Anti-Money Laundering – Criminal Administrative Sanctions

In June 18, 2012, Resolution No. 111/2012 (the "Resolution 111") of the Financial Information Unit (Unidad de Información Financiera or "UIF") was published in the Official Gazette, amending Resolution No. 10/2003 (the "Resolution 10") of the UIF.

Resolution 10, which was in force until the above mentioned date, did not include some amendments that had been made to Law No. 25,246 (the "Anti-Money Laundering Law") such as the possibility that the administrative proceedings before the UIF not only originates in both audits and requests made by the UIF, but also in supervisions carried out by “Comptrollers” (the Argentine Central Bank, the Argentine Securities Commission, the Argentine Superintendence of Insurance, among others). Therefore, through Resolution 111 the UIF once again regulates the different stages of the administrative proceedings, appeals, payment of the fines, publicity of sanctions, among others.

On the other hand, Resolution 111 is important because it establishes that the new administrative proceeding will apply to all those who infringe any of the obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering Law, while prior Resolution 10 only applied to the obliged subjects referred to in Section 20 of the Anti-Money Laundering Law.

Some other amendments introduced by Resolution 111 are:

1. Possibility of the defendant to request an extension term, which may be granted at the sole discretion of the instructor of the administrative proceedings.
2. The discovery term is extended from 20 to 30 days, which also may be extended, ex officio or upon request of the defendant, taking into account the nature of the evidence and the place where it should be produced.
3. Possibility of a "disclosure statement", which is a statement that any person that might have a connection with the facts under investigation can give, except for the defendant or witnesses.
4. Term extension from 2 to 5 years in order to determine whether or not the defendant is a recidivist.
5. Term extension from 20 to 30 days (since notification) to appeal the UIF’s final resolution before the Federal Courts on Contentious and Administrative Matters.

Finally, please note that the new administrative proceedings introduced by Resolution 111 will come into force and shall apply to proceedings initiated after August 1, 2012.