Lawmakers receive full list of HSBC Swiss tax evaders
Vanoli, account holders will be called to testify
Central Bank Governor Alejandro Vanoli and the first 10 businesses to appear on the list of undeclared HSBC bank accounts in Switzerland are set to be the next to appear before the Bicameral Commission examining systematic tax evasion and capital flight, its members said yesterday.
The commission formally received a summarized version of the information submitted by French tax authorities to the AFIP tax bureau, which included a list of the businesses and individuals who had a total of 4,040 bank accounts in Switzerland.
The Commission also released a partial list of 61 businesses, with the first 10 (as specified by French authorities and in no particular order as the amounts that they held abroad was not specified) listed as Cablevisión, Central Térmica Güemes, Telecom Argentina, Herbick, Instituto Massone, Plavenar, Exolgan, Neprosil, Powerco and Taltech International. These businesses are expected to receive invitations to give testimony to the Bicameral Commission shortly.
Also included in the information received by Commission members were case studies of alleged tax evasion and the names of the offshore companies and facilitators involved in the maneuvers. These were drawn from the complaint filed by the AFIP for tax evasion within Argentine law.
The biggest accounts were reportedly held by Argentine national Miguel Gerardo Abadi and business partner David Raul Goldfarb, who had US$1.39 billion to their name under 12 accounts and with a host of offshore companies.
The second largest amount of funds — a total of US$ 80.01 million — reportedly belonged to Norberto Luján Estrada, who purportedly used the Murphy and Frank Corp in the British Virgin Islands to evade taxes.
Ranked third in terms of funds abroad was an HSBC Geneva account worth US$68.3 million under the name of Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, now deceased, but allegedly managed by former lawmaker Alfonso Prat Gay.
Prat Gay may also be requested to give his testimony to the Bicameral Commission not only on the grounds that he administrated the account but also that as a former Central Bank governor he may have insight into the Commission’s work — which is not to assign legal responsibility but rather identify systematic trends in tax evasion and capital flight in the banking sector and suggest policy and legislative remedies.
In that respect Nuevo Encuentro lawmaker Carlos Heller and Radical lawmaker Ricardo Buryaile were in agreement, expressing their desire for the Commission to commence its work by hearing testimony from the country’s banking oversight bodies before hearing from businesses or individuals. Heller in particularly emphasized the need to go beyond HSBC, noting that capital flight since the 1970s had been estimated in the US$200 billion to US$300 billion range, calling the approximately US$3.5 billion believed to involved in the HSBC affair as a “drop in the ocean.”
Along with Vanoli, Bicameral Commission is expected to invite the CNV securities regulator, the Attorney General Economic Crime and Money Laundering Unit (PROCELAC) and the Financial Information Unit (UIF) as well as whistleblowers Hernán Arbizu and Hervé Falciani.
Simultaneously, HSBC Argentina yesterday submitted to the Commission its accounting for the last four years as had been requested at the previous meeting. HSBC Argentina president Gabriel Martino also reiterated that the bank operates under local laws and does not have branches abroad.
