Ricardo Gil Lavedra
, president of the Public Bar Association of the Federal Capital, expressed this Friday his rejection of the new Money Laundering law that was approved on Thursday in the Senate and that includes lawyers as subjects obliged to inform the Financial Information Unit (UIF) when they detect suspicious transactions of their clients within the framework of the performance of their professional activity.
Furthermore, he announced that he will request the
unconstitutionality
of that part of the regulations.
The renowned jurist founded the proposition that the
relationship between lawyers and their clients is protected by the duty of confidentiality
and that the application of this new regulation prevents guaranteeing due defense in court.
The representative of the Bar Association also expressed his concern by stating that violating this professional secret entails a penalty that
can disqualify lawyers from practicing their profession for up to three years.
A measure in accordance with article 156 of the Penal Code, which represses anyone who "having knowledge, by reason of their status, trade, employment, profession or art, of a secret whose disclosure could cause harm, reveals it without just cause."
"All the activities carried out by a lawyer, whether litigation, advice or representation, are protected by professional secrecy, since it is information provided by their clients within the framework of the relationship of trust and confidentiality that professional practice requires" explained Gil Lavedra, who in addition to presiding over the entity that brings together the lawyers of the City of Buenos Aires, was one of the chamberlains who judged the commanders of the last military dictatorship in Argentina.
The president of the CPACF stressed that "obliging them to investigate their own clients, establish the origin of the funds, the purposes pursued and eventually report them constitutes a gross violation of the duty of confidentiality that directly affects the defense in court."
And in this regard he added that "the majority of lawyers lack the means and infrastructure to carry out investigations that, by their nature, belong primarily to state authorities."
The senators who voted in favor of the reform of the Money Laundering Law.
Photo Sofía Areco/ Senate Communication.
The jurist assured that "the recent sanction of the law modifying the money laundering regulations implies, with respect to lawyers,
a violation of constitutional provisions
; since in all cases the underlying activities that are included in the duty to inform are sufficiently protected by other controls, according to the interpretative rules of the FATF itself in that it is not necessary - in these cases - to force lawyers to be informed".
Money Laundering: they will request partial unconstitutionality
The CPACF had already expressed itself against this reform in February, through a statement in which they highlighted that the majority of cases reported to the FIU were outside the criminal and administrative sanctioning sphere and that "the cost imposed on professionals, in "This context
would not even have a relevant effect on the fight against phenomena such as terrorism and drug trafficking
."
Finally, and in defense of the profession, Gil Lavedra announced that the Public Bar Association will take legal action to request that
the part of the Law that includes lawyers as subjects obliged to report
be declared unconstitutional .
The Penal Code reform project was approved and sanctioned as law - the first of the year - on Thursday in the same Senate session in which Javier Milei's DNU was discussed.
The initiative had received half a sanction in Deputies in April of last year and was part of an understanding that Argentina signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and that also adhered to the suggestions of the International Financial Action Group (FATF).