PARIS: French prosecutors are recommending that HSBC Holdings faces a criminal trial over allegations it helped clients evade taxes following a probe where the bank was initially ordered to post a €1bn bail to cover a potential penalty, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Investigative judges will have the final say in the matter after France’s financial prosecutor issued final recommendations in the case, said the source. Prosecutors accused HSBC of aggravated laundering of proceeds of tax fraud and conspiring to illicitly solicit clients on French territory, the source said. French prosecutors recommended the bank’s Swiss arm, HSBC Private Bank Suisse, answer charges in court, according to the source.
HSBC said in a statement the bank will continue to defend itself “vigorously”. France began scrutinising HSBC’s Swiss private bank after Herve Falciani, a former information technology worker at the firm, stole client account details from HSBC’s Geneva office in 2008, and passed them to the French government.
The Swiss unit was charged in 2014. Last year, HSBC was also charged by French prosecutors regarding its private bank’s conduct in 2006 and 2007 and simultaneously ordered to pay a €1bnl. Later in 2015, a French court reduced HSBC’s bail to €100m.
