Judicial
04/20/2024 – 11:55:33
The head of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office of San Nicolás, Matías Di Lello, requested the head of Federal Court No. 2 of that jurisdiction, Carlos Villafuerte Ruzo, to elevate to trial the investigation carried out against ten people for aggravated money laundering.
Thus, the illicit organization – which would have operated between March 2012 and April 2016 – would have introduced US$ 5,365,546 into the formal market, which were acquired through currency purchase operations – illegal for violating exchange regulations – derived from alleged import operations carried out by two companies created for this purpose and which were transferred to accounts abroad, between June and December 2013.
The request reaches the accountant Juan Carlos Ariel Inés, the lawyer Eduardo De Felipe, Edgardo Jesús Saltal and Luis Cesar Agüero -presidents of the firms SD Montajes and Wismares SA, respectively-, Guillermo Esteban Di Giacinti and Walter Edén Azzaretti -members of those companies-.
The managers of the San Nicolás branches of the Galicia and Buenos Aires SA and Santander Río banks, Alejandro Caputto and Carlos Cristian Seganfreddo, and the corporate client officers of those banking entities, Marcos Antonio Di Carlo and María Yanina Grasso, were also charged. .
The investigation began in April 2016, following a complaint from the head of the Criminal Tax Section of the Legal Division of the Mercedes Regional Directorate of the General Tax Directorate (DGI), which depends on the Federal Administration of Public Revenue (AFIP). .
On that occasion, the official pointed out that the administrative audits carried out on the firms SD Montajes SA and Wismares SA detected the existence of a criminal organization dedicated to the use of legal entities without real activity or with activities that did not coincide with their capacity. operational, to channel funds whose origin could not be justified.
Thus, it was determined that in the bank accounts of these companies – which were not registered as exporters or importers – money was credited between June and December 2013 – the period immediately after their constitution – for the cancellation of commercial operations, the veracity of which could not be justified. These funds were then used to acquire foreign currency in the official market, which was subsequently transferred to bank accounts located abroad, for import operations of non-existent services.
For this operation, the organization orchestrated by Inés and De Felipe, with the contribution of Saltal, Agüero, Di Giacinto and Azzaretti – who presided over and/or integrated the firms through which the maneuvers were carried out – presented apocryphal documentation to the branches. Nicolas from Banco Santander Río and Banco Galicia, whose managers – Seganfreddo and Caputto – their corporate accounts officers – Grasso and Di Carlo – failed to verify.
And the fact is that the questionnaire bank employees “did not act in accordance with the obligations imposed by the internal procedural regulations for the prevention and detection of money laundering of both entities” and violated their action protocols.
Based on the evidence collected during the investigation, prosecutor Di Lello requested that the investigation be brought to trial, concluding that “the criminal organization not only managed to ‘launder’ money of spurious origin, but also managed to avoid the legal obstacles imposed by the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic for the purchase of foreign currency on the date of the reported events, in violation of the criminal exchange regime.”
Thus, he requested that Inés, Di Giacinti and De Felipe respond as co-authors of the crime of money laundering aggravated by being part of an illicit association destined to commit acts of this nature, while Saltal, Agüero, Azzaretti, Caputto, Di Carlo, Seganfreddo and Grasso must do so as necessary participants in the same crime.
According to the prosecutor’s request, the reproached conduct “consisted of the transfer to bank accounts located abroad, under the pretext of canceling non-existent import operations, supported by apocryphal documentation, of the sum of US$5,365,546, achieving In this way, inserting into the formal economic circuit goods that were the direct product of the underlying crime – exchange violation -, thus achieving the appearance of legal origin.
The representative of the Public Prosecutor’s Office also considered that “the transfer of spurious money abroad occurred gradually, having been externalized through successive transfers, carried out gradually over a period of approximately six months between the months of June and December 2013, with the purpose of dividing the amounts to be transferred abroad.”
“In this maneuver, the authors used a group of people with whom they maintained a relationship of trust so that they carried out jointly with them the maneuvers that make up the money laundering design,” indicated the prosecutor.
Source: www.fiscales.gob.ar
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