Argentina seeks arrest of advisor tied to tax scandal

Argentina's tax authority said Sunday it is seeking an international arrest warrant for an investment advisor suspected of helping Argentines hide money in Swiss bank accounts.
Miguel Abadi, head of the Gems financial advisory company, was linked to secret HSBC accounts identified in the "SwissLeaks" expose published by consortium of news organizations, including Argentina's Clarin and La Nacion newspapers.
The Argentine tax authority AFIP said in a statement it had asked judge Maria Straccia for the "repatriation of 3.8 billion dollars in 4,040 Argentine accounts hidden in Switzerland and the international capture of Miguel Abadi."
The judge must now consider the request and relay it to Interpol.
AFIP said Abadi had used front companies and trusts in Uruguay, the Virgin Islands and Bermuda to move the funds.
The HSBC documents were stolen in 2007 by a disgruntled bank employee, Herve Falciani, who eventually turned them over to French authorities.
The cache was used to support claims that HSBC's Swiss private banking arm helped clients in more than 200 countries evade taxes on accounts containing $119 billion.