PARIS (AFP) – The British bank HSBC said Thursday it will be tried in France for a case of alleged tax fraud, and stated that imposed a bail of 1,000 million euros (1,110 million).
The court decision comes weeks after the event ‘SwissLeaks’, which highlighted practices alleged evasion on a large scale through the Swiss branch of the bank, HSBC Private Bank Suisse (HSBC PB) is unwrap, in Geneva.
“What is criticized” the matrix “is a lack of surveillance, control of the Swiss branch,” he said one source close to the investigation.
The HSBC PB had been accused by two French judges in November 2014. Now that both completed their investigations, the prosecution decided to prosecute illegal Swiss subsidiary finding customers in France and bleaching of tax fraud between 2006 and 2007.
“HSBC Holdings Plc considers that the decision of the judges is 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 sent to the AFP.
That bond that guarantees the payment of a fine in case of trial, reminiscent of 1,100 million euros that some French judges imposed in the summer of 2014 the Swiss bank UBS in another case of tax fraud .
In trials laundering, the fine may be half the laundered funds.
The French lawyer group HSBC declined to comment on any imputation.
Societies screen
The French researchers, who began his work in 2009, suspect that the Swiss branch of the bank used several front companies to help their customers wealthy to mask 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 information that the tax authorities and justice had spent years driving, giving rise to scandal ‘SwissLeaks’.
According to the French daily Le Monde, about 180,600 million from more than 100,000 customers and 20,000 corporate entities transited between November 2006 and March 2007 bank accounts in Switzerland, hidden behind companies offshore.
The case began in late 2008 when the former employee of HSBC Hervé Falciani handed computer files of the Swiss subsidiary to the French authorities.
His act allowed the opening of several 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.
Among French fraudsters assumptions is Arlette Ricci, heir to the eponymous fashion house, whose name appeared on the famous “Lagarde list”. During his trial, the prosecutor asked four years in prison, a fine of three million and foreclosures.
The judgment will be announced on Monday.
Among Mexican stand out in research Carlos Hank Rhon, senior partner Interactions Financial Group, and the consultant Jaime Camil Garza.
Also is the president of the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV), Luis Tellez, the former director of Walmart to Mexico, Eugenio Ebrard and building contractor, Moses Mann Arazi.
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