Apr.12, 2010

BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- Argentine Justice Minister Julio Alak on Monday rejected a newspaper report which suggested the Financial Action Task Force, an inter-governmental body to fight money laundering, will criticize Argentina later this year.

The minister denied there was any report on money-laundering from the FATF which would affect Argentina's "prestige," according to the government news service.

"Because of express indications from President Cristina Fernandez, the fight against money-laundering has been strengthened," Alak said.

The minister said the government started working with the FATF on the report in July 2009, and the final document will be presented to the FATF's plenary committee in October.

La Nacion on Monday said the report would be extremely critical of Argentina's efforts to tamp down on money laundering. The FATF will criticize the lack of information forthcoming from Argentine authorities, and may also cite widespread corruption, among other problems, the report said.

The report said the government believes that the FATF may give Argentina an opportunity to correct the problems given the turnover in staff since the beginning of the year, with the appointment of Jose Sbatella as head of the Argentine Financial Information Unit, or UIF, which is part of the Justice Ministry.

The former head of the UIF, Rosa Falduto, resigned in January, along with a number of senior staff.

According to La Nacion, the FATF has since 2005 asked several times that Argentina bring its practices in line with the international community, but there has been little or no progress.

The FATF's plenary committee is scheduled to meet in June to discuss whether to publish the report on Argentina, although it could be as late as October or November, according to the report.

The committee is scheduled to meet in the NetherlandsJune 21-25, according to the FATF's Web site.