MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina and hedge fund NML Capital ratify their commitment to keep fighting

“If someone thinks that on January first Argentina will go on its knees to negotiate with vulture funds, he is getting it all wrong” said Vanoli, central bank chief

Argentine Central bank chief Alejandro Vanoli, said the country will be not getting down on its knees in a negotiation with 'vulture funds' (hedge funds), once the January first date comes and the controversial RUFO clause, (preventing Argentina from voluntarily offering holdout creditors better terms than those of its 2005 and 2010 restructurings), falls.

 “If someone thinks that on January 1 we will go on our knees to negotiate with vulture funds, is getting it all wrong about how the national government works,” the official said during the International Political Economy Congress celebrated at the University of Moreno in the province of Buenos Aires.

According to Vanoli, “devaluation expectations” have even fallen among “market operators, who are the ones that fostered” devaluation as he accused what he called a “mob of domestic vultures” of fueling market fears “to favor the (electoral) chances of those who next year will seek to promote a different” economic model.

From New York Elliot Management’s owner, billionaire Paul Singer, has warned that he will continue to search for Argentine assets to seize, according to a note the hedge fund sent to investors.

Singer, who won the so-called “trial of the century” against Argentina for 1.6 billion dollars in defaulted bonds, said he will boost “sanctions against the country for evading the court’s sanctions.”

US district judge Thomas Griesa had ruled against Argentina and declared the country in contempt on September 29, after it dismissed Bank of New York Mellon as payment venue and created a new one in Buenos Aires, trying to evade the judge’s sentence.

Singer said he hopes measures will be taken against Argentina during the following months. “In the meantime,” he said, “we are going to continue our world-wide search for Argentine assets.”

Singer tried to collect his debt with over 900 seizure attempts over Argentine assets, like the one in 2012, when he tried to seize the Fragata Libertad training ship when it was docked in Ghana.

The latest from NML Capital is that it has filed a request to a Washington federal court to keep Argentine lawyer César Guido Forcieri, former World Bank director and alleged associate of Argentine Vice President Amado Boudou, in the United States.

According to NML, Forcieri can answer questions about Argentine assets that might be available to pay off the 1.7 billion, capital and interests accrued, in judgments the hedge fund has against the country.

NML asked a judge to force Forcieri to turn over his passport and stay in the US, as he allegedly has “imminent plans” to leave the country permanently on November 8, the hedge fund said.

Forcieri in Argentina has been indicted in the Ciccone case together with Boudou, because of his alleged involvement in acquiring the bankrupt printing company that later won a contract to print the nation’s currency.

“If Argentine courts find Boudou guilty, the country may confiscate any profits, funds or property employed in the takeover scheme. Any disgorged funds or property would then become Argentine state property potentially available to satisfy NML’s claims against Argentina,” NML’s lawyers said in the filing, according to Bloomberg news.