Argentina Real Estate
Department of State Washington File: Text: Financial Body Revises Anti-Money Laundering Recommendations
The recommendations include more monitoring of high risk bank customers and transactions, extending anti-money laundering measures to non-financial businesses and professions such as casinos, real estate agents, dealers of precious stones and metals, accountants, lawyers, notaries and trust company providers, and improving transparency requirements, according to a June 20 OECD press release. ... -- the extension of anti-money laundering measures to designated non-financial businesses and professions (casinos; real estate agents; dealers of precious metals/stones; accountants; lawyers, notaries and independent legal professions; trust and company service providers); ... [Read More]
USIA, Economic Perspectives, August 1998 -- View from PaulVolcker
The difficulty is that what may be marginal to the increasingnumbers of investment institutions with mobile money can, in itstotality, be overpowering to the small receiving country. Withmoney so freely available from abroad, banks will lendaggressively. Sooner or later investment is likely to run aheadof needs and be misallocated by governments or private investors. In these circumstances, a real estate boom will be almostinevitable, and, whatever the particular exchange rate regime,the real exchange rate will appreciate, undercutting tradecompetitiveness. ... [Read More]
South America
Asset Seizure. By law, seized assets cannot be forfeited until the owner is convicted of a drug offense. Problems arise in relation to the safeguarding of assets pending forfeiture. Real estate, vehicles and other personal property are often used by government agencies or officials and depreciated during the ... Corruption. Ecuadorian government policy opposes the illicit production or distribution of drugs or other controlled substances, as well as the laundering of drug money. The 1990 drug law (Law 108) provides for prosecution of any government official, including a judge, who deliberately impedes the prosecution of anyone charged under that law. Some elements of other official corruption are criminalized in Ecuadorian laws but there is no comprehensive anticorruption law to address the problem per se. In 2003 several individual members of the National Police and the Armed Forces were arrested for corrupt activities including the theft of Ecuadorian military weapons for sale to Colombian insurgents. A break-in at the CONSEP evidence warehouse in Guayaquil, during which three security guards were bound and executed, resulted in the loss of several hundred kilograms of cocaine. The exact amount could not be determined because of faulty inventory practices ... [Read More]
South America
Asset seizure. By law, seized assets cannot be forfeited until the owner is convicted of a drug offense and a judge orders their forfeiture. Judges commonly are tardy in issuing forfeiture orders. Problems arise in relation to the safeguarding of assets pending forfeiture. Real estate, vehicles and other personal property have historically been used by government agencies or officials and depreciated during the interim. The responsible governmental agency, CONSEP, is trying to curb this practice by establishing new inventory controls. CONSEP recently sold a relatively small amount of forfeited property, primarily vehicles. ... [Read More]
South America
Drug trafficking organizations also use Venezuela as a location to divert essential and precursor chemicals used in the production of illegal drugs in drug source countries, and use Venezuela’s modern financial, real estate and tourism sectors to launder drug profits. The GOV has introduced effective U.S.-style currency transaction reporting requirements for banks, but investigation and prosecution of money laundering is hampered by lack of legislation and effective police work. ... [Read More]
E) South America
The Prosecutors’ Drug Task Force (PDTF), begun in October 2001 with USG support, developed a professional investigative and operational capability in 2002. Composed of vetted personnel from three GOV agencies (the Public Ministry, the Federal Judicial Police, and the National Guard), this task force of three dozen prosecutors and investigators seized almost 13 metric tons of drugs (3.5 MT of cocaine, 93 KG of heroin, and 9.3 MT of cannabis), conducted follow-up investigations resulting in the arrest of more than 80 traffickers (including one kingpin), and seized numerous watercraft, real estate, and cash. Additionally, the PDTF’s intelligence and investigations supported international operations that resulted in the indictment and arrest of an additional 17 traffickers and the seizure of several additional tons of drugs. ... [Read More]
Untitled Document
In the case where an unaccompanied US citizen dies in Argentina, a US Consular officer will serve as a provisional conservator of the deceased's personal estate and will take custody of his or her portable personal effects. As provisional conservator, the consular officer's duties include arranging for the effects to be sent to the legal next of kin, subject to local laws. In general, real property or contested property will be disposed of in accordance with local Argentine law. Do you want to know more? [Read More]
Untitled Document
The Consular Section of the US Embassy in Buenos Aires provides a range of services to American citizens traveling to or residing in Argentina, including issuing passports, registering the birth of US citizen children, and providing appropriate assistance and advice when emergencies arise. US citizens in Argentina are, of course, subject to Argentine laws and regulations. What American Citizen Services CANNOT Do: Discuss visa cases. Act as your lawyer, translator, interpreter, personal assistant ... [Read More]
|