The Bank of British origin HSBC (Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Corporation) today announced the payment of 1,000 million euros in bail bonds in France, where they will prosecute to help their clients avoid taxes by hiding their money in Switzerland .
The decision of French justice comes weeks after the event “SwissLeaks”, which highlighted practices of large-scale tax evasion through HSBC Private Bank Suisse unwrap (HSBC PB), the subsidiary bank in Geneva.
The HSBC PB had been accused by two French judges in November. With its completed investigations, prosecutors now decided to prosecute the Swiss branch to seek customers in France illegally and tax fraud between 2006 and 2007 laundering.
“HSBC Holdings Plc. Considers that the decision to judges are unfounded, and that the bond is unjustified and disproportionate. It plans to appeal against that decision and will defend itself vigorously “, reacted the group said in a statement.
The deposit, which guarantees payment of a fine if judgment is similar to EUR 1,100 million imposed in 2014, also by French judges, the Swiss bank UBS for tax fraud. In trials laundering, the fine may be half the laundered funds.
Societies screen
The French researchers which began its work in 2009, suspect that the Swiss branch of the bank used several front companies to help clients hide their fortunes. They also believe that the bank proposed solutions to their clients to avoid the application of a European directive on the taxation of interest received on their savings.
In February, several media reported some of the data handled years by the tax authorities and for Justice, giving rise to scandal “SwissLeaks”. According to the French daily Le Monde, about 180,600 million from more than 100,000 accounts (and customers) passed through bank accounts in Switzerland between November 2006 and March 2007 concealed behind companies offshore .
The case began in late 2008 when the former employee of HSBC Herve Falciani computer files gave the Swiss subsidiary to the French authorities. His act allowed to open multiple investigations in Europe, mainly in Spain and Belgium. In France, the judges could rely on clients that appeared on files and acknowledged the facts and denouncing the practices of the bank.
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