BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- Argentina's leading grain exporters denied any wrongdoing Wednesday, a day after tax agents raided the offices of four dozen grain traders seeking evidence of phantom companies used to avoid taxes. "It is totally false and unfounded to think that the so-called 'phantom companies' could be linked or created by or associated with exporters," the grain and oilseed exporter chamber Ciara-Cec said in a press release Wednesday. Agents of the national tax agency Afip raided 117 offices of 48 different exporters Tuesday amid charges that they created shadow companies to hide grain sales. Afip said that the companies cheated the government out of about 150 million pesos ($38 million) in taxes. Ciara-Cec said it the accusations were baseless and planted "through confusing statements and leaks to the press." The tax agency "made a big spectacle out of this," Ciara-Cec said. The latest investigation comes amid a broader crackdown by Argentine officials on grain exporters, whom the government accuses of avoiding hundreds of millions of dollars of income taxes over the past years. Agriculture exports were largely responsible for Argentina's whopping $12.06 billion trade surplus last year, while taxes on farm exports accounted for a significant percentage of the federal government's tax revenue. Argentina is the world leader in soymeal and soyoil exports, ranks No. 2 in corn exports, and third in soybeans. Last year, Afip accused four of the country's 10 largest grain exporters of using shell companies in neighboring Uruguay for accounting scams which left minimal profits on the books of their Argentine units. Cargill Inc. is the leading exporter of grains in Argentina by volume, followed by Bunge Ltd. (BG), Archer Daniels Midland Corp. (ADM), Louis Dreyfus Commodities, Nidera Handelscompagnie B.V., Toepfer International GmbH, the Argentine Cooperative Association, Noble Group Ltd. (N21.SG), Aceitera General Deheza SA, and Oleaginosa Moreno SA. -By Shane Romig, Dow Jones Newswires; 54-11-4103-6738; shane.romig@dowjones.com
