Argentina’s government has filed charges against the local subsidiary of HSBC, accusing it of helping third parties to engage in tax evasion and money laundering for ARS616m ($121m).

The tax evasion for ARS224m and money laundering for ARS392m was uncovered by a six month probe by Ricardo Echegaray, director of federal tax agency Afip. Echegaray said that the charges were filed in early February 2013.

Echegaray said there was "decisive participation" of HSBC executives to hide information from Afip.

The agency is also investigating other banks and a brokerage firms for possibly using phantom accounts and bogus tax receipts for tax evasion and money laundering.

"HSBC takes compliance with the law, wherever it operates, very seriously and strongly supports the efforts of governments and regulators to detect unlawful activity and take appropriate action. The allegations made by regulators in Argentina are of great concern, and we are committed to working cooperatively with authorities to ensure a thorough review and appropriate resolution of the matter," the bank said in a statement.

The charges are the latest in a series of money-laundering fines to hit HSBC.

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In December 2012 US authorities slapped the bank with a $1.9bn fine for failed antimoney-laundering (AML) controls they said allowed drug proceeds and transactions from sanctioned nations to enter the US financial system.

In July last year, HSBC’s Mexican unit was fined $27.5m for non-compliance with anti-money laundering systems and controls by Mexican authorities, following on from a US Senate investigation on drugs and terrorist financing.