HSBC bank 'helped clients dodge millions in tax'

[moondust]

Source: BBC

8 February 2015

Britain's biggest bank helped wealthy clients cheat the UK out of millions of pounds in tax, the BBC has learned.

~

HSBC did not just turn a blind eye to tax evaders - in some cases it broke the law by actively helping its clients.

The bank gave one wealthy family a foreign credit card so they could withdraw their undeclared cash at cashpoints overseas.

~more~

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31248913

---

Some past HSBC stories:

Hsbc Money Laundering

Sheesh.

[forest444]

1. One more thing Argentina and the UK have in common (and no, it's not the Falklands)

Reuters
Published January 12, 2015

Argentina suspends HSBC Argentina's money transfers abroad

Argentina said on Monday it was suspending HSBC Bank Argentina's right to transfer money abroad for 30 days due to "irregularities", two months after charging it with helping clients evade taxes by siphoning their funds off to Switzerland.

HSBC Bank Argentina has failed to fulfill a pledge to fix the irregularities in credit transfers, the Argentine Central Bank said in an emailed statement.

Argentina last November charged HSBC with aiding more than 4,000 clients to evade taxes by stashing their money in secret Swiss bank accounts.

Argentina's move came as part of a global crackdown on undeclared funds held in offshore havens, after the global financial crisis strained government budgets and made the need to maximize tax receipts more pressing.

Switzerland has become the world's biggest offshore financial center thanks to strict banking secrecy laws in the Alpine country.

At: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/12/argentina-hsbc-idUSL1N0UR28A20150112

[JDPriestly]

2. This has to stop!

[jaysunb]

3. Household Finance Corp. : robbing Americans since 1878. n/t

[Archae]

4. Just saw this story on 60 Minutes.

These are, "Banksters."

The words Bankers and Gangsters merged.

[herding cats]

5. This is going to get very interesting I think.

In an article in The Guardian they discussed why they believe the public should know about who some of these people are.

This is their closing statement in the article:

Following the HSBC leak, scores of its Swiss clients are already under criminal investigation, in Britain and globally. Many others have paid civil penalties. Only one Briton has previously been publicly identified – Michael Shanly, a millionaire property developer, whose failure to pay inheritance tax on his late mother’s £800,000 has cost him £850,000 in criminal penalties.Other clients of HSBC now turn out to be unsavoury characters, attracted by the secrecy on offer. Evidence exists that some may have been smuggling drugs, handling bribes, committing fraud, helping to finance terrorists, or looting their own countries. Others have done nothing unlawful but have kept untaxed money in Switzerland while making political donations in Britain or the US.

In these cases, the Guardian believes the public has a right to know.

You can read the full article here.

[StevePaulson]

6. Jail? No Way

Bankers never go to jail.

Screw laws.

[DeSwiss]

7. K&R

- They're destroying the common heritage, which is this Earth and which belongs to us all. You can only own what you brought with you on the day you were born.

It is we all together, who are this planet's stewards......

[albino65]

8. I just wish someone would name names n/t

[moondust]

9. The Guardian article

linked to above by herding cats does name some names.

[forest444]

10. There's also this:

http://projects.icij.org/swiss-leaks/countries/rankings#money

No names, but it does have a national breakdown of tax evasion accounts at HSBC by number of accounts and amounts. Irony of ironies, the country with the most serious problem with tax evasion (at least by way of HSBC) is Switzerland itself.

[inanna]

11. K & R

[inanna]

12. SwissLeaks revelations started with a story -- and a USB drive (AFP)

09 February 2015 - 22H05

PARIS (AFP) - The damaging SwissLeaks revelations are rooted in a massive cache of whistleblower data handed to two overwhelmed French reporters who decided they would need the help of an international collective to decrypt it.

A thumb drive containing hundreds of thousands of documents had landed at the front desk of French daily Le Monde in early 2014, days after the paper published an expose about people using Swiss bank accounts to hide money from the tax man.

<snip>

So the reporters decided to call in the Washington-based ICIJ in order to share the data with other outlets all while retaining editorial control of the investigation. Lhomme said they were aiming to expose the names of public figures, but only after giving them a chance to explain themselves.

Thus 154 reporters from nearly 50 countries and 55 outlets, including Britain's The Guardian, got to work. In September 2014 about 40 of the journalists gathered and met for nine hours at Le Monde's office in Paris to give the investigation a boost, Lhomme said.

Link: http://www.france24.com/en/20150209-swissleaks-revelations-started-with-story-usb-drive/

Also...."LuxLeaks" info (previously posted on DU) by the ICIJ:

Link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014972401