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The Public Officials Who Need Locking Up
by Jonathan Cook / February 12th, 2015
If there is one story that encapsulates the corruption of public life at every level, it is the latest revelations about HSBC’s Swiss bank helping thousands of clients evade tax. Some £78 billion was stashed away, out of sight of the tax authorities of various countries.
The man who sat atop this global money-laundering scheme (which included laundering drugs money, as HSBC staff apparently knew) was Stephen Green, the bank’s executive chairman from 2006-10. He was appointed by the British prime minister, David Cameron, to be trade minister in late 2010 shortly after the British government became aware of HSBC’s corrupt practices.
The HSBC got off lightly everywhere, but its treatment in the UK was exceptional. The head of the British tax authority, Dave Hartnett, unlike his counterparts in several other countries, decided to quietly cover up the matter, massively defrauding the British taxpayer as well as letting lots of very rich people get away with breaking the law. Hartnett retired a short time later and was given a well-paid consultancy at … HSBC.
Vince Cable, the business minister, said: “We simply don’t know at present if Lord Green was aware of or condoned these practices.” Which would require us to believe that 6,000 wealthy British clients knew about HSBC’s illegal practices and hid their money in its Swiss accounts to evade tax, while Green himself – who presumably mixes in exactly the same circles of the 0.1% – was oblivious to what what was going on in his own company.
The HSBC got off lightly everywhere, but its treatment in the UK was exceptional. The head of the British tax authority, Dave Hartnett, unlike his counterparts in several other countries, decided to quietly cover up the matter, massively defrauding the British taxpayer as well as letting lots of very rich people get away with breaking the law. Hartnett retired a short time later and was given a well-paid consultancy at … HSBC.
Vince Cable, the business minister, said: “We simply don’t know at present if Lord Green was aware of or condoned these practices.” Which would require us to believe that 6,000 wealthy British clients knew about HSBC’s illegal practices and hid their money in its Swiss accounts to evade tax, while Green himself – who presumably mixes in exactly the same circles of the 0.1% – was oblivious to what what was going on in his own company.
Full article: http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/02/the-public-officials-who-need-locking-up/