MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falsification of notice for fishery permits discovered.

The perspicacity to obtain fishery permits in Argentine waters has reached unfathomable limits.

A USD 500,000-swindle involving the falsification of the signature of the area's supervising manager, Carlos Ospital, for non-existent permits has been discovered upon the release of the government's issue of the Boletin Oficial.

The unbelievable scam was detected by Argentine Fisheries authorities some days after a notification was published on the issuance of definitive permits to 10 vessels from Asia and Spain from a now defunct fishing company Upon discovering the falsification, Ospital presented criminal charges.

After making reference to previous resolutions, the falsely authorised and published text stated: "Permits are herein granted authorising permanent fishery to the vessels Virgen de la Estrella and Santa Rosa belonging to the Taipesar company, the vessels Huyu 901, Huyu 906, Zhouyu, Chie Hisiang, Ming Yuan and Min Wang, Estreito 3, Ming Xing, Cheng I, and Estreito de Rande."

The fraud was possible due to the absence of a registry of signatures in the Argentine Boletin Oficial where all government documents of a legal nature are published.

Meanwhile, Gerardo Nieto undersecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture played down the incident. "The important thing is that it was discovered, rapidly corrected, and we have pressed criminal charges," he indicated.

The correction to which Nieto refers to is the publication of a new text in the Boletin Oficial which states: "The notification of 2 July is herein declared nonexistent and duly unpublished given that said document does not emanate from any judicial record whatsoever of the Undersecretary for Fisheries and Aquaculture."

Despite these corrections to the government bulletin, several parties are suspected to have been swindled, thanks to the oversight, causing the theft of some USD 500,000.

According to the local newspaper Clarín, the company which appears as having ceded the permits, Taipesar, is now defunct, having belonged to two Taiwanese brothers, one dead, and the other condemned for illegal activities at the beginning of the 90s.(FIS/MP)