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Echegaray accuses the vulture funds
Ambito Financiero
June 27, 2008

The head of the National Office of Agricultural Trade Control (ONCCA) Ricardo Echegaray yesterday blamed the ranching entities for the shortages in adhesions to the open registry of open compensation for small producers of soy and sunflower seeds. He assured, in addition, that for irregularities in sales abroad made in November of last year, exporters will have to pay close to US$649 million that will have to be re-liquidated.

Before the members of the Committees on Budget and Agriculture of the House of Deputies, Echegaray said that "not one of the farming entities has responded to the adhesion of the convention" opened by the government; and that "it's advisable for the construction of a positive policy that the farm entities sign the conventions, as among 550 cities only 83 have joined. The system works. In 10 days the compensations were liquidated. Maybe over the conflict they weren't able to be channeled, but the State has already paid 519 million pesos in compensations to small producers," Echegaray said.

Investigation

Soon after the session, in an interview with this newspaper, the official commented that through a review that ONCCA did " the exporters estimated that the export tax would go up (by US$940 million) and they would have had to pay up to 46.5% that was the rate from the day of departure (US$1.590 billion). There is US$649 million that we told the AFIP to investigate how they must be reliquidated." Echegaray also said that there is evidence that "the vulture funds are operating in the grain markets, harming the country." And he said that "official police could now take a look at that speculative capital."