BUENOS AIRES-Argentina has launched a tax evasion and money-laundering probe of multinational agribusinesses including US-based Cargill Inc and Bunge Ltd, accusing the industry of hiding millions of dollars in Argentine profits through shell companies and suspicious transactions. The offices of 48 agribusiness companies were raided by 740 federal agents and information analysts on Tuesday, said Ricardo Etchegaray, who directs Argentina's tax collection agency.
The agency said Cargill, Bunge, the Netherlands-based Nidera SA and Hong Kong-based Noble Group Ltd were among the companies targeted in the raids, and that the companies involved hid millions in profits on grain sales by creating fraudulent documents, including nonexistent companies under the names of front men, people with few economic resources and even dead people. The tax agency also said it has informed the Financial Information Unit, Argentina's official money-laundering watchdog, of suspicious transactions including huge cash withdrawals by large grain exporters.
The unit's president, Jose Sbatella, said last month in an interview that grain companies also evade Argentine taxes by "triangulating" their exports-for example by selling grain at a below-market price to a shell company in neighboring Uruguay before reselling it at market prices to customers elsewhere in the world. Argentina is the world's third-largest soy exporter and second-largest corn exporter, and soaring prices for these commodities have helped sustain the nation's economy in recent years. (AP)