The Swiss subsidiary of HSBC involved in a massive tax evasion – BBC

The Swiss subsidiary of HSBC involved in a massive tax evasion – BBC

The bank would have allowed the transit of more than 180 billion euros of hidden accounts between 2006 and 2007. French officials are concerned.

More than 180.6 billion euros were transported in secret by the accounts of the Swiss branch of HSBC bank between 2006 and 2007, according to a survey by sixty international media, including Le Monde . The work of several months, called “Swissleaks” uncovered suspicious transactions involving more than 100,000 customers and 20,000 offshore companies in the world. This massive tax evasion was “accepted and even encouraged” by the bank, according to the information of the ICIJ, the consortium of journalists who led the investigation. The latter states that France is the fifth country with the most money have passed through the Swiss subsidiary of HSBC, with amounts deposited up to some of the 557 million euros.

These revelations follow a different matter. In 2008, the former HSBC computer specialist Herve Falciani provided the French tax authorities a list of clients of his former company. Justice had initiated an investigation to determine whether thousands of French citizens had actually illegally deposited money in Switzerland. A case sixties still did or should be a trial. In January 2014, after publishing a series of articles on this case, Le Monde has obtained new documents drawn from the list initially transmitted by Hervé Falciani. These are the files that allowed the opening of the investigation.

Among the French personalities concerned with these “Swissleaks” comedian Gad Elmaleh found (whose situation has since been rectified) Jacques Dessange contractor and Arlette Ricci, heir to the founder of the fashion house Nina Ricci. Other international celebrities are pinned by the survey, including the King of Morocco Mohamed VI, the daughter of former Chinese Premier Li Xiaolin and US actor John Malkovich. The survey cites diverse customer profiles: politicians, arms dealers, celebrities and top CEOs. “The French surgeons wishing to whiten their undeclared fees stand alongside Belgian diamond, the protagonists of the Elf affair …” says Le Monde.