As part of the combination of measures to force calm in the foreign exchange market, customs led this Tuesday raids on at least twenty lenders in the City, to obtain information on the alleged “trout farms” That they bought dollars in the official market and they benefited from the exchange rate. The operation was led by the head of the agency, Guillermo Michel.
In particular, the customs asked for information over 46 companies and 13 people what would they have done trout imports to get dollars in the official market and then sell them in the parallel e win with the exchange rate gap. All of this would be done through foreign wire transfers and triangulations with accounts located in the United States.
“The maneuver under investigation is the known one ‘financial roll’, where companies – devoid of economic substance and falsifying documentation – made transfers to LLC companies established in the state of Florida (USA) to obtain dollars at the official value and then resell them on the blue market”, they explained in the organization.
In the file, charged to Judge Pablo Yaradola, they investigate 233 transfers abroad for almost US$ 5.3 million, an average of $22,500 per lap to try and pass “under the radar”.
Customs-AFIP -participant in the criminal proceedings of aggravated smuggling, evasion and laundering of goods-, with the collaboration of the National Gendarmerie, carried out simultaneous searches in twenty financial institutions to obtain information and documentation relating to irregular operations of foreign trade, purchases, sales and currency transfers made by forty-six (46) companies and thirteen (13) individuals involved in the transaction.
The concepts used were “B05 – Advance payments for imports of goods” and “B06 – Deferred payments for imports of goods” and were justified with fake imports of computers and TV screens. They have even been used couriers with trout bills.
The criminal case is filed in the Economic Criminal Court nº2, in charge of Dr. Pablo Yadarola, and the criminal and economic prosecutor nº2, Emilio Gerberoff, is acting. The case is processed under summary secrecy.
Among the 46 legal entities, in addition to the four fake import companies who made transfers abroad, real estate and investment companies that were used recycle the proceeds of the financial circle.
The Prosecutor has requested a series of precautionary measures to ensure registrable assets, bank current accounts and financial assets, such as account pledge and the general inhibition of goods of the subjects involved.
As a plaintiff in the criminal case, and as it did in the NRG case, Customs activated the use of information exchange agreements with the United States get the name of the bank account representatives of the LLC companies of that country.
“From Customs we understand that the checks that the COMEX account executives of the banks should have carried out they should have been stricter and which civil parties will we ask to investigate each of the folders that the companies have presented to the banks to request the transfer abroad, the exchange of telephone calls of each branch manager and the equity of the employees of the banks that participated in operations,” underlined Guillermo Michel, director general of customs.
And he added: “Currently, the Single Current Account for Foreign Trade that SIRA has incorporated has brought order to foreign trade and allows state agencies to control money transfers abroad in real time, giving greater traceability to the operation “.
Source: Clarin
