比利時指控匯豐瑞士分行涉嫌洗錢
HSBC’s private banking arm in Switzerland has been accused of money laundering and fraud by a Belgian prosecuting judge for its role in helping more than 1,000 wealthy investors avoid taxes.
比利時一檢控官指控匯豐銀行(HSBC)旗下的瑞士私人銀行涉嫌洗錢和欺詐，因該銀行曾幫助逾1000名富有投資者避稅。A Belgian prosecuting judge has formally accused the private bank of assisting rich clients, including diamond dealers, move money to the offshore tax havens of Panama and the British Virgin Islands.
檢控官已正式指控該私人銀行幫助珠寶商等富有客戶，將資金轉移到巴拿馬和英屬維京羣島的離岸避稅天堂。
A spokesman for the court said wealthy Belgian clients with money in Swiss branches of HSBC are meant to incur 35 per cent tax on interest.
該法庭發言人稱，在匯豐瑞士分行擁有資金的比利時富有客戶，本應繳付35%的利息稅。
However, to avoid this tax, the prosecutor alleges that employees of HSBC’s private bank advised these customers to transfer their money out of Switzerland into offshore companies.
然而，檢察官聲稱，爲規避這些稅收，匯豐私人銀行的員工建議這些客戶將資金從瑞士轉移到瑞士以外的離岸公司。Several billion dollars are estimated to have left the Swiss accounts, with hundreds of millions of euros avoided in tax, the spokesman said.
這位發言人稱，據估計，有幾十億美元轉出瑞士賬戶，避稅金額達到數億歐元。The prosecution is accusing the bank of fiscal fraud, money laundering, and criminal organisation – allegations that date back several years.
檢方還指控該銀行涉嫌財務欺詐、洗錢和有組織經營犯罪，這些指控可以追溯到多年前。The bank said in a statement “HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA has been notified that it has been placed under formal investigation by a Belgian judge who, along with the French authorities, is examining whether the bank acted appropriately in the past in relation to certain clients who had Belgian tax reporting requirements.”
匯豐在一份聲明中稱，“匯豐私人銀行（瑞士）得知，一位比利時檢控官正對其啓動正式調查，這名檢控官以及法國政府，正調查該銀行是否曾與比利時有報稅要求的某些客戶存在不當行爲。”“We will continue to co-operate to the fullest extent possible,” it added. Several directors of the bank as well as certain employees have been ordered to testify.
匯豐補充稱：“我們將繼續儘可能全力配合調查。”該銀行幾名董事以及一些員工已被要求作證。A person familiar with the situation said the investigation stems from 2006 when Hervé Falciani, a former IT employee at HSBC in Geneva, allegedly stole Swiss bank data which unearthed the names of suspected fraudsters and tax evaders.
一位知情人士稱，調查源於2006年，當時一位前匯豐駐日內瓦IT員工被控竊取瑞士銀行數據，這些數據列出了一些涉嫌欺詐和逃稅人士的名字。In December 2012, HSBC signed a deferred prosecution agreement and paid a then-record $2.6bn in fines to the US to settle allegations that it allowed itself to be used by money launderers in Mexico and terrorist financiers in the Middle East.
2012年12月，匯豐曾簽訂一份暫緩起訴協議，向美國支付26億美元罰金，這一金額在當時創下紀錄，以了結有關其涉嫌幫助墨西哥洗錢者和爲中東恐怖分子提供資金的人士轉賬的指控。HSBC’s Swiss private bank has also been called to appear before French courts over whether it had helped French citizens evade tax payments. HSBC warned that penalties or other charges imposed “could be significant”.
法國法庭還就該銀行是否幫助法國公民避稅，指控匯豐瑞士私人銀行。匯豐已經發出警告，罰金或其他費用“可能數額巨大”。
