As the controversy surrounding money laundering allegations at the highest echelons of government continues to capture headlines, Indy reporter Sabrina Hummel finds out what people have to say on the matter.

Alberto, 61, businessman, Palermo

What concerns me are not these allegations of corruption, rather the way the current government is handling the country. Money laundering is just another symptom of the government’s mismanagement. We all knew it was going on. In the ’80s, prior to her presidency, reporters asked Cristina “Why do you need so much money?” to which she replied, “to be a real politician you need lots of money”. I’m not sure whether she became a politician to gain access to money, or if she really does require such vast sums of money in order to be a politician. I do think though that perhaps for the current administration, politics is a pretext under which they make their money. They really like money, its really sad. This country could be in a much better place if politicians exercised a little common sense.

Juan Manuel, 26, shop assistant, Gualeguaychú

I am aware that both corruption and money laundering exist in this government, as in all governments. Mainstream media only brings a small part of this corruption to our attention. I don’t think there is a single politician who could be said to be 100% free of corruption. I don’t know who to vote for. No one can say anything for certain. They are all bad – you just have to choose the lesser evil. The current party’s public relations – in garnering the support of famous sports persons and actresses speaks volumes of how seriously politics is treated here! I know corruption is prevalent everywhere, but I don’t think a change in government would fix it, indeed it will continue to happen or get worse.

Maria, 75, retired, Spain

My grandchildren would never live here – one of them is living in Brazil. The situation here is a disaster. I am totally against what is going on. I’ve lived here for 55 years and the situation is only getting worse and worse. I know this country intimately, and it saddens me to see what is going on here.

Paula, 20, student, Palermo

The government has spent years and years stealing and laundering money. That people continue to vote for this government and that they continue to have such strong support is unbelievable. The fact that the government is trying to divert attention away from these allegations (as they have done in other instances) is awful. They are not taking responsibility for their crimes. Whenever something emerges that casts the government in a bad light, they try and change the subject, in this case, with changes to the judiciary. It is an attempt to distract the population from what is really going on and gives their own party something to focus on. It does not surprise me that the government has been money laundering.

Roberto, 62, specialist in religious anthropology, United States

Corruption is a global problem. Argentina is just a part of the world where this is happening – all countries are connected. Obviously there are levels of corruption: some corruption is subtler whilst some is more blatant. Corruption in Argentina is blatant. In reality, corruption is part of life, it’s just that in Argentina people have become accustomed to it. The assassination of JFK in the USA is an example of corruption, in total three presidents have been assassinated there. The Argentines are unique. They don’t care what’s going on, rather they keep doing what they are doing. Argentines like to pontificate, they like to give their opinion on things, but then they don’t to anything about it. They carry on with their lives as if nothing was going on. In effect the people are partly to blame for corruption thanks to their antipathy and lack of resistance. If eliminating corruption were something they really cared about, they would do something about it. Argentina in undisciplined, it is like a spoilt child who doesn’t respect rules. Argentines are great as individuals, but are lacking as a whole.

The Kirchnerist governments have had their fair share of political scandals over the years, most of which have been played out very publicly for the world to see and cast judgement on. However, one of the government’s most sensational and drawn out political disputes is with media conglomerate Grupo Clarín, the largest in the country. The relationship between the two institutions has been extremely fraught since the 2008 ‘campo crisis‘ and the 2009 media law, which forces Clarín, as well as other media groups, to divest an important number of its assets.

Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (photo: Wikimedia commons)

What started as a power struggle between the two sides has developed into a political war, and the latest report broadcast by one of Clarín’s TV channels implicating President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her late husband Néstor Kirchner in a money laundering scheme, promises to antagonise the situation further.

The Allegations

In several instalments of the television show Periodismo Para Todos (PPT), which airs on Clarín-owned Channel 13 on Sunday nights, journalist Jorge Lanata has presented testimonies, including hidden-camera footage, that implicate the Kirchners in a multi-million dollar corruption scandal.

According to sources making the allegations, the Kirchners have played key roles in a money laundering network to execute millions of dollars worth of corrupt tenders for public development and infrastructure projects. The total amount that is suspected to have been laundered by the Kirchners and their network is unknown, although sources say up to US$500m of public funds have been embezzled.

Jorge Lanata on PPT (photo: Wikipedia)

One of the first witnesses to come forward in this case was Nestor Kirchner’s ex secretary Miriam Quiroga, who revealed on Lanata’s show that she saw bags – which she believed had money in them – being passed around the Casa Rosada while working for the former president. These bags, she says, were sent by private jet to the Kirchners’ mansion in Santa Cruz province, to then be deposited in a specially constructed vault. The money is believed to have then been flown to tax havens abroad, including Switzerland, Panama, and Belize.

The vault, supposedly fitted specially at the Kirchners’ home, has been a highlighted piece of information in this unfolding political scandal and the subject of great intrigue in Lanata’s show. The first source to speak up about the existence of the alleged safe was former deputy governor of Santa Cruz, Eduardo Arnold, who told Lanata that the vault was specifically fitted and used in the Kirchners’ home for money laundering purposes.

Unsurprisingly, next up in Lanata’s primetime drama was the Kirchners’ family architect Antonio Canas, who revealed the structural plans of the residence in El Calafate, and told viewers about a vault-like room “like that of a bank’s” that was especially built on the request of Néstor Kirchner “to keep documents safe”.

The Accused

Another key player in this alleged money laundering network is Argentine businessman Lázaro Baez, who has been pegged as the Kirchners’ main accomplice. One of the typical money funnelling transactions that is currently under investigation from Báez’s business empire, Austral Construcciones, is that of a fraudulent cover up investment. In 2011, Baez’s business recorded an income of more than $254.3m from ‘mysterious’ trust funds in Uruguay. However, the investment, due to come from a Dutch registered company, was never received, although a failure to record this kept the balance sheets firmly in order.

These new findings cast a darker shadow on the connection between Báez and Cristina Fernández and Néstor Kirchner, the latter of which is said to have awarded Báez some of the main public works contracts of Santa Cruz when he was the province’s governor. Public tenders have been left in the hands of Austral Construcciones for the last decade.

The Kirchner family mausoleum in Rio Gallegos (photo: Wikimedia commons)

Santa Cruz’s former prosecutor and lawyer Andres Vivanco spoke out on the weekend about the latest findings. Speaking to Radio Mitre, he said that Báez “was previously just a bank employee who has no legal way of justifying his increased equity”.

“All Lázaro Báez has is from Néstor Kirchner. He previously had nothing; he was not an entrepreneur because he never risked his capital, he would always just wait to submit a public ‘tender’ with the government.” Vivanco added that the former president had frequently told his inner circle that “no one could govern without using corrupted means”.

Another suspect in the case is businessman Leonardo Fariña, who in one of Lanata’s weekly instalments was secretly filmed telling the journalist about his involvement in the money laundering deals. Fariña is believed to have been managing the accounts for various businesses that Báez and the Kirchners were allegedly involved in. However, he later denied his involvement, saying that he was aware of the secret filming activity and was merely “playing along”. “Lanata wanted fiction, so I gave him fiction,” Fariña said.

The Drama

As the pieces of this disturbing puzzle come together, Lanata is continuing to keep viewers at the edge of their seats with a week-by-week telenovela-style drama; and the latest show which aired last Sunday night was no exception. The programme released footage of the former president Néstor Kichner joking about opening a safe, and Clarín, in a manner that reflects its political tone, described it as being similar to “a child running to open his Christmas presents”.

Additionally, Lanata also revealed details that implicate Néstor Kirchner and Báez in another alleged money laundering scam with a representative of the Buenos Aires Racing Club football team, Miguel Ángel Pires. According to Lanata, the trio worked together to funnel government funds for the purchase of football players, Roberto Ramírez, Pablo Luguercio, Cristian Pellerano, and Leandro González.

Periodismo Para Todos

“I saw him (Pires) at least twice, with the club’s former secretary Daniel Muñoz handing over bags of money to buy players,” journalist Nicolas Wiñazki told the audience on Sunday’s edition of PPT, where he also said that Pires knew Báez since his son, Martín Baez, lived with Pires’ mum when he was studying in Buenos Aires. Pires, however, has denied personally knowing the Báez family and, as with many other aspects of this case, it all comes down to conflicting testimonies rather than solid evidence.

With Sunday’s show packed with twist and turns, it is safe to say that, once again, Lanata reeled his audience in and gave them the controversy and drama that 22% of Argentina’s population tune in for every week. And with its rising popularity comes another twist, and this time from the government. The Argentine Football Association (AFA) announced last week that one of the popular national first division matches, involving either Boca Juniors or River Plate, will now begin at 9.30pm on Sunday evening; a move that is believed to have come from government orders to conflict with the TV schedule of PPT.

The Case

As speculation and evidence has mounted over the last month, the inquiry has been brought to the attention of the District Attorney of Investigations of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism who launched an official investigation in mid-April.

Deputy Elisa Carrió took the case before the court alongside opposition representatives Patricia Bullrich, Federico Pinedo, Laura Alonso, and Carlos Brown. Further, the prosecution judge Sebastian Cassanello has called for an investigation into all of the businesses that Baez and Leonardo Fariña are linked to.

Talking about the case, Carrió said: “The information [from the released footage] does not surprise me… It is clear that [Néstor] Kirchner was Lázaro Báez’s boss. I presented the lawsuit for illicit association of [Néstor] Kirchner and Lázaro Báez. There was a fraudulent manoeuvre of US$400m. In this moment, Cristina [Férnandez de] Kirchner and Lázaro Báez are accomplices.”

Quiroga was one of the first witnesses to stand before the court last week, where she spoke for more than four hours about her time as Kirchner’s secretary. Media reports based on ‘inside sources’ offer conflicting versions about her testimony in court, but generally coincide on highlighting that she ratified witnessing meetings between Kirchner and several businessmen, although she could not confirm that they were ‘business partners’. Quiroga did not give testimony regarding the alleged money bags, as that case is being handled by a different judge. She has since been placed under a witness protection programme.

Báez was charged for being a suspect in the case on 3rd May, and since then he has provided a written statement in rejection of the money-laundering suit filed against him. The businessman said that he would “clarify once and for all” the charges made against him. Báez claimed he would help judicial authorities with the investigation that also includes his son Martín Baez and three other businessmen, Federico Elaskar, Fabian Rossi, and Daniel Perez. “As an honest person that I am, I am rejecting these false accusations,” said Báez in a letter to the court.

Meanwhile, the government held its silence about the case until last Friday, when the presidency’s undersecretary Gustavo López accused Grupo Clarin of launching an anti-government campaign to coincide with October’s mid-term elections. “This criminal investigation is an invention and an attack on the government.” He added that the accusations are a sign of “disrespect against a person [Nestor Kirchner] who is now dead and cannot defend himself. ”

Senator Aníbal Fernández has also spoken up about the issue and called Lanata’s investigation into the money laundering “stupid”. “It is not the first time that Grupo Clarín has lied, but for me, it makes no sense. There are four reports that are not going to go anywhere, because they don’t have sufficient evidence.”

As fresh allegations and denials surface daily, time will only tell if Lanata’s investigations have any grounds to tarnish the Kirchner government, and its legacy. However, one thing is clear; as this political show continues to play out, luring in spectators with its twists and cliffhangers, Lanata and PPT, much to the government’s frustration, will not be going anywhere soon.

The Indy took to the streets to hear what people had to say about these allegations. Click here to find out.

Argentine currency. (Photo: Alex E. Proimos)

The Argentine government has given the go-ahead to improve and expand the country’s Financial Information Unit (UIF), the institution responsible for investigating money-laundering and terrorist activities.

The agreement was signed by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Cabinet Chief Juan Manuel Abal Medina and Justice Minister Julio Alak, who say that the expansion will help to “broaden the faculties and the unit’s abilities”.

Under the new policy, the UIF will have the status of a secretariat. Head of the UIF, José Sbatella, will have 90 days to propose a new and improved structural and organisational model and designate a further six new departments; a directorate of administration, an internal audit unit, an advisory board, an administrative sanctioning system directorate, a directorate of supervision, and a directorate of co-ordination and national representation.

The new reforms of the UIF, which forms part of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, come amid recent claims of government corruption and money laundering by businessman Lázaro Báez. It was also spurred by other accusations of money-laundering by the Clarín Group concerning the case of former JP Morgan vice-president Hernán Arbizu.

Cristina and Nestor Kirchner (Photo: wikipedia commons)

A group of congressional representatives appeared before federal court today to request the investigation of a company linked to President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her deceased husband. The legislators are accusing company executives of involvement in money laundering and brought the case forward to the District Attorney of Investigations of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism led by Carlos Gonella.

Today’s call is the fourth in a series of requests for investigation into the company’s suspicious business dealings and comes after hidden camera footage showing testimonies and documents regarding the company’s illicit money transfers aired on a popular television programme hosted by journalist Jorge Lanata last night. Lanata has shown similar footage on his programme over the last few days that indicates businessman Lázaro Báez transferred at least US$70m to tax havens abroad. The late former president Néstor Kirchner, the current president, and several businesspeople are implicated in the case.

Elisa Carrió (Photo: wikipedia commons)

Congresswoman Elisa Carrió presented the footage today to the judicial council alongside representatives Patricia Bullrich, Federico Pinedo, Laura Alonso, and Carlos Brown, all of who oppose Kirchnerist politics. Magistrate Julián Ercolini, who supervised investigation into a similar allegation involving ex-president Néstor Kirchner and Báez in 2008, heard today’s request.

Carrió stated: “The information [indicated by the videos] does not surprise me…It is clear that [Néstor] Kirchner was Lázaro Báez’s boss. I presented the denunciation for illicit association of [Néstor] Kirchner…Cristóbal López, and Lázaro Báez. There was a fraudulent manoeuvre of US$400m. In this moment, Cristina [Férnandez de] Kirchner and Lázaro Báez are accomplices.”

The court announced today that federal Judge Sebastián Casanello would oversee the case.

HSBC Argentina (Photo by Emily Davidow on Flickr)

The Argentine government is making fresh money laundering claims against HSBC. The Argentine subsidiary of the British bank is being accused of partaking in fraudulent transactions to enable businesses to evade tax and launder a total of $392m.

Argentina’s federal tax agency AFIP filed the charges in February after unearthing three-years worth of financial irregularities. The case will be heard at Argentina’s federal court this week.

Speaking at a news conference yesterday, AFIP director Ricardo Echegaray, revealed that the agency has undertaken a six-month investigation and discovered that the bank was co-operating with numerous companies to evade $224m in taxes via phantom bank accounts.

“We hope to not only collect what corresponds [to the state], but that the justice system applies the sanctions that it has to apply under the tax law,” Echegaray said. He added that there has been “decisive participation” of HSBC executives in concealing vital financial information from the authorities.

This is the second time in a year that HSBC has been charged for money laundering activities. Last year, the bank paid nearly $2bn in fines after it was found guilty of participating in money-laundering and illicit drug money activities.

Soon after this, HSBC’s head of compliance resigned from his position and apologised to the senate investigators for the bank’s connection to the money-laundering and potential terrorist financing activities.

Additionally, in July 2012, HSBC’s Mexican subsidiary agreed to pay the National Banking and Securities Commission nearly $27.5m after it admitted to authorising 39 illicit transactions and was late in reporting 1,729 others.

Peru has surpassed Colombia to become the world’s main producer of counterfeit notes despite the arrest of one of the alleged main counterfeiters Joel Quispe Rodríguez, according to Peruvian and US officials.

Peru now accounts for 17% of all counterfeit dollars in the United States according to Brian Leary a spokesperson for the US Secret Service. So far this year US$17m in false currency has been confiscated.

The change is a startling escalation considering the US only detected the counterfeit bills coming from Peru in 2003. The Andean nation has surpassed even Colombia, which was once responsible for producing 43% of US counterfeit dollars according to InSight, an organisation which studies organised crime in Latin America.

Peruvian police believe the Quispe Rodríguez family is responsible for the bulk of the counterfeiting industry.

Many Peruvians believed that with the arrest of Joel Quispe Rodríguez, who was arrested last year, the illegal industry would falter. However, Police suspect his brother, Raul Quispe Rodríguez, has taken over the operation of the fake money.

After an investigation that lasted several months, police said they arrested two more members of the family. They also seized nearly US$7m worth in counterfeit bills including Euros and Peruvian soles.

On the 2nd August, police seized US$2.3m that they believe was also produced by the Quispe Rodríguez family and headed for the US in tourist souvenirs.

César Cortijo, director of the Peruvian police criminal investigation, said most of the money is being exported.

“We found notebooks with drawings, to make [the bills] look like souvenirs. They had a compartment to hide dollars wrapped in carbon paper to make them invisible to x-rays,” said Cortijo to BBC Mundo.

Peru’s surging production of good quality fake bills has attracted international organised crime, according to a police officer who spoke to the newspaper, Peru21. Peruvian police arrested a Mexican man at Lima’s international airport who carried US$520,000 in false bills. They believe he is connected to the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel.

Peru’s government has vowed to strike “heavy blows” against money launderers working in the country, after admitting it had failed make an impact so far.

Mexican regulators have imposed the biggest fine ever, US$27.5m, on banking company HSBC for its failure to comply with money laundering regulations.

The fine imposed by the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) came after a US Senate report on Tuesday slammed the giant banking corporation for allowing clients to shift funds from “dangerous and secretive” foreign countries.

HSBC Mexico issued a statement saying it had failed to report 39 suspicious transactions and had been late in reporting 1,729 others.

“HSBC Mexico recognises it failed to strictly comply with banking regulations, and with the standards that regulators and clients expect of our institution,” it said, according to the BBC.

The US Senate panel alleged that HSBC acted as a financier for clients routing funds from the world’s most dangerous places, including Mexico, Iran and Syria. The panel said these countries are normally tied to drug cartels, terrorist funding and tax cheating and that HSBC had been a conduit for “drug kingpins and rogue nations.”

HSBC’s head of compliance David Bagley resigned at the meeting.

The bank apologised for its misconduct and said that Mexico remains a priority market. HSBC is one of Mexico’s top four banks with more than 1,400 branches and six million customers. It has operated in the country since the 1970s and increased its presence after buying Republic National Bank in 2000 and a controlling stake in Grupo Financiero Bital in 2002.

Along with the fine from the CNBV, the banking corporation will also be forced to pay fines from a US Justice Department investigation. Analysts have estimated the settlement could run as high as $US1bn, based on the $619-million fine that ING agreed in June to pay in order to settle similar claims.

The US$27.5m fine constitutes 51.5% of the 2011 annual profit of HSBC’s Mexican subsidiary.

President of Guatemala, Álvaro Colom authorised on Tuesday the extradition of former president, Alfonso Portillo, to the United States on charges of money laundering and embezzlement.

Last January, a federal grand jury in New York requested his extradition after he had been charged with stealing US$70 million in Guatemalan public funds. He is accused of routing the money through US banks and eventually hiding it in offshore accounts.

After leaving office in 2004, Portillo went to Mexico but was extradited back to Guatemala in 2008 on charges of stealing US$15 million from the military in 2001. He was cleared of those charges earlier this year.

Portillo, who was president from 2000 to 2004, made promises to promote wealth distribution in Guatemala, but has been called one of the most corrupt leaders in recent history by his opponents.

River Plate football club is under scrutiny today following raids ordered by judge Claudio Bonadío on its headquarters for alleged mismanagement and money laundering.

The fraud division of the federal police is investigating current president Daniel Pasarella, former president José María Aguillar, former manager Mario Israel and auditors company KPMG.

The investigation started due to accusations from lawyer Alejandro Sánchez Kalbermatten, who mentioned administrative irregularities and money laundering within the football club.

Former dictator of Panama, Manuel Noriega, will appeal the French court ruling that keeps him waiting in prison for a retrial.

“We condemn the judgment and will appeal it tonight,” said his lawyers.

Noriega served a 17-year sentence in the US before being extradited to France on 27th April. He was convicted in absentia by the French courts of money laundering in 1999. Now he has returned, he is under temporary detention pending a retrial because the French courts do not think it would be safe to let him out on bail. He faces up to ten years in prison on these charges.

Noriega’s lawyers are demanding his freedom, arguing that as a prisoner of war and former head of state, the French courts have no jurisdiction over him.

They have also cited age and ill health as reasons not to put him on trial. His lawyer Olivier Metzner claims, “I found a man who is very weak, who has a lot of problems going down the stairs leading to the lawyers’ meeting room, and has lots of problems getting back up the stairs again.”

The Panamanian ambassador to France will also request for Noriega’s extradition to Panama. He faces 20 years imprisonment for various charges there, but elderly prisoners are permitted to serve their sentences at home.

His lawyers have said, “We are ready to hand him over as soon as tomorrow, or even as soon as this evening.”

If he is not extradited to Panama, Noriega could be put on trial in France within two months.