Two high-ranking officials within Argentina’s tax collection agency and a deputy of the PRO allied to Javier Milei’s administration have been accused of holding undeclared real estate in the United States.

Journalistic investigations revealed that the head of ARCA, Juan Pazo, the director of the General Tax Directorate (DGI), Andrés Vazquez, and National Deputy Cristian Ritondo own apartments in Miami, which they have not reported to the country’s Anti-Corruption Agency.

Milei appointed Pazo as the head of ARCA last week, after firing Florencia Misrahi from that role over creating a specific tax category for streamers, influencers, and other digital content creators. Pazo was previously the Secretary of Industry and Economic Development. 

An investigation by El DiarioAr revealed that Pazo and his wife own a company in Florida called Harbour House 1533 Corp which in turn owned an apartment in a condominium on Collins Avenue, then valued at about US$475,000. In 2013, the company sold that property and acquired another one in the same condominium. It appears in the public records of Miami as the owner of an apartment then valued at almost one million dollars.

Pazo also served under Mauricio Macri’s administration between 2016 and 2019. During those years, he also appeared as secretary of several companies based in Panama in

Pazo has not filed a statement before the Anti-corruption Agency. Unión por la Patria deputy Rodolfo Tailhade filed a complaint against Pazo in Federal Judge Ariel Lijo’s court over allegedly maliciously falsifying or omitting information.

Last week, El Diario Ar also revealed that PRO deputy Ritondo’s wife, Romina Aldana Diago, is the director of a network of offshore companies that own apartments in Florida. The companies linked to Diago led to five properties in Miami totaling US$2.6 million. Some documents linked to Ritondo were part of the Pandora Papers 2021 leak.

La Nación also published that Vázquez, appointed by Milei to combat tax evasion and promote tax collection, purchased three U.S. properties through foreign companies for more than US$2 million that he never reported to the Anti-Corruption Office (OA).

In 2011, Vázquez was accused in a federal court of managing a bank account in ING Bank NV in Curaçao since November 2004. He allegedly wired US$442,113 from that account in July 2006 to another account in BNP Paribas in Luxembourg. Vázquez did not report it to the Argentine tax authorities and underwent a criminal investigation, in which he was acquitted in 2022 because Judge Lijo did not obtain a response from Luxembourg, the Netherlands, or Curaçao to verify the existence of those accounts.

In his latest statement to the Anti-Corruption Agency, Vázquez included details about his bank accounts in the United States, but the total deposits were below US$3,000. This declaration also mentions real estate in Argentina but omits the three apartments in the United States.

In his usual press conference, Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni said that the accusations against Vázquez were “a matter of the past” and that the government is not planning to sanction or demand explanations.