London. A cluster of leaked documents shows that the HSBC bank in Switzerland became a blind eye to the illegal activities of arms brokers and diamonds, and also helped wealthy to avoid paying taxes, according to a report released Monday people.
Data refer to accounts totaling 100.000 billion of over 100,000 people and entities around the world. Here are five keys to understanding the plot:
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1) WHAT HAPPENED
A former employee of HSBC who became an informant, Herve Falciani , provided data to the French tax authorities in 2008. France shared information and initiated investigations.
French newspaper “Le Monde” won a version of the information and shared the material with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ for its acronym in English), which analyzed it with the newspaper the “Guardian” and the BBC in Britain.
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2) WHAT DO THE FILES?
The leaked documents mainly cover the years 2005 to 2007.
HSBC , based in London but with operations around the world, served to people close to the regime of former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, former Tunisian leader Ben Ali and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The consortium said that among the clients there are politicians in Britain, Russia, Ukraine, Kenya, India, Mexico, Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe and Algeria.
Switzerland had the highest number of customers with information reviewed, followed by France, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Italy. In terms of ranking by value, Switzerland ranked first with 31,200 million, followed by the UK with 21,700 million; Venezuela with 14,800 million; United States with 13,400 million and France with 12,500 billion.
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3) WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
While some of the details of such operations were revealed previously, when HSBC was fined in 2012 by the United States for allowing criminals use their branches to money laundering, information Monday indicates that the HSBC participated actively helping wealthy clients hide their money from the authorities.
“The bank repeatedly assured his clients would not reveal details of accounts to national authorities, even if there was evidence indicating that the accounts were not declared to tax authorities in the country of the customer, “said the consortium. “Bank employees also spoke with customers on several measures that would allow them to avoid paying tax bills in their countries.”
Crawford Spence, a professor of accounting at the University of Warwick, said the case was different from other recent tax scandals.
“ HSBC has he coauthored a clear tax evasion and violation of law, and not of lawful tax avoidance,” he said.
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4) POTENTIAL IMPACT
The revelations could make governments increase their efforts to prosecute tax evaders and at the same bank.
Governments try to attack tax evasion to strengthen its coffers depleted by the financial crisis, and amid criticism that the rich are not paying their fair share.
In Great Britain, the report led to criticism of the tax authorities. The national agency collecting taxes recovered 135 million pounds (236 million) of some of the approximately 3,600 Britons identified as users of the branch of HSBC in Geneva, but has only been open process to a person. France, by contrast, initiated 103 legal actions.
“One is left wondering, seeing the enormity of what has been happening, what is really needed to bring to court a tax evader? “he told the BBC Margaret Hodge, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament.
Hodge said the former president of HSBC , Stephen Green, must answer questions about if “fell asleep at the wheel, or knew and therefore was involved in marrulleras tax practices”.
A Belgian investigating judge is considering issuing arrest warrants against certain directors and former directors of the bank HSBC if not improved cooperation in an investigation into the operations of the institution in Switzerland.
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5) WHAT DOES HSBC?
The HSBC said that the documents correspond to eight years ago and said that since then has implemented initiatives designed to prevent banking services are used for tax evasion and money laundering.
Franco Morra, executive director of the Swiss branch of the HSBC , said the new management has canceled customer accounts that “did not meet our high standards.”
” These revelations about business practices of the past are a reminder that the old business model of the Swiss private banking is no longer acceptable, “he said in a statement
. Source: AP
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