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You are here: Home / Archives for Swiss Bank

HSBC’s private Swiss bank served everyone from alleged arms dealers to pop stars

February 9, 2015 by Nasheman

The doors were open. (Reuters/Denis Balibouse)

The doors were open. (Reuters/Denis Balibouse)

by Heather Timmons, QZ

An investigation into 100,000 individuals who held accounts with HSBC’s Private Bank turned up a roster of royals, arms dealers, sanctioned Russian businessmen, and on-the-lam politicians—along with music icons Tina Turner, Phil Collins, and David Bowie. The leaks of the bank’s sometimes-unsavory clientele—who collectively held more than $100 billion in assets, often structured specifically to evade taxes—forced HSBC to acknowledge that its standards “were significantly lower than they are today.”

The investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), involves 60,000 files leaked by a former HSBC employee that detail the private bank’s accounts held in Switzerland in 2006 and 2007. In part through the use of the same leaks, European andUS authorities have been cracking down on banks—and HSBC in particular—that help clients stash assets overseas to evade taxes.

Only a few dozen of the account holders were made public by ICIJ. But they represent an interesting cross-section of the world’s wealthy and paint an intriguing picture of how to store offshore assets—a practice that some economists say contributes to rising global wealth inequality, by stripping local governments of tax revenue to spend on goods and services for the less-rich. Here are a few of the wealthy tribes that emerge from the leaks:

The Swiss pop stars

Some 14% of the wealthy individuals in the leaked database have Swiss passports, including many who weren’t born in Switzerland, like pop idols Phil Collins, Tina Turner and David Bowie. Swiss nationals are not subject to the same scrutiny of their accounts as citizens of the US and other EU countries. Clients “linked” to Switzerland had by far the largest amount of assets, at $31.2 billion.

Alleged arms traffickers, fraudsters, and corrupt officials:

Burundian Aziza Kulsum Gulamali, known as the “Coltan Queen” for her trade in that rare metal, has been criticized by the United Nations for providing arms to rebels during Burundi’s civil war. She was linked to accounts containing over $3 million.

Central African Republic diamond magnate Abdul-Karim Dan Azoumiis accused by the United Nations of financing the country’s rebel Seleka group that has waged civil war killing thousands. He held less than $500,000 in one account.

Rachid Mohamed Rachid, the former Egyptian trade minister, is linked to a $31 million account. He fled Cairo in 2011 but was convicted in absentia of profiteering.

Former Portsmouth FC owner Vladimir Antonov is accused of a $500 million bank fraud in Lithuania. He is linked to an account worth $65 million.

Entertainers:

Actor John Malkovich said through a representative that he knew nothing about the account in his name, and suggested that it might be related to Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, “who handled some of his finances.”

Actor Christian Slater was linked to an account named “‘Captain Kirk,’ after the Star Trek character,” which was open between 1996 and 1997.

Elle MacPherson, the Australian model, had four client accounts that led to 25 separate bank accounts holding over $12 million.

Actress and author Joan Collins was linked to two Swiss HSBC accounts that have since been closed. Her accountant said they were opened without her consent.

Industrialists and businessmen

Rajan Raheja, an Indian construction magnate, was linked to accounts that held $262 million.

Oil trader Jonathan Kolleck was linked to 19 active accounts that held $72 million.

Mexican businessman Carlos Hank Rohn was linked to HSBC accounts with nearly $180 million. He and his relatives have been investigated for alleged money laundering and links to drug cartels, but all charges have been dropped.

Housewives

More than 7,300 people in the leaked accounts are described as “housewives.” The report supplies few names of these woman, but it does describe how one Danish housewife visited the private bank in Zurich and left with the equivalent of $16,000 in cash. The ICIJ report notes the term housewife “may be used to describe a wealthy married woman, but it’s also applied in some cases to women who include industry pioneers, architects, journalists, teachers, princesses and heiresses.”

Filed Under: Business & Technology Tagged With: HSBC, ICIJ, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Scandal, Swiss Bank

Black money: List of around 627 people submitted to SC

October 29, 2014 by Nasheman

BLACK-MONEY

New Delhi: The Centre government on Wednesday submitted a list of 627 Indians having accounts in foreign banks in a sealed envelope to Supreme Court, which on Tuesday had pounded the government for not revealing all the information in the case.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi submitted three sets of lists with the 627 names of people stashing untaxed or black money to the apex court, which fixed March 31, 2015 as the deadline to conclude the investigation into the case.

Rohatgi said more than half of the people in the list are Indian nationals while the rest are Non-Resident Indians. He said that most people named in the list, which was last updated in 2006, have their accounts with the HSBC Bank.

The apex court refused to open the envelope and directed to place documents before the Special Investigative team (SIT).

Only SIT chairman and vice chairman can open the sealed envelope containing names of account holders, said the SC.

The Supreme Court also directed the government to share the list with the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation. The case will be next heard on December 3 after the SIT submits its status report by November 30.

The first list submitted in the Supreme Court contains the details of treaties and agreements India has signed with Swtizerland and other nations where the illegal money is said to be stashed. The second list has all the names while the third list has a status report on the investigation in the case.

Rejecting its stand, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the Centre to disclose all the names of black money holders abroad to it in a sealed envelope and slammed it for reluctance on the issue.

The apex court had some strong words for the new government for seeking modification of its earlier order on disclosure of all names saying this was accepted by the then UPA government.

“Why are you trying to protect people having bank accounts in foreign countries. Why are you providing a protective umbrella for all these people.

On Monday, the Centre revealed eight names of Indians holding illegal foreign bank accounts, which included consumer products giant Dabur India promoter Pradip Burman, Rajkot-based bullion trader Pankaj Chamanlal Lodhiya, Goa mining company Timblo Private Ltd and five of its directors – Radha Satish Timblo, Chetan S Timblo, Rohan S Timblo, Anna C Timblo and Mallika R Timblo.

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Anna C Timblo, BJP, Black Money, Chetan S Timblo, Dabur, Mallika R Timblo, Mukul Rohatgi, Pankaj Chamanlal Lodhiya, Pradip Burman, Radha Satish Timblo, Rohan S Timblo, SIT, Special Investigative Team, Supreme court, Swiss Bank, Timblo Private Ltd

Centre names 3 black money account holders in affidavit to SC

October 27, 2014 by Nasheman

The court also said that information about the alleged accused or his whereabouts by the informant will be recorded in writing or in electronic form.

New Delhi: The Union government has named three persons who are black money account holders in an affidavit to the Supreme Court, TV reports said.

According to television reports on Monday, the three persons named are Pradip Burman, director of the Burman Group, Pankaj Chimanlal Lodya, a Rajkot-based bullion trader and Radha S Timblo, a Goa-based miner and owner of Timblo Pvt Ltd.

The television reports also indicated that four members of the Congress party, including a former minister of the previous UPA regime, are under investigation, and added that their names may be revealed after the probe is completed. Among the four Congress party members are two belonging to powerful political families in the state of Maharashtra, the television reports further stated.

Last week, it was revealed that the Centre was likely to tell the apex court the names of the people against whom strong evidence exists of stashing away black money in Swiss banks in a major step in its crackdown on India’s parallel economy.

On Monday, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi is reported to have submitted a supplementary affidavit in the apex court detailing plans to submit the list of names in a sealed envelope.

The court is due to continue hearings on a petition on black money the following day.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is moving fast to repatriate hundreds of billions of dollars in slush funds or black money stashed abroad, as part of a wider clampdown on corruption that he promised during his election campaign.

The government is building pressure particularly on Switzerland, seeking details of Indians who have parked unaccounted for money in Switzerland’s highly secretive banks. It has quickly implemented a Supreme Court directive to set up a high-powered special investigation team, headed by retired judge M B Shah, to look into the issue.

While there are no official estimates, Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington-based think-tank, has estimated that Indians had parked USD 462 billion in overseas tax havens between 1948 and 2008.

Black money arises mainly from incomes not disclosed to the government usually to avoid taxation, and, sometimes, because of its criminal links. About a third of India’s black money transactions are believed to be in real estate, followed by manufacturing and shopping for gold and consumer goods.

Earlier, the BJP government had told the apex court that it could not disclose the names of those who have deposited money in banks abroad as it this would jeopardize tax agreements with nations providing those names to India.

There were murmurs of protest within the ruling BJP that not disclosing names would hurt the party’s image after it had made bringing back black money, a key issue in a general election that it won by a landslide. The Centre’s stand also drew a strong response from the Congress, which accused it of hypocrisy.

Turning the tables on the Congress, finance minister Arun Jaitley had recently said the disclosing of names of people holding black money accounts will embarrass the opposition party.

The Congress had hit back, daring the government to come out with complete information without indulging in “selective leaks” and pointing out that “the Congress is not going to be blackmailed under any such threat”.

(Agencies)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Arun Jaitley, BJP, Black Money, Congress, Narendra Modi, Pankaj Chimanlal Lodya, Pradip Burman, Radha S Timblo, Swiss Bank

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