体坛英语新闻：Argentina launches new laws to fight money laundering in football

BUENOS AIRES, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Argentine government on Wednesday announced a new rule to fight money laundering in football, which include the Argentine soccer teams that will have to submit complete and transparent reports of their financial transactions, official sources said.

The Argentine Financial Information Unit (AFIU), which is part of the Justice Ministry, published a measure to force the Argentine Football Association (AFA) and all the teams from the two main soccer leagues (Premiere League and First Division B) to inform their financial operations for 13,730 U.S. dollars per year to avoid money laundering.

The sources said the measure is to prevent possible "money-laundering crimes and financing from terrorist groups", so the soccer clubs should define the profile of their clients. The measure includes not only the clubs' operations but also sponsors, media, businessmen who manage players, agents and government's officials.

The new laws force to inform the AFIU about large-amount payments due to penalizing contracts "without logic justification of non-fulfillment contracts" or which are "incompatible with their payment's capacity".

The teams or people who don't follow the new laws will have an economic sanction.

The AFIU said that "the international organizations say that currently sports face new threats and challenges, as the demands related to trade activities, young players' exploitation, doping, corruption, racism, illegal gambling, violence, money laundering and other activities which attempt against the sector."

The FATF is an international organization which provides recommendations to the governments to fight money laundering and that has emphasized the soccer activities since 2009.