HSBC wants to avoid a trial in Belgium – The World

Le Monde | 05/06/2015 at 16.35 • Updated 06/05/2015 at 4:50 p.m. | By Jean-Pierre Stroobants (Brussels correspondent)

The Swiss subsidiary of HSBC Private Banking tent to negotiate a settlement with the Belgian justice, as it has done in Switzerland, where she landed an agreement with the Attorney General of Geneva and agreed to a “voluntary contribution” of 40 million Swiss francs (38 million euros) to avoid a lengthy trial

Read also:. HSBC pays dear to spare a trial in Switzerland

In Belgium, the Brussels public prosecutor should meet with lawyers of the bank in the coming weeks, indicated Friday, June 5 in the morning two economic newspapers, De Tijd and The Echo .

Some 3000 wealthy Belgians had 4,616 accounts at HSBC for a total of 5.54 billion euros, as was revealed in February, the survey of the International Consortium for Investigative Journalism (ICIJ or International Consortium for Journalism of investigation, of which Le Monde part ). They enjoyed, like many other customers, mechanisms of fraud and large-scale laundering developed by the Swiss subsidiary.

The bank is now trying to get a settlement that would avoid prosecution in exchange for payment of a large sum of money. Neither the Crown nor the lawyers make comments at this stage.

Meanwhile, the Belgian authorities have launched, in November 2014, prosecutions against Belgian citizens who have evaded taxes. The tax authorities have already claimed 540 million euros and an investigating judge including serious organized retained their fraud charges, money laundering and participation in a criminal organization. The legal director of the bank would have admitted some of the charges.

However, HSBC has won a round in Belgium, having challenged the use of data, stolen from a folder, which according it violates the right to a fair trial. An instance, the House of indictments, had found that the information was indeed used, but the Supreme Court held last week that the court did not have sufficient reasons for its judgment. The debate will resume in the fall.

In Switzerland, the Crown felt it would be difficult to identify acts of international money laundering, many former customers accounts were closed. And HSBC has agreed the payment of other amounts to “illegal acts in it in the past” , the judges added.