KUWAIT CITY: The Ministry of Finance has asked the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) to address the HSBC branch in Switzerland to provide files of 475 Kuwaiti clients who have undeclared accounts in the bank, sources from the banking sector said here the other day.
Sources disclosed the bank has been helping some of its clients to avoid taxes while stashing millions of dollars, let alone providing advice to its clients on how to avoid tax authorities, whereas the number of accounts belonging to Kuwaitis has reached about 684.
Sources said Kuwait is ranked 42nd globally among the hundreds of countries that deposit huge money in HSBC-Swiss branch as per the leaked documents from the bank, and the amount of Kuwaiti money in this bank is approximately $1.1 billion. Sources affirmed the Ministry of Finance is currently working on listing Kuwaiti money in foreign banks as it intends to set certain conditions after addressing the Central Bank in this regard.