HSBC the crooked bank

HSBC

Values, go beyond ‘what you can get away with’. — Rev Prebendary Stephen Green, former chief executive and chairman HSBC

HSBC laundered dirty money for Mexican drug cartels and terrorists.

US Senator Carl Levin, the chairman of the subcommittee investigating the bank, said HSBC’s compliance culture had been “pervasively polluted for a long time”.

No one faced criminal prosecution, no one went to prison.

HSBC acts as facilitator for tax evasion, compliance officers who question what is going on, are fired, the only compliance, ensuring we do not get caught. There has been no criminal investigation, no banker is in prison.

Evil ConDem government knew. Their response, a seat in the House of Lords.

NB the person i/c HSBC at the time – Lord Green – was and is a priest. And currently engaged in reorganising the management of the CofE.

— Giles Fraser (@giles_fraser) February 9, 2015

If management structure of HSBC was such that Lord Green didn't know – should he really be redesigning the CofE's management structure?

— Giles Fraser (@giles_fraser) February 9, 2015

Lord Green, a priest, is restructuring the management of Church of England.

Were I to rob a bank, get caught, pay the money back, would I get let off? Of course not, I would be in prison.

If a small business fails to pays it tax, it is made bankrupt to recover the money, the owner goes to prison.

If a benefit payments are fraudulently claimed, if caught face a prison sentence.

Why then one rule for greedy bankers, one rule for the rest of society?

Why are no bankers in prison, why are no bankers facing criminal prosecution?

And what of HMRC, aiding and abetting criminal activity? Why are not senior people at HMRC not in prison?

Lord Green, a seat in the House of Lords, appointed a government minister.

HMRC boss Dave Hartnett was the man responsible for cutting dodgy deals with Vodafone, Goldman Sachs and other large corporations that have cost the taxpayer billions in lost revenue. On leaving HMRC, jumped before he was pushed, a leaving bash hosted by tax dodgers and their advisors. On leaving HMRC, Dave Hartnett joined HSBC to advise on tax dodging.

HSBC has been helping thousands of the UK’s wealthiest people evade paying tax.

Surprise, surprise, the list of tax dodgers aided and abetted by HSBC include Tory Party donors.

It is time to get dirty money out of politics.

HSBC has been helping Britain’s richest evade tax on an unprecedented scale, using offshore accounts in Switzerland.

The worst part: HSBC knew what it was doing was wrong, and actively helped its customers evade tax. As yet, it’s failed to fully cooperate with the authorities and hand over information on its illegal advice, or the thousands of clients its helped break the law and evade paying their taxes.

HSBC says it’s changed its ways. But a former employee was sacked for speaking out after seeing that HSBC was still engaging in tax evasion schemes.

HSBC is has friends in high places who will help it avoid the worst of this scandal — and we can’t let that happen. HSBC needs to be brought to book for aiding and abetting tax evasion on an industrial scale.

The revelations come from a Guardian and BBC investigation into thousands of leaked documents from HSBC’s Switzerland branch, after a whistleblower alerted the French authorities to hundreds of its citizens evading taxes.

HSBC is also facing criminal investigations in Argentina and in Belgium for helping thousands of people evade their taxes.

Now, the bank is facing a growing crisis in UK.

This is an issue that goes right to the heart of what kind of country we live in.

We do not have democracy, we have a sham democracy, where our corrupt politicians are whores for hire to the highest bidder.

An election, is simply to choose whose turn to climb aboard the gravy train, get their snouts in the trough, whose turn to act for Big Business.

HSBC had hoped keep quiet, hope the sandal does not get out, and if it does, that is what we pay politicians for.

Austerity is a myth, it is an excuse for Shock Doctrine, slash and burn of public services, mass closures of libraries, rape and pillage of Greece.

We have puerile infantile discussions, if we do not cut libraries, what do we cut?

Go after the tax dodgers and there is no need for cuts, we could open more libraries, longer hours, fill with more books, have a health service that is fit for purpose, increase welfare payments and pensions.

We have seen thousands of ordinary people take action on corporate tax dodgers for example Vodafone and Boots. We’ve seen the residents of the New Era estate rise up and fight back against powerful property developers.

The only reason tax and housing are even on the political agenda, is because of direct action by ordinary citizen, not because of action by politicians. From the corrupt political elite, a few weasel words, but no action because they are in the pocket of the tax dodgers and the bankers.

When the banks were on their knees, instead of letting them go bust, the corrupt political elite in the pockets of the bankers bailed them out with our money.

Now it’s our turn to demand change.

It is time HSBC was broken up, time a few crooked bankers were thrown in prison.

Please sign the petition demanding HSBC divulge details of all their tax-dodging clients.

• Tax dodgers shut down again
• Black tie activists crash HMRC boss’ retirement do
• Stephen Green, Ex-HSBC Boss Now Trade Minister, Has ‘Questions To Answer’ Over Money Laundering Claims
• Who Do Politicians Take Money From?
• HSBC bank ‘helped clients dodge millions in tax’
• ‘Rotten Core of Banking’ Exposed: Global Outrage Follows HSBC Revelations
• HSBC files show Tories raised over £5m from HSBC Swiss account holders
• The Guardian view on the HSBC files: a damning dossier

Tags: HSBC, HSBC the crooked bank, tax