The secret documents showed the HSBC Bank’s dealings with clients engaged in illegal behavior, especially in hiding hundreds of millions of dollars from tax authorities
An investigation by The Indian Express and the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the Paris-based Le Monde newspaper has leaked records from HSBC, a major international bank based in London.
The investigation revealed new details about the bank’s role as a conduit for the bribes. A team of journalists from 45 countries have disclosed secret bank accounts maintained by HSBC for criminals, traffickers, tax evaders, politicians and celebrities. The leaked files, based on the inner workings of HSBC’s Swiss private banking arm, relate to accounts holding more than $100 billion.
ICIJ has obtained secret files of more than 100,000 individuals and legal entities from over 200 countries and cover accounts up to the year 2007.
The HSBC Indian list included 1,668 client having an aggregate amount $4.1billion in the year 2007. The investigation revealed that the number of Indian clients in the bank has increased to 1,195.
The documents showed the bank’s dealings with clients engaged in illegal behavior, especially in hiding hundreds of millions of dollars from tax authorities.
They also show private records of popular sports players, rock stars, Hollywood actors, royalty, politicians, corporate executives and old-wealth families. The files also document huge sums of money controlled by dealers in diamonds.
HSBC on Sunday said that the bank is accountable for past compliance and control failures, according to an international media report.
HSBC further said that its Swiss subsidiary had not been fully integrated into HSBC after its acquisition in 1999, allowing "significantly lower" standards of compliance and due diligence to persist, the report added.
In 2012, a US Senate investigation had found that the bank had lax controls that allowed Latin American drug cartels to launder hundreds of millions of ill-gotten dollars through its US operation.
In 2007, an HSBC computer security specialist named Hervé Falciani stole the secret files and gave it to the French government. The data offered a rare glimpse into the highly secretive world of Swiss banking.
The data contains names, nationalities, account information, deposit amounts. It also provides detailed notes revealing the private dealings between HSBC and its clients.
The details of secret files provided by Falciani -- which came to be known as the Falciani List or Lagarde List -- to governments around the world.
An investigation by The Indian Express and the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the Paris-based Le Monde newspaper has leaked records from HSBC, a major international bank based in London.
The investigation revealed new details about the bank’s role as a conduit for the bribes. A team of journalists from 45 countries have disclosed secret bank accounts maintained by HSBC for criminals, traffickers, tax evaders, politicians and celebrities. The leaked files, based on the inner workings of HSBC’s Swiss private banking arm, relate to accounts holding more than $100 billion.
ICIJ has obtained secret files of more than 100,000 individuals and legal entities from over 200 countries and cover accounts up to the year 2007.
The HSBC Indian list included 1,668 client having an aggregate amount $4.1billion in the year 2007. The investigation revealed that the number of Indian clients in the bank has increased to 1,195.
The documents showed the bank’s dealings with clients engaged in illegal behavior, especially in hiding hundreds of millions of dollars from tax authorities.
They also show private records of popular sports players, rock stars, Hollywood actors, royalty, politicians, corporate executives and old-wealth families. The files also document huge sums of money controlled by dealers in diamonds.
HSBC on Sunday said that the bank is accountable for past compliance and control failures, according to an international media report.
HSBC further said that its Swiss subsidiary had not been fully integrated into HSBC after its acquisition in 1999, allowing "significantly lower" standards of compliance and due diligence to persist, the report added.
In 2012, a US Senate investigation had found that the bank had lax controls that allowed Latin American drug cartels to launder hundreds of millions of ill-gotten dollars through its US operation.
In 2007, an HSBC computer security specialist named Hervé Falciani stole the secret files and gave it to the French government. The data offered a rare glimpse into the highly secretive world of Swiss banking.
The data contains names, nationalities, account information, deposit amounts. It also provides detailed notes revealing the private dealings between HSBC and its clients.
The details of secret files provided by Falciani -- which came to be known as the Falciani List or Lagarde List -- to governments around the world.
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