2023-09-29 11:01:54
Sergio Massa, Javier Milei and Patricia Bullrich, the three candidates with the most chances of being president in Argentina
The next government will have to face, when it takes office on December 10, the review that is already underway of the scope of the rules of prevention once morest money laundering and the financing of terrorism of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an exhaustive analysis which measures the effectiveness of public policies in combating these scourges and which, if the agency’s authorities are not convinced, might cause serious consequences to the country in times of extreme political and, especially, economic weakness.
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The FATF evaluation, the fourth since its creation in 1989, began to materialize in recent months, and will culminate at the end of next year, in October 2024, when the organization’s plenary meeting meets in Paris to decide whether or not to approve the Mutual Evaluation Report of Argentina, that is, if the country complies with the recommendations regarding the fight once morest money laundering and terrorism.
“When the FATF authorities come in March, they will meet with the new authorities and then there will be time to prepare the evaluation. The issue is, according to the government that takes office, whether they are going to validate the diagnosis and strategy of the previous government that is approved by resolution of the minister (of Justice),” a former Cambiemos official who during the previous administration explained to Infobae. dedicated to these topics.
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The visit of the FATF envoys is scheduled for March next year, that is, with the new government only a few months into power. According to specialists, this is one of the points to highlight, especially if the winner of the elections is Javier Milei, the candidate of La Libertad Avanza who, according to his own environment, presents, in principle, serious difficulties for the armed forces. of their teams.
Martin Soria
Last May, Minister Martín Soria made Jimena Zicavo, a lawyer who dedicated herself to the investigation of economic crime and who in 2014 obtained the certification of evaluator issued by the FATF, and that did not respond to this media’s query. Zicavo manages a dozen organizations of the Executive and Judicial branches with jurisdiction in the matter such as the FIU, the Central Bank, the Public Prosecutor’s Office or the CNV, among others.
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According to specialists, the half-sanction by Deputies on April 19 of the modification of the Penal Code that increases penalties for crimes linked to terrorism and money laundering, and that provides autonomy and strengthens the powers of the UIF, but that sleeps in the offices of the Senate, adds a certain amount of uncertainty to the organization’s evaluation.
For now, the text is not among the priorities of the upper house. This Thursday, following many weeks of insistence, Cristina Kirchner managed to approve the document of some thirty judicial officials, among them that of Ana María Figueroa, former judge of the Federal Criminal Cassation Chamber of the City who was forced to retire last month. passed following turning 75 years old.
The text stuck in the Senate, which in an anti-money laundering meeting last month that took place in CABA and which crossed Zicavo with Agustín Pesce, former Cambiemos official and advisor to the Buenos Aires Public Bar Association, also incorporates legislation linked to the virtual currencies, another point that, according to specialists, might have increasing relevance in the FATF’s considerations.
The Senate has not yet debated the reform of the Penal Code that has half a sanction in Deputies (EFE)
According to the Cryptocurrency Adoption Index carried out worldwide by a global blockchain company, the country is among the 20 countries that most use cryptocurrencies.
Before the end of the year, the FATF must make Brazil’s final report official following the visits that the organization and GAFILAT – which brings together 17 American countries – made to the neighboring country last March. “It will be a good thermometer to know where we stand,” said a specialist in the field.
The last review carried out in Argentina took place in 2010, during Cristina Kirchner’s second term, and the country did not have a good grade: it was included in the gray list that at that time did not meet the standards required by the FATF. , that is, it presented a weak prevention system once morest money laundering and terrorist financing. It remained, in that sense, under permanent analysis.
At that time, Argentina complied with only 2 recommendations of the 49 required in the evaluation. In the legislative reform of 2011 – Law 26,683, which modified the Penal Code and incorporated articles into Law 25,246 -, Congress gave powers and autonomy to the UIF and criminalized the crimes of money laundering and financing of terrorism. When legislators removed the power to file complaints from the Financial Information Unit, Cristina Kirchner then vetoed that article.
Currently, most of the countries on the FATF gray list have critical situations linked to terrorism and drug trafficking or are directly tax havens, such as Albania, Barbados, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Panama, Uganda or Senegal, among others. In the case of blacklists, they are considered countries at high risk for terrorism and the proliferation of money laundering: Iran and Myanmar stand out.
Belonging to that group of countries brings with it, for example, a higher cost in financial transactions and being subject to permanent analysis.
Another issue that is not on the agenda now, but that should occupy the next administration.
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