Sudan-linked clients kept $131 million in bank accounts at HSBC: report
February 8, 2015 (WASHINGTON) – 62 clients associated with Sudan are keeping approximately $131 million in HSBC bank in Switzerland, according to a huge cache of leaked secret bank account files released.
The Swiss Leaks data published on the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) website says that the French newspaper Le Monde obtained a version of the tax authority data, which covers accounts of more than 100,000 clients (individuals and legal entities) from more than 200 countries.
The documents are based on data originally smuggled by a former HSBC employee and handed to French authorities in 2008.
The HSBC files show the accounts to hold more than $100 billion in total and also provide other details such as secretive offshore companies linked to some accounts.
Among the Arab figures whose HSBC accounts were disclosed in the leaks were Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, King Abdullah of Jordan, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa and Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said.
The UK-based Guardian newspaper said that HSBC routinely allowed clients to withdraw bricks of cash, often in foreign currencies of little use in Switzerland; aggressively marketed schemes likely to enable wealthy clients to avoid European taxes; colluded with some clients to conceal undeclared “black” accounts from their domestic tax authorities; provided accounts to international criminals, corrupt businessmen and other high-risk individuals.
Sudan is ranked 96 among 203 countries with the largest dollar amounts in the leaked files and the maximum amount of money associated with a single client connected to Sudan was $18 million.
The clients, whose names have not yet been revealed, have a total of 209 accounts that were opened between 1974 and 2006. Around a quarter of those clients have a Sudanese passport or nationality.
It is not clear if clients not in possession of Sudanese nationality are holding dual citizenship or were simply born in the East African nation.
It is also possible that some of those clients are now citizens of South Sudan which became an independent state in July 2011.
Half of these accounts are linked to an individual, the files show, while around 10% are linked to an offshore company.
The remaining accounts are classified as “numbered accounts” where the name of the account holder is kept secret and are identified through a code word known only by the account holder and a restricted number of bank employees, thus providing account holders with a degree of bank privacy in their financial transactions.
In 2012, the British banks HSBC and Standard Chartered were fined $1.92 billion and $667 million respectively for violations that included sanction breaches with Iran and Sudan.
The global banking giant announced in 2013 that it is discontinuing the accounts of customers from countries such as Sudan that are subject to significant sanctions from the European Union (EU), United States or both.
HSBC is a British multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in London.
(ST)