Global Courant 2023-05-18 18:14:48
Bills and bills hidden at the waist and held by a belt. They were about 200 thousand euros, coming from illegal exports. They were attached to their bodies by two Chilean citizens who wanted to enter Argentina through the Cristo Redentor border crossing.
Specialized agents from the General Directorate of Customs who were performing duties in the province of Mendoza discovered them and it all ended in a criminal complaint for currency smuggling.
Customs carried out an investigation to determine the origin and destination of the money. In this context, he verified that one of the men had made exports of primary products without liquidating the corresponding currencies in Argentina.
For this reason, the investigators presume that the 200,000 euros seized not only came from the illicit exports in question, but were part of a new attempt to repeat the maneuver.
The actions, they reported, conform to a risk profile that Customs has been developing in relation to exports of primary products, among which garlic stands out.
They are operators who acquire the merchandise in cash in large quantities in the informal market and export it through shell companies, highly informal and without a capacity commensurate with the volume exported.
Then, with the merchandise already placed abroad, they evade the currency settlement in Argentina. Numerous maneuvers of this type were denounced by the agency.
Chilean citizens had made irregular exports to their country and Brazil. Photo: Customs
Customs verified that one of the denounced Chilean citizens had made irregular exports to Chile and Brazil. The goods consisted of wood and garlic.
Sales to Brazil were triangulated by companies located in the trans-Andean country. Within this framework, two raids were carried out in the Mendoza city of Tunuyán. They seized evidence of criminal maneuvers.
“While genuine agricultural producers pay export duties and duly liquidate the foreign currency obtained, others mount simulated operations with the intention of defrauding the State. We are not going to tolerate it. We have to take care of the dollars for Argentine production and employment,” he said. the general director of Customs, Guillermo Michel.
The suspension of 59 exporters
At the end of last month, Customs opened disciplinary proceedings and preventively suspended 59 exporting companies after having detected that they did not liquidate foreign currency after selling their merchandise abroad. They are all firms from regional economies dedicated to agribusiness: from garlic, to fruits, vegetables and fish.
Based on analyzes and cross-references of the export operations of certain products, Customs found “inconsistencies and irregularities” in its operations, according to the agency in a statement.
Although the maximum terms to liquidate foreign currency from the shipment permit range from 15 days for soybeans to 180 days for regional economies, with cases of up to 365 days, Customs detected that, to take advantage of the exchange rate gap, ” many exporters did not settle the currencies before the Central Bank and left them abroad”, or, failing that, “converted them at the spot exchange rate with settlement”.
The dollar counted with settlement, which is obtained through operations on the Stock Market, has a price that is double the official dollar at which exporters must settle.
“This demonstrates a systematic behavior of these inconsistent exports that, after the corresponding legal deadlines have expired, do not make the due entry of foreign currency, seriously affecting the reserves of the Central Bank,” they indicated from Customs.
In addition, they pointed out that by carrying out export operations with “relevant sums” without complying with the regulations, the firms generated “unfair competition” in the areas in which they operated.
Among the merchandise used for the maneuver are oils, fats, grains, garlic, meat, onions, cereals, fruits, vegetables, wheat flour, wool, leather, fish, beans, tobacco, and grapes. The customs that registered the products are those of Mendoza, Misiones and Córdoba.
