ICE, Argentine customs agency sign agreement establishing trade transparency unit
From left to right: AFIP Administrator Ricardo Echegaray, U.S. Ambassador to Argentina Noah B. Mamet and HSI Southern Cone of the Americas Attaché Eddie Agrait
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — U.S. Ambassador to Argentina Noah B. Mamet and Argentina’s Administrator for Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos (AFIP) Ricardo Echegaray participated in a signing ceremony Wednesday establishing a trade transparency unit.
Ambassador Mamet signed a proclamation memorializing the partnership between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Southern Cone of the Americas Attaché Office and the AFIP. The establishment of the TTU will enhance the detection of trade-based money laundering and commercial fraud violations.
HSI will provide the AFIP with access to the Data Analysis and Research for Trade Transparency System, an HSI computer system that contains domestic and foreign trade data and allows users to see both sides of the trade transaction, making the transaction transparent. This access will provide both HSI and the AFIP the tools necessary to identify international trade anomalies and financial irregularities indicative of trade-based money laundering, customs fraud, movement of counterfeit goods and other import-export crimes.
“The establishment of this TTU will play a critical role in thwarting money laundering and transnational crime,” said Eddie Agrait, HSI attaché for the Southern Cone of the Americas. “We are looking forward to the continued collaboration with the AFIP in this important venture.”
This agreement brings the total TTU international partners to 11.
Through its International Operations, ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has 65 operational attaché offices in 46 countries around the world. HSI special agents work closely with foreign law enforcement agencies through a robust network of specialized, vetted units known as Transnational Criminal Investigative Units. Additionally, HSI brings personnel from host countries to the United States to train at the Department of Homeland Security Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia.
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