January 27, 2016
Amid criticism from social organizations and progressive economists, the national government yesterday officially chose Mariano Federici to head the Financial Information Unit (UIF) — the office in charge of investigating money-laundering — selecting María Eugenia Talerico as his new number two.
Federici and Talerico’s designation comes after a public hearing held last week, where both said there was no conflict of interest between their new positions and the professional activities they carried out until now. Six out the 17 speakers at the hearing challenged their appointments. Talerico worked for the Fernández Alonso-Beccar Varela & Richards law firm and represented the HSBC bank as a lawyer in at least five cases related to alleged financial wrongdoing, in which the UIF issued the bank 286 million pesos in fines. At last week’s hearing, Talerico admitted having worked as a legal adviser for a compliance officer at the bank, sparking accusations of a conflict of interest.