La Jornada: Illegal trade in Chile moves 6 billion dollars annually

“What was previously observed as isolated events, currently configures a parallel economic ecosystem operated by criminal organizations, a system that competes directly with formal markets and transversally affects strategic productive sectors,” he states.

They are, he says, activities that “function under a comprehensive business logic that produces, distributes, markets, finances and launders resources, while exploiting the gaps in the system to grow and consolidate.”

The document “For a Chile without an illicit economy” was written by 70 experts from 30 unions.

In addition to mobilizing a minimum of 5.7 billion dollars annually, it estimates that 1.5 billion dollars in taxes are lost each year, and that private companies spend 2.7 billion dollars annually to prevent and deter crimes. It criticizes that the state response is insufficient and fragmented, that institutional capacities are limited, with operational deficits and weak articulation in areas, such as product entry, sectoral permits, failures in the granting of patents and in compliance with regulations.

There is a structural gap in supervision, areas with less effective control that facilitate the consolidation of illicit markets.

It is necessary, he says, to strengthen taxation, but above all the coordination between services, so that relevant information is timely and structured between institutions.

Specifically, the private initiative proposes: 1. Develop a national policy against illicit economies, which coordinates institutions in prevention, inspection and prosecution. 2. Create an illicit economies unit, with strategic analysis and intelligence capacity. 3. Strengthen the traceability of financial flows, integrating the competent organizations, with an approach aimed at monitoring the money route and dismantling informal circuits.