AFIP denounces HSBC with money-laundering, tax evasion

As AFIP national tax bureau director Ricardo Echegaray had revealed yesterday, the agency denounced today, through the Official Gazzette, the HSBC bank over tax evasion and money-laundering operations.

During a press conference celebrated this morning in the Carlos Tacchi hall at its headquarters located in Hipólito Yrigoyen 370, 1st floor, Echegaray, informed that the Londo-based Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) has been involved in money laundering operations for a total of 392 million pesos, as well in tax evasion maneuvers for 224 million pesos, all within a period of six months.

The head of the AFIP tax agency, explained that after performing a series of raids, the agency detected “false invoices used for money laundering" and "fraudulent maneuvers which were performed to evade taxes for tens of millions of pesos.”

"An example is the behavior of the HSBC Bank that provided deposit-collection services to companies involved in the use of false invoices for nonexistent operations. The deposits were made in an account associated with a generic CUIT number, which was exempt from taxes to bank accounts debits and credits, and whose movements were deliberately hidden”, Echegaray told reporters.

On February 1, the official had announced that the AFIP would file a “fiscal fraud” lawsuit against a very important international bank which was not then identified nor did they specify the type of evasion detected.

At that time, Echegaray had limited himself to saying that the AFIP had detected a “situation of fiscal fraud” and that during January a judge ordered an investigation of the banking entity, allowing it to be searched and its records examined.

“We believe that these illegal acts involve not only the bank’s credit and debit tax records but also the IVA value-added tax,” said Echegaray.