Geneva, Feb 18:
Investigators launched a search today of British banking giant HSBC’s
Geneva offices as part of a money laundering probe following allegations
the bank helped clients evade millions of dollars in taxes, Swiss
prosecutors said.
“Following the recent revelations related to the HSBC Private Bank
(Switzerland), the public prosecutor announces the opening of a criminal
procedure against the bank... for aggravated money laundering,” Geneva
prosecutors said in a statement.
The search was taking place at HSBC’s Swiss headquarters headed by the
Geneva cantonal prosecutor general Olivier Jornot, assisted by another
top prosecutor, Yves Bertossa.
The prosecutors said they had opened the probe against the bank itself,
but that “depending on the evolution, the investigation might be
broadened to include physical persons suspected of committing or
participating in acts of money laundering.”
The announcement came just over a week after HSBC Switzerland found
itself at the epicentre of a massive global scandal following the
publication of secret documents.
The cache of files, made public in the so-called SwissLeaks case,
claimed HSBC’s Swiss private banking arm helped clients in more than 200
countries evade taxes on accounts containing USD 119 billion.
The files, which include the names of celebrities, alleged arms dealers
and politicians, were originally stolen by former HSBC IT worker Herve
Falciani in 2007.
According to the documents, billions of dollars transited through the
bank as customers from around the world tried to dodge the taxman in
their home countries or in a bid to launder procedes through shell
corporations.
(This article was published on February 18, 2015)
If our leaders were really interested, this would be the best time to get all the names of all the people who have stashed their black money abroad.
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