Argentina accuses HSBC of money laundering
A US Senate committee found HSBC had laundered money for ‘drug kingpins and rogue nations’ around the world.
British banking giant HSBC faces fresh accusations of money laundering, this time in Argentina.
An investigation by Argentina’s tax agency has uncovered 392 million pesos, or $77 million, in “fraudulent transactions” including tax evasion and money laundering, Reuters reported.
HSBC, which was fined a record $1.9 billion last year for similar irregularities involving Mexican drug cartels and rebel states such as Iran, said the latest allegations were “of great concern,” the BBC reported.
"We are committed to working cooperatively with authorities to ensure a thorough review and appropriate resolution of the matter," HSBC spokeswoman Lyssette Bravo was quoted as saying.
Argentine tax chief Ricardo Echegaray accused HSBC of creating “an illegal scheme” enabling clients to hide bank account information from tax collectors and launder money, the Associated Press reported.
"They evaded taxes and laundered money through the purchase of fake receipts that were later used to justify the issuance of checks whose amounts were deposited under a generic tax identification number," Echegaray was quoted as saying.