Hugo Ramírez, national deputy for the ANR (official party), and member of the National Money Laundering Commission (CBI), urged public officials and businessmen who are suspected of money laundering to distance themselves from suspicions of money laundering when they are summoned. before the IWC.
This, after the refusal of some businessmen such as José Ortiz, president of Tabesa and deputy Erico Galeano, head of Tabacalera Hernandarias, to testify before said commission.
“This is the great opportunity for businessmen and public officials suspected of money laundering to stand out completely. Today we are facing false entrepreneurs who generate bubbles that are inflated with money from laundering and end up making everything more expensive later, generating poverty”, he said.
He pointed out that a significant percentage of the population does not have access to accessible and agile credits. Meanwhile a selective group enjoys millions that do not go through legal controls compromising the financial system.
“Money laundering generates unfair competition. A person who respects the law must go through tedious processes. This over time ends up discouraging investment. The only answer to get ahead is to participate in organized crime, ”he said.
He questioned that cigarette smuggling is classified as a problem in Brazil, but in reality, the subsequent money laundering of the proceeds does not figure in the income of these people.
“On the one hand there is evasion and those millions could have been allocated to health and education. In addition, we lose a status that allows us to negotiate with other nations. Another great fallacy is that the Government did nothing. There is an organization installed in order to eliminate barriers, in addition to being entrenched and cutting across all institutions”, he mentioned.
He regretted that the Prosecutor’s Office only punishes his political rivals. And that when the BNF authorities initiate a process to protect the financial health of the world, to avoid sanctions that harm citizens, it is accused of committing political persecution.
