The private banking arm of British bank HSBC in Geneva has filed a criminal complaint against a former employee who allegedly stole client data in 2006 and 2007.
The information is said to have been passed on by the information technology employee to French authorities.
Oh dear. What will the Reverend Stephen Green, head of HSBC and their Swiss private banking division be saying in his prayers tonight?
Could it be a request for a thunderbolt?
Or a mighty big one in hope that his sins might be forgiven?
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Could the French Government be guilty of handling stolen goods?
There are confidentiality laws in both France and Switzerland so dual criminality exists and the IT employee would be guilty and should be arrested if he is in France or any other country with Confidentiality laws.
No?
Ever heard of the doctrine of dual effect?
Is that like stealing confidential information and then posting it all over wikileaks as it may contain a (to quote a UK newspaper) little bit of tax avoidance?
The fact is that the information, which may or may not be of interest/relevance/value to the French authorities, was the property of the bank and they had a duty of care to their customers and a Swiss legal obligation to maintain confidentiality for their clients, so it is hardly surprising if they file a criminal complaint.
You’ll like this, Richard. It’s a similar case: the Belgian tax authorities got their hands on stolen confidential account information out of Luxembourg,tried to prosecute the bankers involved for enabling such fraud, but the case has now been thrown out…
http://www.mediargus.be/flanderstoday.admin.en/rss/24446246.html?via=rss&language=en
What do you call it when you steal from a thief? Answer: Justice! The Swiss government has been conspiring with their banks to withhold (steal) millions of Euros per year from virtually every developed nation’s treasury. They provide safe haven for their bank’s clients to commit tax fraud. Accordingly, they cannot be heard to complain about illegalities or unfairness. The party is over. As a side note, maybe it wasn’t such a bright idea for the Swiss to apprehend Roman Polansky, a French citizen, after all. Can you say “payback”?!!