Reuters: Media leaks on HSBC accounts 'tip of iceberg' - whistleblower Falciani

10 February 2015

Falciani said tax authorities have had access to much more data than media including French daily Le Monde and International Consortium of Investigative Journalists had.

Asked if more clients were involved than the 106,000 identified by Le Monde, Falciani said: "Of course, there are many more than the journalists had. There were millions of transactions (between banks) in the documents I gave (to the government)."

HSBC client data obtained by Falciani, who used to work in IT at HSBC's Swiss subsidiary, is at the centre of a storm over the British bank. 

HSBC on Sunday admitted failings in compliance and controls in its Swiss private bank and faces investigation by U.S. authorities and an inquiry by British lawmakers after media reports said it helped wealthy customers conceal millions of dollars of assets in a period up to 2007.

French authorities have repeated since the latest media leaks they had already been looking into HSBC's Swiss accounts. 

Questioned by lawmakers about what the French government was doing with the leaked data, Budget Minister Christian Eckert said the government had passed more than 100 cases to judicial authorities.

The French government says it is now collecting 2.0 billion euros (2 billion pounds) per year in tax and fines from people who are coming clean with accounts held abroad which they had previously hidden from tax authorities. 

More work needs to be done at an international level on "tax optimisation" by global multinationals, Eckert told the lawmakers.

Full article on Reuters


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