(Adds HSBC statement in paragraph 6)
BUENOS AIRES, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Argentina's central bank onTuesday ordered HSBC Argentina to name a new presidentand vice president within 24 hours, accusing the bank of failingto establish necessary controls to prevent tax evasion and moneylaundering.
Argentine authorities locked horns with HSBC in Novemberwhen they charged the bank with helping more than 4,000 clientsevade taxes by stashing their money in secret Swiss bankaccounts.
HSBC rejected the charge, but Argentina said in March itwanted HSBC to repatriate $3.5 billion that Argentine taxauthorities said the bank had moved offshore.
The central bank said on Tuesday that HSBC's president,Gabriel Martino, "had not directed the necessary measures tomitigate and adequately address the prevention of moneylaundering and the financing of terrorist activities."
HSBC has consistently said it respected Argentine law.
"HSBC Argentina continues to operate normally in thecountry," it said in a statement, adding that it "will continueto cooperate with the justice system and regulators."
Ricardo Echegaray, head of Argentina's AFIP tax agency,called the central bank's move "positive". He said the bank'sclients who had moved money abroad through secret channelsshould accept criminal liability and pay the taxes owed.
"They will have to recognize that together with Martino, andthe HSBC authorities here in Argentina, they looked to cheatArgentina, to move funds abroad that they had never declared andon which they had never paid taxes," Echegaray told a newsconference.
Argentina's central bank has the authority to revoke thelicenses of officials who legally represent commercial banksbefore the financial regulator.
Europe's largest bank faces probes in several countries ofallegations it helped clients dodge taxes. (Reporting by Richard Lough; Editing by Matthew Lewis, DanGrebler and Bernard Orr)