The Minister of Economy, Luis Caputoimposed on the agro-industrial company Ledesma a A small fine of $108,145.50 (US$78 at the blue exchange rate) for failing to comply with the requirements established for an investment made within the framework of the Non-Industrial Promotion Regime of the late 1990s.
The problem with the agro-industrial company has been going on for a long time, at least 20 years. Ledesma was enabled to apply in the promotion regime a Project to plant 240 hectares of orange trees with irrigation and fertilization in an establishment located in the Jujuy department of Ledesma in 1999.
The Government fined Ledesma: what points of the regime did he violate?
According to the story resolution 688/2024 published in the Official bulletinthe project, which required a total investment $1,272,300, at that time dollars under the program of convertibility. In order to enjoy the tax incentives, the company had to have a minimum staff of 10 people on a permanent basis and 22 people on a temporary basisnumbers that were to rise to 24 and 36, respectively, from the start of the project in 2004.
After, years later, agents of the Federal Public Revenue Administration (AFIP) They will carry out a supervision of the enterprise For the period between 2012 and 2014, they detected that the staff present there was not the same as that committed to the project.
In 2023, the Undersecretariat of Public Revenue of the Ministry of Economy, Claudia Balestriniordered the summary proceedings to LedesmaIn his defense, the The company indicated that it had not complied because he had decided to reassign the staff that was working as temporary workers in the fruit business to a new project.
In turn, the The project also contemplated a minimum productionof at least 60 tonnes per hectare of citrus from the tenth year of the project, corresponding to 2011, which adds up to a total of 14,400 tonnes per year on the 240 hectares of oranges. This requirement was not fulfilled either..
In this regard, the resolution clarifies that “based on the documentation in the proceedings, which was analyzed by the competent technical area, the Summary Investigation understood that the firm did not comply with the commitment assumed in the annual production committed in the years 2012 to 2014, both inclusive.”
Ledesma’s fine is less than half of a minimum wage
Ten years after the violation was detected and after 25 years of having accessed the promotion regime, the portfolio in charge of Caputo applied a fine less than half of a minimum living wagewhich is currently located at $262,432.93, to the offending company.
In this way, the Government leaves room, in turn, for If another company fails to comply with a promotion regime, it does not have a penalty equal to the investment made by the State.
Source: Ambito
