Rabobank settles US money laundering charge for €300m

DutchNews, February 8, 2018

Rabobank’s headquarters in Utrecht. Photo: Depositphotos.com

Rabobank has settled a long-running charge that one of its US subsidiaries – RNA – laundered money for Mexican drugs cartels and deliberately withheld information from the authorities. 

The settlement means Rabo will not have to undergo prosecution in the US, the Volkskrant said on Thursday. 

The bank has forfeited nearly $370m (€298m) for anti-money laundering funds that authorities say allowed untraceable money transfers on behalf of criminals and for hiding information from US regulators. That includes a $50 million fine the bank will pay to the US treasury. 

The case involves a RNA branch in Calexco, a US city on the Mexican border, which US authorities had been monitoring since 2006. A formal investigation on laundering Mexican drugs money through three accounts at the branch was launched in 2013.

Credit Suisse apparent target of massive tax fraud probe

Yahoo – AFP, Ben Simon, March 31, 2017

Credit Suisse simply said its offices had been 'visited' by authorities, but reports
 say it's the main target of a sweeping tax evasion probe (AFP Photo/FABRICE
COFFRINI)

Geneva (AFP) - Authorities in Europe and Australia announced a sweeping tax evasion probe Friday reportedly targeting Credit Suisse clients and senior employees, as investigators detailed arrests and the seizure of artworks and gold.

There was no definitive confirmation that Credit Suisse was the main target of the fraud investigations, run by at least four European countries and Canberra and apparently involving hundreds of suspects.

The Swiss financial giant simply confirmed that its offices in London, Paris and Amsterdam had been visited by local authorities on Thursday "concerning client tax matters".

"We are cooperating with the authorities", Switzerland's number-two bank said in a statement.

Dutch prosecutors said dozens of people who allegedly concealed millions of euros were being probed for tax fraud and money laundering and that records were seized on Thursday from "a Swiss bank" which they did not name.

Similar operations were carried out in Britain, France, Germany and Australia, all focused on clients who "deposited their money in the same Swiss bank", according to a statement from the National Prosecutor's Office for Serious Fraud, Environmental Crime and Asset Confiscation (FIOD).

Two people accused of not declaring their savings have been arrested and two other suspects were interrogated, the FIOD said.

"Properties, and jewellery, an expensive car, expensive paintings and a gold bar", were seized from houses in The Hague and three other areas, the Dutch statement added.

'Senior employees' targeted

Britain's Revenue and Customs office said that it on Thursday along with international partners had launched a criminal probe into tax evasion and money laundering "by a global financial institution".

"The first phase of the investigation, which will see further, targeted, activity over the coming weeks, is focused on senior employees from within the institution, along with a number of its customers," the statement from London said.

It also made no mention of Credit Suisse, but said the investigation should serve as a stark reminder to institutions that aim to help clients evade tax.

Would-be tax cheats "need to wake up to reality and accept that attempting to hide wealth overseas, or within institutions, doesn't work."

French prosecutors confirmed that they too had opened a tax fraud investigation into undeclared Swiss bank accounts.

The financial fraud office said it had identified several thousands of accounts in Switzerland that were allegedly used to hide money.

This amounted to suspected "aggravated dissimulation of tax fraud", it said, with no reference to Credit Suisse.

346 people implicated

In Australia, revenue and financial services minister Kelly O'Dwyer said investigators there had identified more than 346 people "with links to Swiss banking relationship managers" who allegedly promoted tax evasion.

Australian investigators plan to "move quickly" against those who schemed to hide wealth, she said, noting however that some of those in the firing line will likely be exonerated.

The launch of a coordinated, international probe targeting an iconic Swiss bank came as a surprise to Bern, Switzerland's ATS news agency reported.

The Swiss attorney general's office was not aware of the operations and demanded a written explanation from Dutch officials in particular over the lack of cooperation, according to ATS.

Credit Suisse has previously been in the crosshairs of tax officials.

US regulators fined the bank $2.6 billion (2.4 billion euros) in 2014 for helping Americans evade taxes.

"Credit Suisse continues to follow a strategy of full client tax compliance," the bank said Friday.

The coordinated probe comes as Credit Suisse rolls out its new Automatic Exchange of Information programme designed to share taxpayer information with relevant global authorities as part of a wider Swiss crackdown on money laundering and secretive banking.

burs/bs/jh

Related Article:

Dutch investigators in hunt for tax evaders

Swiss authorities probe 7 banks for suspected metals price fixing

Yahoo – AFP, Nina Larson, 28 Sep 2015

Swiss competition authorities are investigating UBS, HSBC, Deutsche Bank 

and four other banks on suspicion of price fixing in the precious metals market

(AFP Photo/Fabrice Coffrini)

Geneva (AFP) - Swiss competition authorities said Monday they were investigating UBS, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and four other major banks for suspected price fixing in the trade of precious metals like gold and silver.

The Swiss Competition Commission (COMCO) said it was looking into whether seven banks had colluded to manipulate prices in the precious metals market.

The watchdog said in a statement that it had "opened an investigation against two Swiss banks, UBS and Julius Baer, as well as against the foreign financial institutions Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Barclays, Morgan Stanley and Mitsui."

The Swiss Competition Commission says

it is investigating two Swiss banks, UBS 

and Julius Baer, as well as against the

 foreign financial institutions Deutsche

Bank,HSBC, Barclays, Morgan Stanley

and Mitsui (AFP Photo/Fabrice Coffrini)

COMCO, which opened a preliminary probe in February, said it now had indications that the banks had "possibly concluded illegal competition defying deals" in the trade of the precious metals gold, silver, platinum and palladium.

"We think they can have manipulated the price of these precious metals," COMCO deputy chief Patric Ducrey told AFP.

The competition authority said it especially suspected the banks had fixed the prices of bid/ask spreads within the market.

Ducrey said the banks had all been informed of the ongoing probe, and that the investigation would likely conclude in 2017.

Impact unclear

Credit Suisse analyst Cristine Schmid told AFP it was too early to say how the COMCO probe would impact the targeted banks, beyond pushing up their legal costs.

HSBC is one of several banks being 

investigated by Swiss authorities for

price fixing (AFP Photo/Philippe Huguen)

"We would need to know first of all in case the allegations are true for how long this has lasted, what were the volumes affected and what is the average kind of spreads versus market spreads," she said, pointing out that the longer the alleged price agreements would have lasted, "the worse for the banks."

This was not the first time the role of banks in determining the price of precious metals has been questioned.

In August, the European Commission said it was investigating "anti-competitive behaviour in precious metals spot trading."

And in February, US financial media reported that the Justice Department had opened its own investigation into suspected manipulation of precious metals markets by 10 major international banks: HSBC, Bank of Nova Scotia, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Societe Generale, Standard Bank and UBS.

Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Standard Bank of South Africa and the German chemical group BASF have also been under a US investigation since last November over a complaint alleging rigging of the prices of platinum and palladium.

There are moves underway to reform the 

century-old method of gold price "fixing,"

 since the current global benchmark,

 London's Gold Fix, has already been 

tainted by a rigging scandal (AFP

Photo/Sebastian Derungs)

Julius Baer, which was not part of the US investigation, told AFP Monday it would "constructively cooperate" with the COMCO investigation.

UBS, which did not immediately return requests for comment Monday, said in May it had won immunity from criminal fraud charges in the US probe, after agreeing to provide the Justice Department with information about precious metal transactions.

Reform under way

Precious metals have increasingly come under scrutiny after the discovery that other financial benchmarks have been rigged.

Some of the banks under investigation Monday were already hit by massive fines earlier this year after pleading guilty to US charges of conspiring to rig Libor rates, the global commercial interest rate benchmark used to peg millions of rate-sensitive contracts and loans around the world.

Traders operate in the pit at the London 

Metal Exchange in central London, 21 

September 2007 (AFP Photo/Shaun Curry)

That rate is estimated to underpin some $500 trillion worth of contracts.

The price-setting mechanism to determine benchmark prices for precious metals has also been under reform, amid calls for greater transparency.

Panels of banks have until recently agreed on the reference prices for the precious metals.

But last year, the exchange CME Group and financial information giant Thomson Reuters began providing an electronic system for setting benchmark silver prices, and the London Metal Exchange (LME) did the same for platinum and palladium.

There are also moves under way to reform the century-old method of gold price "fixing," since the current global benchmark, London's Gold Fix, has already been tainted by a rigging scandal and attacked by critics as old-fashioned.

A new method for setting the gold benchmark price is expected to take effect in March.

HSBC may shut Jersey accounts of UK residents

Bank asks clients to prove ID in attempt to avoid further accusations of helping tax avoidance after scandal involving its Swiss arm

The Guardian, Jill Treanor, Tuesday 17 March 2015

An HSBC branch in Jersey. Photograph: Alamy

HSBC is contacting thousands of holders of Jersey accounts who live in the UK as part of efforts to avoid accusations it is helping to shelter money from tax authorities.

Britain’s biggest bank has written to customers who hold Jersey accounts to ask them to take proof of identity to a branch on the island, or risk having their accounts closed.

The move does not affect customers who hold offshore accounts through its Jersey-based HSBC Expat operation, which is aimed at people permanently working internationally.

The bank, under fire for helping customers of its Swiss arm avoid tax, said: “We continuously review details we hold on all our customers to ensure we have the information we need to protect them, together with wider society, against fraud and other financial crime.

“With financial crime becoming more sophisticated, keeping accurate, up to date information on customers such as complete proof of identity or address, helps us monitor transactions effectively for potential fraudulent activity.”

It is the latest move by HSBC to take risk out of its business and follows its decision to shut accounts for the Vatican, embassy staff and charities in recent months following its £1.2bn fine from US authorities, in 2012, for breaching money-laundering rules and allowing Mexican drug barons to move cash around the financial system.

Last July, HSBC faced criticism after three high-profile Muslim organisations, including Finsbury Park mosque, were told their accounts would be closed.

Other banks have also been taking steps to verify the identity and residence of their account holders in Jersey.

Barclays said: “Barclays takes its responsibilities seriously, whether it is to know our clients, or through compliance with the range of agreements that Jersey has in place with tax authorities.

“We continually review our clients’ portfolios and circumstances to ensure that we remain compliant and that we are offering appropriate services.”

A spokesperson for bailed out Royal Bank of Scotland said: “RBS is committed to working with the authorities to prevent financial crime. We continually review our policies and procedures to ensure we are adhering to the rules and regulations of all the jurisdictions in which we operate. This includes reviewing our customer portfolios to make sure we are both best meeting their needs and remaining compliant.”

Revelations in the Guardian and other publications about the activities of HBSC’s Swiss operations have put a fresh focus on the tax avoidance practices of banks and their wealthy clients.

Leaked details of accounts held at HSBC’s Swiss arm showed how the bank helped wealthy customers dodge taxes and conceal millions in assets, doling out bundles of untraceable cash and advising clients on how to circumvent domestic tax authorities. In 2012, the Daily Telegraph exposed clients of HSBC in Jersey.

Related Article:

Dutch Tax office amnesty generates €1.6bn for the treasury

Swiss account secret of HSBC chief Stuart Gulliver revealed

Leaked files covering 2005-2007 show bank chief executive sheltered £5m of his own money at Panamanian company with Swiss HSBC account

The Guardian, James Ball, Juliette Garside, David Pegg and Harry Davies, 22 February 2015

Stuart Gulliver in Hong Kong in 2012: leaked files show that the HSBC chief
 executive was a client of the bank’s Swiss subsidiary at the centre of the scandal.
Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty Images

Stuart Gulliver, the HSBC chief executive who has vowed to reform the crisis-hit bank, sheltered millions of pounds in a Swiss account through a Panamanian company and remains tax domiciled in Hong Kong.

Leaked files show that the Derby-born Gulliver, who is due to present HSBC’s annual report on Monday in the wake of the international controversy over its Geneva-based private bank, was also one of its clients, holding about £5m in a Swiss account.

The bank executive was listed as the beneficial owner of an account in the name of Worcester Equities Inc, an anonymous company registered in Panama, containing a balance in 2007 of $7.6m. It was through this entity that Gulliver’s HSBC bonuses were paid until 2003. He also held a second account in the name of Worcester Foundation, which had been closed before 2007.

Although now based in the UK, where HSBC has its headquarters, Gulliver is domiciled in Hong Kong for legal and tax purposes.

The banking details have emerged as the 55-year-old Oxford University graduate, who became chief executive in January 2011, is due to face questions from reporters and investors for the first time since the Guardian and other media outlets published the leaked HSBC files, which revealed misconduct at the bank’s Swiss subsidiary.

The documents, covering 2005-07, detailed how the private bank was complicit in tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance, doled out bricks of cash in mixed currencies to clients, and provided banking services to criminals, drug smugglers, and friends and families of dictators.

Gulliver has already personally signed a “sincere apology” which appeared in three newspapers last Sunday, saying “the standards to which we operate today were not universally in place in our Swiss operations 8 years ago”.

The bank is expected to announce on Monday full-year profits for 2014 in excess of £13bn – and Gulliver’s total compensation package has been predicted to be around £7.5m, although it was reported over the weekend that he may surrender some of his remuneration because the bank agreed to pay fines to settle unrelated allegations of foreign exchange rigging last year.

In response to queries from the Guardian about his personal account as revealed in the leaked files, a representative for Gulliver said he had made use of HSBC Suisse to hold his bonus payments prior to 2003, when he moved from Hong Kong to London.

Lawyers for Gulliver said that Hong Kong tax had been paid on this income – and explained that he “followed this procedure because he wanted his taxed bonus earnings to remain private from his then colleagues in Hong Kong, which they would not have done if he had kept them in an HSBC Hong Kong account”.

The Guardian asked Gulliver why he used a Panamanian company to hold the funds, given Swiss accounts already offer secrecy. His lawyers declined to answer.

Gulliver’s legal representatives added that his Swiss accounts have “for a number of years” been voluntarily declared to UK tax authorities. They declined to specify the exact date they were first declared.

Gulliver is also among those current and former clients of HSBC Suisse to take advantage of non-dom status. Gulliver is a registered non-dom based on his long residence in Hong Kong – now a special administrative region of China – which he considers to be his home, despite his UK-based position.

A representative for Gulliver said: “Having lived there since the 1980s, our client has become a permanent Hong Kong resident with right of abode, as has his wife who is an Australian national. Hong Kong continues to be their home albeit that our client now works primarily in the UK. As a matter of law, our client is domiciled in Hong Kong.”

Non-dom status can confer several tax advantages on those who claim the status compared with those domiciled in the UK. These include advantages in how inheritance tax is applied, but can also exempt worldwide income earned from outside the UK from incurring UK taxes – a system known as the remittance basis.

Gulliver’s lawyers confirmed he was “entitled to claim the benefit of the remittance basis”, but did not say whether or not he did so. If Gulliver were on the remittance basis, he would not need to pay tax on investment income held outside the UK – which would include holdings in Swiss bank accounts.

A representative for Gulliver said that he had paid all relevant income taxes: “Full UK tax has been paid on the entirety of his worldwide earnings less a credit for tax paid additionally in Hong Kong (where he is also tax resident) on that part of the same earnings doubly taxed.”

John Christensen, director of the Tax Justice Network, which has campaigned for abolition of non-dom tax benefits in the UK, said the non-dom quirk was particularly attractive for anybody who had accumulated assets such as homes and bonuses offshore, because any gains on offshore assets would be sheltered from UK tax.

“For my part I think it illustrates the absurdity of the rule, which should have been abolished many years ago. It serves no useful purpose and is hugely discriminatory against ordinary UK taxpayers,” he said.

Separately, Gulliver did not become employed by HSBC’s main holding company when he took over as chief executive of the bank in 2011. Documents seen by the Guardian at the time showed that Gulliver took the job of chief executive officer as a secondment from the Dutch-headquartered HSBC Asia Holdings, rather than take a straightforward appointment to the UK parent company.

A spokesman for HSBC said around 350 of its staff were employed through the Netherlands. “About 350 of the bank’s most internationally-mobile employees are employed by HSBC BV,” he said. “This enables them to be employed/seconded to any part of the global group without the need to change contracted employer.”

Representatives for Gulliver declined to explain for what purpose he was employed through the Netherlands subsidiary.

Gulliver has repeatedly emphasised to the public and to lawmakers that the culture of the bank, as well as its safeguards, has changed – both in the wake of the HSBC Files, and previous scandals including Libor rigging, and involvement with Mexican money laundering.

Since the publication of the HSBC files, the bank has been keen to stress that it has downsized the Swiss business, reducing the number of clients by 66%, to around 10,000. However, the total value of assets in those accounts – $68bn (£44bn) – has fallen by only 42%.

Douglas Flint and Stuart Gulliver appear before the Treasury select committee. 

Photograph: Reuters TV

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HSBC apologised for its lapses, said reforms had been put in place, and

admitted it was 'horrified' by what it found. Photograph: Gary Cameron/Reuters

HSBC 'sorry' for aiding Mexican drugs lords, rogue states and terrorists
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Telegraph took down story on HSBC accounts 'black hole', says Peter Oborne

Former chief political commentator says in resignation letter he learned Harry Wilson’s article was swiftly removed ‘even though there were no legal problems’

The Guardian, Tara Conian, 18 February 2015

Peter Oborne resigned from the Telegraph over the paper’s coverage of the
HSBC scandal. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP

One of the things Peter Oborne, the Daily Telegraph’s former chief political commentator, alleged in his outspoken resignation article was that a story about financial analysts claiming there was a “black hole” in HSBC’s accounts was removed from the paper’s website.

Oborne said he had learned that the online story, by the Telegraph’s then banking editor Harry Wilson, was swiftly removed from the website “even though there were no legal problems”.

“Mr Wilson rather bravely raised this issue publicly at the ‘town hall meeting’ when [Telegraph Media Group editor-in-chief] Jason Seiken introduced himself to staff. He has since left the paper,” he added.

Wilson, now City editor of the Times, tweeted a link to the January 2014 story, headlined “HSBC faces £70bn capital hole warn Hong Kong analysts”. The link now goes through to a Telegraph.co.uk page saying “Sorry - we cannot find the page youare looking for”.

However, Wilson’s deleted story is available on other sites which at the time linked to the Telegraph’s coverage.

In the article, Wilson went on to quote from an “incendiary” broker’s note, from two senior analysts at research firm Forensic Asia, saying they believed “HSBC could have overstated its assets by more than £50bn and ultimately need a capital injection of close to £70bn before the end of this decade”.

He pointed out that one of the analysts, Andrew Haskins, worked at HSBC for 15 years, while the other author, Thomas Monaco, was “a former senior bank examiner at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and previously worked as a fund manager at FrontPoint Partners, the hedge fund that spotted the US subprime bubble”.

The story also said Forensic Asia “began its coverage of Britain’s largest banking group with a ‘sell’ recommendation, warning the lender had between $63.6bn (£38.7bn) and $92.3bn of ‘questionable assets’ on its balance sheet, ranging from loan loss reserves and accrued interest to deferred tax assets, defined benefit pension schemes and opaque level 3 assets”.

In another tweet Wilson described the analysts’ report as “the most aggressive research report on a bank” he had ever read and said it “has some pretty startling numbers”.

Other news organisations also believed it merited attention. Among those who reported Forensic Asia’s controversial findings were financial news agency Bloomberg, US broadcaster CNBC and the International Business Times.

Oborne claimed the removal of Wilson’s story from the Telegraph website was part of a pattern of behaviour. He alleged the paper had discouraged stories critical of HSBC since the start of 2013, when the bank suspended its advertising with the paper following a Telegraph investigation into accounts held with HSBC in Jersey. He said one former Telegraph executive told him HSBC was “the advertiser you literally cannot afford to offend”.

“The Telegraph’s recent coverage of HSBC amounts to a form of fraud on its readers,” he said. “It has been placing what it perceives to be the interests of a major international bank above its duty to bring the news to Telegraph readers. There is only one word to describe this situation: terrible.”

Owners of the Daily Telegraph, Frederick and David Barclay.

Photograph: James Fraser/Rex Features

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… Government

Let us speak of government. We're not speaking of your government, but of any government - the way it works, how it survives, how it has survived, the way it campaigns, and how it elects leaders. It's going to change.

Years ago, I told you, "When everybody can talk to everybody, there can be no secrets." Up to this point on this planet, government has counted on one thing - that the people can't easily talk to each other on a global scale. They have to get their information through government or official channels. Even mass media isn't always free enough, for it reports that which the government reports. Even a free society tends to bias itself according to the bias of the times. However, when you can have Human Beings talking to each other all at once, all over the planet without government control, it all changes, for there is open revelation of truth.

Democracy itself will change and you're going to see it soon. The hold-outs, the few countries I have mentioned in the past, are doomed unless they recalibrate. They're doomed to be the same as they have been and won't be able to exist as they are now with everyone changing around them.

I mentioned North Korea in the past. Give it time. Right now, the young man is under the control of his father's advisors. But when they're gone, you will see something different, should he survive. Don't judge him yet, for he is being controlled.

In government, if you're entire voting base has the ability to talk to itself without restriction and comes up with opinions by itself without restriction, it behooves a politician to be aware and listen to them. This will change what politicians will do. It will change the way things work in government. Don't be surprised when some day a whole nation can vote all at once in a very unusual way. Gone will be the old systems where you used to count on horseback riders to report in from faraway places. Some of you know what I am talking about. Government will change. The systems around you, both dark and light, will change. You're going to start seeing something else, too, so let's change the subject and turn the page.. .."

HSBC banker-priest in eye of SwissLeaks storm

Yahoo – AFP, Dario Thuburn, 12 feb 2015

HSBC's former chief executive and chairman Stephen Green is at the centre

of the SwissLeaks tax scandal in Britain (AFP Photo/Ed Jones)

London (AFP) - The man at the centre of the SwissLeaks tax scandal in Britain is a soft-spoken Church of England clergyman who turned HSBC into Europe's biggest bank, and was once seen as a model of ethics in finance.

HSBC's former chief executive and chairman, Stephen Green, used to be courted for his advice by politicians of all stripes and by the Anglican hierarchy, but now he finds himself widely shunned.

The ex-banking titan was pursued down a London street by a BBC journalist this week following the revelations, refusing to answer questions.

"I'm not prepared to make any comments about HSBC business past or present," the 66-year-old Green said before walking off, clutching his briefcase.

In September 2010, Stephen Green

announced he would join David Cameron's

coalition government as an unpaid minister

of state for trade and later that year he

 was made a life peer (AFP Photo/Ben

Stansall)

Growing pressure may force him to change his mind.

Green has been asked to testify before a British parliamentary committee which is investigating who knew what, when about alleged tax-dodging strategies on accounts containing tens of billions of pounds.

The fall from grace has been particularly astonishing for a man praised for steering HSBC through the global financial crisis without the bailouts using taxpayer money that other banks resorted to.

'Powerful philosophy'

The son of a lawyer, Green began his career with the management consultancy McKinsey in 1978 and joined HSBC in 1982, rising to the top of an institution with its historical roots in the British empire.

As he rose through the ranks in his 28-year career with the bank , he was also ordained as an Anglican clergyman in 1988. He has spoken frequently about the need for an ethical approach in banking.

He has written a book entitled "Serving God? Serving Mammon?" about how to reconcile being a Christian with working in finance, as well as calling for "enlightened" capitalism.

The links between the Church of England and the world of business are not so unusual and there are many ordained clergy in secular employment.

Since his retirement, Green has also advised the Church of England on how to reform its hierarchy -- putting forward proposals that have proved controversial as being too business-minded.

In a letter in the Guardian this week, a fellow clergyman, Reverend Paul Nicolson from the campaign group Taxpayers Against Poverty, criticised Green.

"The Rev Stephen Green’s chairmanship of HSBC while legal tax avoidance and illegal tax evasion were taking place raises important questions for the Church of England about the role of all clergy in secular employment," Nicolson wrote.

The focus of the political controversy over Green, however, has been his time in government in a period after the revelations about HSBC's Swiss private banking arm first surfaced in 2007.

In September 2010, Green announced he would join Cameron's coalition government as an unpaid minister of state for trade and later that year, he was made a life peer as Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint.

Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, however has pointed out that the HSBC revelations first came out when the opposition Labour party was in power.

They too have worked with Green, who was a top business advisor to former prime minister Gordon Brown.

When he was appointed to government in 2010, business secretary Vince Cable said Green was "one of the few to emerge with credit from the recent financial crisis.

Green, he said, was "somebody who has set out a powerful philosophy for ethical business".

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HSBC helped La Fayette scandal suspect's son avoid taxes

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-02-11

A branch of HSBC in London, where Andrew Wang is
understood to have died last month. (File photo/Xinhua)

The Swiss branch of HSBC helped Wang Chia-hsing, the eldest son of the late Taiwanese agent Andrew Wang involved in the La Fayette scandal, to alter the dates of documents to hide tens of millions from tax authorities, reports our Chinese-language sister paper China Times.

Andrew Wang, who is udnerstood to have died in London last month, was the Taiwanese agent of French arms supplier Thomson-CSF. He has been on Taiwan's most wanted list for corruption and bribery related to a 1991 deal in which Taiwan's navy bought six La Fayette-class frigates from Thomson-CSF, later renamed Thales SA, for an inflated price tag of US$2.8 billion. The price included procurement kickbacks and bribes to facilitate the purchase of the ships, which entered service with the ROC Navy as Kangding-class frigates.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists found an account of the bank with over US$38 million relating to Wang Chia-hsing (the relation remains unclear) was blocked by a court order. The bank's documents obtained by the consortium documenting conversations between Wang and a clerk of the bank showed the clerk was willing to change the date on Wang's form to an earlier date. Wang sought to avoid paying income tax on earnings overseas by having the bank recognize his status as foreign national resident in Britain, a legal way to reduce tax.

Andrew Wang died of illness in London on Jan. 20, according to Taiwan's representative office in the UK which has confirmed the death with British authorities but did not specify the cause, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported.

The report based on the information obtained by Herve Falciani, a former employee of HSBC Geneva and a computer expert. In 2007, he stole over the data of the bank's 100,000 accounts belonging to members of royal families, celebrities, sports stars, arms dealers, traders in blood diamonds and dictators and handed it to the French government the following year.

HSBC's statement said it has cut nearly 70% of the accounts at its Swiss branches and reformed its private banking business to avoid being used by launderers and tax dodgers since 2007.

A wanted notice for Andrew Wang. (Photo courtesy of Criminal

Investigation Bureau)

The Chengde, a ROC Navy Kangding-class (La Fayette) frigate.

(File photo/China Times)

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HSBC bank 'helped clients dodge millions in tax'

HSBC 'tax dodge' revelations are just tip of iceberg, says leaker

Yahoo – AFP, Nina Larson with Roland Jackson in London, 10 Feb 2015

Secret documents published online alleging banking giant HSBC helped wealthy

 customers dodge millions of dollars in taxes caused global shockwaves (AFP 

Photo/Fabrice Coffrini)

The former HSBC employee who leaked sensational secret documents alleging the bank helped wealthy customers dodge millions of dollars in taxes warned Tuesday that the revelations are just the "tip of the iceberg".

The files created global shockwaves on Monday, spotlighting the financial dealings of the world's ultra-rich and prompting British lawmakers to launch an inquiry into the London-based bank.

The cache of files made public in the so-called SwissLeaks case includes the names of celebrities, alleged arms dealers and politicians -- though inclusion on the list does not necessarily imply wrongdoing.

Switzerland has launched an investigation

 against HSBC employee-turned-whistleblower

 Herve Falciani, seen here in 2013, who

 stole the files at the heart of the scandal 

(AFP Photo/Kenzo Tribouillard)

Published at the weekend, the files claim HSBC's Swiss division helped clients in more than 200 countries evade taxes on accounts containing $119 billion (104 billion euros).

Herve Falciani, an IT worker turned whistleblower, stole the files in 2007 and passed them to French authorities, but they had not been previously made public.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) obtained the files via French newspaper Le Monde and shared them with more than 45 other media organisations worldwide.

But Falciani said the media reports on the documents' contents were based on just a fraction of the files he gave to the French state.

"This is only the tip of the iceberg," the Franco-Italian told France's Le Parisien newspaper in an interview published Tuesday.

"There's more than what the journalists have. Several million transactions (between banks) are also in the documents I transmitted. These figures could give an idea of what lies at the bottom of the iceberg."

The files were used by the French government to track down tax evaders and shared with other states in 2010, leading to a series of prosecutions.

Dubbed the "Snowden of tax evasion" and "the man who terrifies the rich", Falciani remains wanted on data theft charges, but France and Spain have offered him protection by refusing to extradite him to Switzerland.

'Secretive industry serving the elite'

Margaret Hodge, chairwoman of the British parliament's Public Accounts Committee, told the BBC that lawmakers were launching an "urgent inquiry" and would order HSBC to give evidence if necessary.

"Today's shocking revelations about HSBC further expose a secretive global industry serving a wealthy elite," she told the broadcaster on Monday.

The documents show that HSBC opened Swiss accounts for international criminals, businessmen, politicians and celebrities, according to the ICIJ.

The revelations renewed calls for a crackdown on sophisticated tax avoidance by the wealthy and multinational companies. Tax avoidance is legal, but tax evasion is not.

"HSBC profited from doing business with arms dealers who channelled mortar bombs to child soldiers in Africa, bag men for Third World dictators, traffickers in blood diamonds and other international outlaws," the ICIJ said.

HSBC's reputation has been tarnished in recent years by a string of high-profile controversies, including oversight failures which meant Mexican drug traffickers could launder money through its accounts.

Shares in the bank were down 1.64 percent at the close of trading in London on Monday.

A range of current and former politicians from Russia, India and various African countries, as well as Saudi, Bahraini, Jordanian and Moroccan royalty, and the late Australian press magnate Kerry Packer were named in the files.

There were calls for a Swiss probe against the bank, which is already facing prosecution in France and Belgium.

Switzerland has so far only launched an investigation against Falciani.

Global fallout on Monday included a Belgian judge said to be considering international arrest warrants for directors of HSBC's Swiss division.

Hidden money?

Files claim HSBC's Swiss division helped 

clients in more than 200 countries evade 

taxes on accounts containing $119

 billion (104 billion euros) (AFP

 Photo/Fabrice Coffrini)

HSBC's Swiss banking arm insisted it has undergone a "radical transformation".

Franco Morra, the head of HSBC's Swiss unit, said the bank had closed the accounts of clients "who did not meet our high standards".

HSBC now has "strong compliance controls in place", he told AFP in an email, adding that the revelations are "a reminder that the old business model of Swiss private banking is no longer acceptable".

Notes in the leaked files indicate HSBC workers were aware of clients' intentions to keep money hidden from national authorities.

Of one Danish account holder, an employee wrote: "All contacts through one of her 3 daughters living in London. Account holder living in Denmark, ie critical as it is a criminal act having an account abroad non declared."

The files provide details on over 100,000 HSBC clients, including people targeted by US sanctions, such as Turkish businessman Selim Alguadis and Gennady Timchenko, an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Alguadis told the ICIJ it was prudent to keep savings offshore, while a spokesman for Timchenko said he was fully compliant with tax matters.

Other individuals named on the list include designer Diane von Furstenberg, who told the ICIJ the accounts were inherited from her parents, and model Elle Macpherson, whose lawyers told the ICIJ she was fully compliant with UK tax law.