by NEOnline | GK HSBC, the British multinational banking and financial services company, helped arm dealers, bag men for Third World dictators, traffickers in blood diamonds and other international outlaws to avoid paying taxes by transferring their resources in secret Swiss bank accounts. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICJ) revealed on 8 February, that the well-known bank also helped famed soccer and tennis players, cyclists, rock stars, Hollywood actors, royalty, politicians, corporate executives and old-wealth families. The team of journalists from 45 countries managed to unearth secret bank accounts as it gained access to leaked files, based on the inner workings of HSBC’s Swiss private banking arm. The documents, obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists via the French newspaper Le Monde. After being informed of the full extent of the reporting team’s findings, HSBC responded to ICJ findings saying: “We acknowledge that the compliance culture and standards of due diligence in HSBC’s Swiss private bank, as well as the industry in general, were significantly lower than they are today.” The written statement said the bank had “taken significant steps over the past several years to implement reforms and exit clients who did not meet strict new HSBC standards, including those where we had concerns in relation to tax compliance.” The bank added that it had refocused this part of its business. “As a result of this repositioning, HSBC’s Swiss private bank has reduced its client base by almost 70% since 2007.” According to ICJ, HSBC “served those close” to regimes including that of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, former Tunisian President Ben Ali and current Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad. Other clients included former and current politicians from Britain, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Romania, India, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Senegal. The secret files obtained are covering accounts up to 2007, and in the lists are included more than 100,000 individuals and legal entities from more than 200 nations. The French government which obtained the lists shared them with other governments in 2010, leading to prosecutions or settlements with individuals for tax evasion in several countries. Nations whose tax authorities received the French files include the U.S., Spain, Italy, Greece, Germany, Britain, Ireland, India, Belgium and Argentina.
 |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.neurope.eu |
