STATUS AND TEXT OF CENTRAL BANK'S PROPOSED

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 000387

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

WHA FOR DEBORAH MCCARTHY
TREASURY FOR ASSISTANT SECRETARY O'BRIEN AND CYNTHIA MEDINA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/17/2016
TAGS: KTFN EFIN AR
SUBJECT: STATUS AND TEXT OF CENTRAL BANK'S PROPOSED
COUNTER-TERRORISM AND TERRORISM FINANCE LEGISLATION


Classified By: AMBASSADOR LINO GUTIERREZ FOR REASONS 1.4 B AND D


1. (C) Summary: Post recieved a copy of the text of a
Central Bank-drafted bill that would criminalize terrorism
and the financing of terrorism in Argentina. A Central Bank
(BCRA) director confirmed on February 15 that the BCRA board
had reviewed the legislation and, after a final review,
expects it to be introduced in the Congress as a GOA bill
before the end of March. The bill defines terrorism as an
aggravation of existing crimes when they are carried out for
purposes of terrorism, and allows a doubling of minimum and
maximum penalties. It would criminalize the financing of
terrorist acts and provide for 5 to 15 year prison terms. It
also makes clear that the Argentine Financial Intelligence
Unit is the action agency for analyzing and detecting
terrorism finance. If this bill is introduced as a GOA bill,
it will greatly enhance its prospects for passage, as the
nine previous bills on this topic that lacked GOA support
failed to advance. The good news is that the GOA appears to
be seriously moving forward with this legislation. The bad
news is that the driving force is still fear of FATF action,
not the GOA's own internal decision that Argentina needs this
legislation. End summary.


2. (C) Luis Corsiglia, a director of the Central Bank (BCRA)
who has close ties to the Kirchner administration, told
Emboffs on February 15 that the BCRA board had reviewed and
approved a draft bill on February 9 that would criminalize
terrorism and the financing of terrorism. Corsiglia said
that the board asked one of its directors to do a final
review, and that he expected that the bill would be submitted
as a GOA proposal to the Congress before the end of March.
The driving force for the legislation is an expected visit by
a mission from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The
BCRA wants to have this legislation in the legislature, with
the GOA's backing, before that mission arrives. The timing
of the legislation will coincide with the BCRA's regional
counter-terrorism finance conference March 9-10. The BCRA
sees that regional conference as a way to build public
momentum and pressure to move the legislation through the
Congress, according to BCRA Director Zenon Biagosch, who is
organizing the event.


3. (C) Post received a copy of the proposed bill from a
lawyer who is working as a consultant to the BCRA on money
laundering and terrorism finance issues. It defines
terrorism as an aggravating offense to several existing
crimes (post is working on a complete list, but it includes
all types of homicide, assault, extortion, and kidnapping),
and allows for a doubling of the minimum and maximum
penalties for these crimes. It criminalizes the financing of
such acts, and punishes them by 5 to 15 years in prison.
Finally, it gives the Argentine financial intelligence unit
(UIF) the authority to investigate and report suspected cases
of terrorism finance. The text of the bill follows below:


The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies etc.

Law Concerning Acts of Terrorism and the Financing of
Terrorism

Article 1: added as article 213 ter of the Penal Code, the
following:

&Article 213 ter: It will be punishable with double the
minimum and maximum in the corresponding penal scale, but
without exceeding the legal maximums established for the
respective type of crime, the behaviors typified in the
articles 79,80,83, 89 to 92, 140 to 142, 142 bis, 144, 149 al
to 149 ter, 164 to 170, 183, 184, 186 to 188, 189 bis, 189
ter, 190 to 193, 197, 198 subsection 1, 198 subsection 2 and
3, 199, 200, 202, 205, 210 to 213 bis, 277, 278 subsection
1a, 278 subsection 1b, 278 subsection 3 of this Code, when
the author of these actions acted with the intention of
terrifying and shocking seriously the population, in order
to: (a) force the public authorities or agents of an
international organization to perform an act, or to take a
measure or to abstain from taking an action, or (b) to impose
his ideas or to fight other people's ideas by force or by
fear.8

Article 2: added as article 213 quater of the Penal Code, the

following:

&Article 213 quater: it will be punishable with reclusion or
imprisonment of 5 to 15 years any person who collects,
administers, takes care of, provides or makes available goods
or money with the intention that they will be used or knows
that they will be used in whole or in part to finance the
conduct covered by article 213 ter.8

Article 3: substitutes the following for Article 6 of the Law
25.246:

&Article 6: the Financial Information Unit will be in charge
of the analysis, the review and the transmission of
information for the purpose of preventing and impeding the
laundering of assets and the financing of terrorism.8

Article 4: communicate to the Executive Power.


4. Comment: This appears to be a serious and coordinated
effort by the BCRA to get this much-needed legislation
passed. It also will be key that the bill is presented as a
GOA-backed bill, as the nine prior bills on this subject
failed to advance because the GOA had not indicated what its
preferences were on this subject. Passage is not guaranteed
even with GOA support. The piquetero movement and other
leftist groups indicated their strong opposition to terrorism
and terrorism finance legislation during the debate on the
ratification of the OAS and UN conventions in March 2005.
The good news is that the political stars appear to be
aligned to get the bill into the Congress and to put the
GOA's considerable political force behind it. The BCRA
deserves particular credit for drafting the bill and moving
it forward, and for making the UIF the prime authority for
detecting terrorism finance. That sort of cooperation
between the UIF and the BCRA would have been unthinkable even
two years ago. The bad news is that the driving force for
doing so still is the fear of FATF action against Argentina
if it does not pass legislation, not a determination by the
GOA that Argentina really needs this law on the books. End
comment.

GUTIERREZ