Argentine Journalists' Forum denounces gag order tucked inside Macri's tax amnesty bill.
The Argentine Journalists' Forum (FOPEA) denounced a provision (Article 85) buried inside the Macri administration's Undeclared Assets bill that would criminalize investigative reporting on those who benefit from this tax amnesty plan with up to two years in prison and a fine equal to whatever amount was repatriated by way of said amnesty.
FOPEA called on members of the congressional committee currently debating this bill to "modify the wording to avoid the adoption of a provision that would be clearly unconstitutional." The organization, established in 2002 as a counterweight to the newspaper owners' lobby ADEPA, called on Congress to "exclude journalists from the gag order applied to officials and judges" in Article 85 of the bill.
The clause, they said, "seriously damages freedoms of speech and the press and affects journalistic work by encouraging self-censorship and by criminalizing the work of reporting in an area that includes matters of public interest."
The tax amnesty bill, which allows any Argentine national holding undeclared offshore accounts to repatriate said funds by paying a 10% tax and with immunity from prosecution, was introduced by President Mauricio Macri on May 27, and would potentially benefit Macri himself, his family, many of his friends and business partners, and several administration officials who were revealed to hold sizable offshore accounts by the recent Panama Papers and Open Corporates leaks.
The bill, in its current form, is also opposed by the center-left Front for Victory (FpV), the largest single caucus in each house of Congress. "The clause is clearly unconstitutional, because it violates the right to publish ideas through the press without prior censorship as enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution. It moreover flouts the prohibition that Congress dictate laws restricting freedom of the press, as required by Article 32."
Horacio Verbitsky, head of the prominent human rights watchdog Center for Social and Legal Studies (CELS), explained the clause in a recent Página/12 op-ed:
"If you as a reporter divulged that Nicky Caputo (Macri's best friend and preferred contractor) used this law to repatriate 100 million dollars hidden in Jersey, men brandishing Glock pistols could come to your home or office and stop it - after which you could lose your license and be fined $100 million. Such extraordinary protection toward tax evaders is unconstitutional; but within a month might become law."
At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.politicargentina.com/notas/201606/14501-para-fopea-el-proyecto-de-blanqueo-afecta-la-libertad-de-prensa.html&prev=search
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More on Macri's illegal gag order against reporting on tax cheats (including, of course, himself): http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141477670
