. Argentina’s estimates always came with the same volume that is allocated for bankers from Mexico or Brazil, which are much larger economies than ours. That shows that there is a serious problem.
Q.: Why is the phenomenon accentuated in the country?
HA: Sometimes you want to install that it has to do with the economic policies of some government. But the truth is that it is structural. There is a culture of doing it. During the macrismo and the menemismo that were two governments considered pro-market, there was also an accelerated flight of capital.
Q.: In which countries can these undeclared goods be found?
HA: Mostly in the United States and in financial assets. I would say 70%. It has to do with a custom of Argentines and the penetration of US banks in the country. The private banking business here was very competitive. But in general, those who carry out this type of maneuver choose the United States over Switzerland because the costs are lower.
Q.: Can banks provide relevant information?
HA: A practical obstacle of the law is the silence scheme, for all parties it is a profitable business. I doubt that the banks will cooperate, they will not do so as if they were repentant. They will only do it if there is a court order. They have relevant information. Standard Chartered, Swift’s English bank agent, has an office in the country but does not have a customer window, that indicates something.
Q.: In the agreement with the IMF, Argentina undertakes not to grant tax amnesties: Does this project contradict itself?
HA: No, because there are no benefits here. We started very badly and are going to get much worse. 20% is charged, which is already a very high rate during the first six months, then it is staggered to 35% and up to 50%, even with criminal consequences.
Q.: Do you think that it is possible to advance in the modifications to bank secrecy proposed by the new project?
HA: It has to be done, this works in all parts of the world, the bicameral commissions have access to that type of information. The public interest must be above all else. This initiative would give the FIU, the debt monitoring commission, and the chief of staff access to the Central Bank’s database, client transfers at banks, and other relevant information.
Source: Ambito
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