The operation was carried out between 2020 and 2022 with fictitious signatures. They accessed dollars at the official exchange rate to later resell them in parallel. They are investigating whether there was complicity from the banks’ money desks.
The Government investigates fraudulent maneuvers with imports made by companies that are considered “ghosts”. It is about some 50 signatures that they would have simulated purchases abroad with the sole purpose of accessing foreign currency at the official rate and making transfers to Florida, United States, to later repatriate them through caves and sell them on the parallel market. This Tuesday there was a series of raids on financial institutions. Official sources revealed to Ámbito that the fraud exceeds US$700 million and they targeted the employees of the banks’ money desks.
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Since he arrived at the Palacio de Hacienda, Sergio Massa He put as one of the priorities of his administration to improve the administration of foreign trade. In Economy they start from the diagnosis that the dollars that entered due to the increase in exports were squandered due to mismanagement in the control of imports. This, as they explain, ended up aggravating one of the most complex problems: the foreign exchange shortage.
All in all, the new economic team decided to implement a new regime for the entry of goods, the Argentine Republic Import System (SIRA), order the flow that also clashed with the accumulated commercial debt and modify the licensing scheme. Before Massa’s arrival, 75% were automatic and 25% non-automatic. Now, the mix is 45% and 55%, respectively.
Meanwhile, Customs focused on the over-invoicing of imports and under-invoicing of exports. Within this framework, he investigated and denounced operations for a total of US$4,000 million. But the reasons why This Tuesday, 20 joint raids were carried out on financial entitiesmark a novel criminal modality.
Its about “financial roll”. Companies, without economic substance and with falsified documentation made transfers to companies incorporated in Florida, United States, for get dollars at the official value, to later repatriate them through caves and sell them in the parallel market.
In this way, between 2020 and 2022 they used the exchange gap, which in some cases reached 100%. Until last October the SIRA was implemented, which establishes a single current account for foreign trade, where the AFIP crosses the data each time a transfer is made. There the operation stopped.
The file investigates 233 payments abroad for about $5.3 million, an average of $22,500 to try to go “under the radar.” But official sources revealed to Ámbito that they are investigating operations for a total of US$700 million. The concepts used are “B05 – Advance payments for imports of goods” and “B06 – Deferred payments for imports of goods”.
The imports were justified with false purchases of computers and TV screens. Couriers were even used with trout invoices. There are some 50 “ghost” firms under scrutiny, although in the Economy they are also closely monitoring the employees of the banks’ money and foreign trade desks who could be involved in the maneuver.
Source: Ambito