+ VIDEO Several international media reveal the workings of the tax avoidance scheme set up in Switzerland by HSBC. With the key, the names of multiple personalities. The bank claims to have changed
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The French newspaper Le Monde and several other international media Sunday exposed the dark side of banking secrecy in Switzerland, after having access to data subtracted here for over seven years by Hervé Falciani, HSBC bank’s former computer scientist at Geneva.
Called “SwissLeaks” operation offers a journey of tax evasion, highlighting the tricks used to conceal the undeclared money.
<- - sdvenc!> “HSBC has prompted customers to … by franceinter
For many years, the information copied by Hervé Falciani were known only of justice and some tax administrations, even if some elements had leaked to the press. “The World” has since been access to bank data of more than 100,000 customers, and put the information available to the Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington who shared it with more than 50 other international media, including the “Guardian” in the United Kingdom or the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” in Germany.
HSBC claims to have changed
The Swiss subsidiary British bank HSBC reiterated Monday in a statement that “changed” after the “shortcomings noted in 2007″.
“HSBC (Switzerland) began a radical transformation in 2008 to prevent its services from being used to defraud the tax or launder dirty money, “said the CEO of the subsidiary, Franco Morra, in this release.
On its website,” The World “was also issued a response saying HSBC recognize” past breaches “but took several years many initiatives to prevent the use of its services for the purpose of tax evasion or money laundering.
revelations that have reacted Prime Minister Manuel Valls. Asked on Europe 1 it reaffirmed that the “Government is determined to fight against tax evasion, against tax havens, and will continue to do so with regard to us, but also at European level “.
According to Le Monde, HSBC Private Bank has accepted and even encouraged a “ gigantic fraud globally ” bearing during the only period from November 2006 to March 2007, the sum of “ 180.6 billion euros that would have passed in Geneva by the accounts of more than 100,000 customers and 20,000 offshore companies “. The Swiss bank in particular helped clients evade certain taxes, such as the European tax ESD, established in 2005, by concealing “ their money behind the screen of offshore structures generally based in Panama and the British Virgin Islands “. It also allowed them to regularly remove large sums of money in cash, including foreign currency which they had no use in Switzerland.
No precise figure for the France, but France’s ambassador to Switzerland, Rene Roudaut, indicated in late October that all the assets declared by the legalization movement proposed by the French tax authorities accounted for 11 billion euros in 2014, mainly from Switzerland. The Senate commission investigating tax evasion was estimated in July 2012 the cost to public finances between 30 and 60 billion euros per year while the Public-Finance Solidarity trade union, which established a new report early 2013 by extrapolating the results of tax audits, fraud beating down the state coffers to the tune of 60 to 80 billion euros annually
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“Failure past”
During this period, billions have passed on these accounts in Geneva, hidden between others behind offshore structures in Panama and the British Virgin Islands (also see infographic below). Many celebrities are involved, said “The World” which juxtaposed profiles that illustrate the different customers faces.
In France, “Le Monde” cites the comedian Gad Elmaleh, which had , according to the newspaper account of a poorly stocked in Geneva, with a little over 80,000 euros between 2006 and 2007. According to newspaper reports, he rectified the situation with the French tax authorities.
The “examples from the past ” responded Monday “the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA), which represents the profession in the country (see box ), which also suggests that the end of the sacrosanct banking secrecy
Swiss banks:. the end of banking secrecy foreseen in 2018
Dessange, Mohammed VI, Elle McPherson …
The daily mentions Jacques Dessange Then, founder of an empire of hairdressing, who had an account in the Swiss subsidiary of HSBC where he would have been up to 1.6 million between 2006 and 2007, according to the files that the newspaper had access. “ He too is part of clients who have been regularized their situation and has paid a fine “, the newspaper said.
The data analyzed show very disparate profiles came from the French surgeon post undisclosed fee in Switzerland to royalty. Among the names mentioned in various media include in particular the King of Morocco Mohammed VI and King Abdullah II of Jordan. Added to numerous personalities such as fashion supermodel Elle McPherson or designer Diane von Furstenberg, the show like the actress Joan Collins or sports like car racer Valentino Rossi.
The Swiss newspaper “Le Temps”, one of the partner newspapers to these revelations, focused on politically exposed persons, citing among other Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It also quotes former Haitian Minister Frantz Merceron or former Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid, who had been sentenced to five years in prison in June 2011 for misuse of corporate assets from the fund for development.
“HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) continued to provide services to clients who had been cited unfavorably by the United Nations, in legal documents and in media for their connection with arms trafficking, conflict diamonds, or corruption, “criticizes his side Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Banking secrecy in Switzerland was reduced as a trickle, the pressure on the banks is greatly increased while many governments have intensified the hunt for tax evasion.
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