Tuesday, April 10, 2012

UK confirms seeks repayment of Malvinas War era debt

A government spokesman confirmed today the United Kingdom is seeking repayment of a Malvinas War era debt owed by the Argentinean government. Alleged 45 million pounds (US$ 71 million) were lent to the country’s military junta in 1979.

The money was reportedly used, in part, to buy weapons and armories which were later used at the Malvinas war, “including two Lynx helicopters and two Type 42 warships,” as the newspaper Financial Times stated as it broke the story yesterday.

A spokesman for the UK business department confirmed today "the government has no plans to offer debt forgiveness."

According to the British newspaper The Telegraph, documents uncovered by the group the Jubilee Debt Campaign show how then Labour foreign secretary David Owen signed off the loans despite raising doubts about how they could fund arms sales to a regime with a bad human rights record.

The group advocates the forgiveness of the debt by saying the “loans were recklessly given to dictators".

“It is an old pending debt that relates to unpaid exportation contracts dating before 1982,” a government spokesman explained today.