Why did the PM miss so many opportunities to act on the allegations against the banking giant?
The full scale of HSBC’s tax abuses has come to light today, with leaked files suggesting that malpractice at the Swiss subsidiary has helped wealthy clients evade and avoid hundreds of millions of pounds worth of taxes.
The documents were originally obtained in late 2007 by one of HSBC’s employees Hervé Falciani, who blew the whistle on the banking giant. Falciani, who was indicted by Switzerland in 2014 for industrial espionage, said that HSBC had ‘created a system for making themselves rich at the expense of society, by assisting in tax evasion and money laundering’.
Indeed, the gravity of HSBC’s alleged misconduct has been known for years, including to the British government. It is for this reason that David Cameron has some serious questions to answer today. We need to ask the prime minister:
1. In 2010, the government was handed information about the malpractice at HSBC. Why did you take no action?
In 2010 the French authorities used data provided by Falciani to prepare lists of leaked accounts to pass to tax authorities in relevant countries. The ‘Lagarde list’, as it became known, led to arrests in Greece, Spain, the US, Belgium and Argentina.
HMRC received a list with the names of more than 1,000 individuals believed to be evading tax. Only one of these people was prosecuted. Richard Brooks, a former HMRC tax inspector and BBC reporter, has said that the Treasury and HMRC ‘knew that there was a mass of evidence of tax evasion at the heart of HSBC’ but ‘simply washed their hands of it’.
2. In 2010 you appointed Stephen Green, former chairman of HSBC, as a minister in your government. Did you ask him about his involvement in the misconduct, of which you must have been aware at the time?
Stephen Green had presided over HSBC at the time of the controversy, and in 2010 was appointed minister of state for Trade and Investment and made a Tory peer. His responsibilities were extensive and included speaking for the government on trade and investment issues, coordinating European business and developing cross-government strategies.
In light of this it seems astonishing that nobody thought to question him about his involvement in practices such as marketing tax-avoidance strategies to wealthy clients. Prior to his appointment, Green had gone on a trade mission to India with David Cameron where they reportedly discussed his recruitment.
On the Today programme this morning (9 February 2015), Treasury minister David Gauke said he did not know whether anybody had questioned Green about his knowledge of the malpractice:
“It is not for me to say, I don’t know.”
Do David Cameron and George Osborne know?
3. Do you believe now that Stephen Green was aware of what was going on at HSBC at the time of his chairmanship?
The chair of the Public Accounts Committee Margaret Hodge pointed out this morning on the Today programme that either Green didn’t know about the malpractice and was therefore ‘asleep at the wheel’, or he did know and was therefore colluding with ‘dodgy tax practices’.
Which does the prime minister now believe to be true? Does he accept that in either case he did not hire the best candidate for the position?
As reported by The Guardian today, the malpractice includes: providing accounts to international criminals; allowing clients to withdraw ‘bricks’ of cash in foreign currencies; aggressively’ marketing European tax avoidance schemes; and colluding with clients to conceal undeclared accounts from their domestic tax authorities.
4. How will you respond to the latest allegations about HSBC?
It is the opinion of Margaret Hodge that ‘we are never assertive enough, aggressive enough, determined enough to actually protect the taxpayer’. HSBC has been colluding with extremely wealthy individuals who do not want to pay the taxes that the HMRC requires them to. With a persistent deficit, the government needs to take assertive steps towards protecting the interests of ordinary taxpayers against the greed of the super-rich.
Will David Cameron and George Osborne take these steps, including making appropriate prosecutions?
Ruby Stockham is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow her on Twitter
34 Responses to “HSBC scandal: 4 questions David Cameron needs to answer”
peterb
As a Swiss subsidiary the Chairman of the HSBC Group would not be aware of the details. Please understand what a fkg subsidiary is and learn about Swiss private banking secrecy laws.
why under 13 years of Labour, Brown, Miliband & Ed (City Minister) Balls-up did banks and others have no real guidance on banking/ financial regulations
David Lindsay
I found it many things, but not surprising, that when the courtier papers went looking for drugs and prostitution hand in glove with party political connections in high finance, allegedly the only example turned out to have been at the Co-op. As the young people used to say, “Yeah, right!”
Now, how about some investigation into The Reverend Prebendary The Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint? He is an Anglican clergyman in good standing, whereas the Methodists have long since suspended Paul Flowers indefinitely. He was Minister of State for Trade and Investment until December 2013, whereas Ed Miliband has met Flowers only once, while Ed Balls has never met him. He was already the former when he was Chairman of HSBC and it was laundering money for the drug cartels of Mexico and Colombia.
As, indeed, when it was doing the things for which it stands exposed tonight.
Lord Green also produced the Church of England’s recent report on spotting and grooming clerical talent. His wisdom is therefore now to be applied in choosing the custodians of many of this country’s most important historic buildings, in choosing the authorities responsible for vast landed estates and investment portfolios, in choosing the media’s and many public bodies’ go-to sources of moral and spiritual guidance, and in choosing the occupants of 26 seats in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
snorx
what banking legislation did Labour introduce in 2004? what were it’s inadequacies? fkg or not.
BBC R4 World at One reported that HMRC was offered the data in 2007 but turned it down. It didn’t then receive it [in a situation wherein it cdnt again turn it down] until 2010. Tory first wave of defence is claiming that [the first offer] happened during a Labour government. Any views on that?
Information about HSBC subsidiary UK customers is that there are 1300- would you expect this list to be published?
A lawyer on W-at-1 suggested that definitely from January 2013 onwards could HMRC [and ther UK regulatory agencies] could have expected to get 100% co-operation from Swiss authorities. Do you expect HMRC to have completed investigations by now?
Cameron’s office have stated that there was no conversation on this with departing HSBC boss Stephen Green before/when he was offered a peerage and ministerial role. How similar is this to the induction of former communications adviser Andy Coulson? Is due diligence dead or too much of a fag for ailing Tory PM Cameron?
Guest
Given your Tories wanted less regulation, as you try and handwave the issue away… “oh, he couldn’t have known”.
Leon Wolfeson
“could have expected to get 100% co-operation from Swiss authorities.”
Hardly. The international treaty for that was undermined by, er, the UK’s Coalition. Specifically a Mr. Cameron, who cut a unilateral deal highly favourable to tax evaders.