Argentina became an important destination for money laundering activities in 2011 and is now part of a list including 66 nations that the US State Department says are “jurisdictions of primary concern.”
Released on Wednesday, the 2012 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, released on Wednesday by the State Department, decided to include Argentina along with Curacao and Saint Martin.
The US is also included on the list, which details countries currently experimenting “money transactions that involve significant amounts of money coming from drug trafficking,” the report says.
Other nations included in the list are Afghanistan, the United Kingdom, China, Colombia, Israel or France.
Argentina went from being a “country of concern” to one of “primary concern” largely due to the use of extensive cash payments, an increase in the smuggling of goods with neighbouring countries and a lack of transparency in imports and exports.
“Through the Three Plus One Initiative, the Government of Argentina authorities ostensibly cooperate with the two neighboring countries, as well as with the United States, to address security issues in this region; however, this mechanism has been largely ineffective in recent years due to GOA and USG political differences, among other reasons,” the document reads.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald