Customs found that a Argentine firm irregularly imported 10,745,000 latex gloves and, through a financial triangulation maneuver, was made of more than 4.5 million dollars from the Central Bank.
As reported by Customs, in a procedure carried out by specialized agents of the control body and the AFIP, they detected that the merchandise -which was in a warehouse in the La Plata Free Zone- had been declared at a high value for the type of product involved.
In this framework, they reported that while the unit price listed in the operation was $0.51, Customs considered that the fair value -based on value and background studies- was more close to US$ 0.085 (US$ 8.5 per box of 100 units), which represented an overinvoicing of the order of 600%.
▶️ #ARBA carried out a joint operation in the La Plata Free Trade Zone with @afipcomunicawithin the framework of a legal case that was initiated by a complaint made by Customs due to the alleged overinvoicing of imports for more than U$D 600 million. pic.twitter.com/YoltVWS1vD
– ARBA Press (@PrensaARBA) September 13, 2022
They indicated that the maneuver is “especially serious” since they took advantage of the fact that, in the framework of the health emergency, Decree 333/2020 had exempted gloves and masks for medical use from paying import duties.
From the Customs highlighted the impact that this type of maneuver has on foreign exchange reservessince the tariff payment of the operation is zero.
In this sense, Guillermo Michel, general director of Customs, affirmed that “we must take care of the dollars for production and work, not for financial speculation.”
The gloves originate from Malaysia, Hong Kong and China, but I know they entered the country re-invoicing the merchandise from Uruguay and Brazil. At the same time, remittances abroad were triangulated through banks based in the United States.
In the framework of the same investigations, a triangulation and overinvoicing of US$ 1.7 million in masks for medical use was detected, which, added to the overinvoicing detected in the importation of gloves, for a total amount of US$ 6.2 million.
The complaint filed by Customs gave rise to a criminal case that was filed in the Federal Criminal and Correctional Court Number 3 of La Plata, in charge of federal judge Ernesto Kreplak.
In the same the crimes of smuggling and violation of the Penal Exchange Law are investigated.
The measures ordered by the court involved the raids on homes linked to companies and the hijacking of cell phones, in a joint effort between the DGI and ARBA.
In addition, the Customs requested the justice system to activate, through the FIU, the mechanisms for exchanging information with the anti-money laundering units of the United States (FinCen), Uruguay (National Secretariat for the Fight against Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism -Senaclaft-) and Brazil (Anti-Money Laundering Agency and against the Financing of Terrorism -LA/FT-)
