After an international report that revealed details on HSBC’s illegal schemes, Cabinet Chief Jorge Capitanich referred to the local probe against the bank and urged the Judiciary to “have the strength and willingness to investigate corporations.”
Capitanich stressed that the government has moved forward with the inquiry on HSBC for allegedly helping citizens and companies stash their money in secret Swiss banks accounts and said that it is now up to the Judiciary.
Yesterday, a report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and international media outlets revealed that the bank not only helped clients dodge taxes by moving into tax havens, but also “profited from doing business with arms dealers who channelled mortar bombs to child soldiers in Africa, bag men for Third World dictators, traffickers in blood diamonds and other international outlaws.”
The local AFIP tax bureau accused HSBC in November of helping more than 4,000 Argentine citizens evade taxes by stashing their money in secret Swiss bank accounts. Following the accusations, the government launched an initiative to create a congressional commission to look into the bank’s alleged illegal plan.
“The government has moved forward with the inquiry. No one took charge of it. It is up to the Judiciary,” the cabinet chief said in his daily press briefing at the government house.
“The Judiciary must have the strength and willingness to investigate corporations,” Capitanich stated. “It is syptomatic that cases such as Papel Prensa (the controversial transfer of the Papel Prensa newsprint company during the last dictatorship), HSBC, speculative attacks or capital flights are stalled.”
“The Judiciary, its prosecutors and judges, never encourage deep investigations in this type of cases,” he added.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald