{"id":27795,"date":"2015-02-10T20:56:14","date_gmt":"2015-02-10T20:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=27795"},"modified":"2015-02-11T09:41:46","modified_gmt":"2015-02-11T09:41:46","slug":"if-i-knew-about-stephen-green-and-switzerland-in-2010-anyone-could-have-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2015\/02\/10\/if-i-knew-about-stephen-green-and-switzerland-in-2010-anyone-could-have-done\/","title":{"rendered":"If I knew about Stephen Green and Switzerland in 2010 anyone could have done"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a load of nonsense<\/a> being talked all around government and the media tonight suggesting that maybe no-one knew about HSBC's tax issues at the time Stephen Green was appointed a peer.<\/p>\n

That's nonsense. I wrote the blog below in September 2010<\/a>. I have replaced the photo here: the original has gone missing. Otherwise it is word for word the same. And if I knew, anyone could, not least because my blog was pretty easy to find, even back then:<\/p>\n

-----------<\/em><\/p>\n

The BBC has reported<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

Hundreds of wealthy UK taxpayers have been sent letters by HM Revenue & Customs over possible large-scale tax evasion, the BBC has learned.<\/em><\/p>\n

It is understood HMRC has acquired a list of high net-worth individuals with accounts at the Swiss division of HSBC.<\/em><\/p>\n

The list was stolen by an employee and passed to the taxman by the French authorities. The bank is not accused of any wrongdoing.<\/em><\/p>\n

The campaign comes after the government announced a crackdown on tax avoidance.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is good news. And let\u2019s have none of the nonsense that the list was stolen. We\u2019ve always paid informers to tackle crime.<\/em><\/p>\n

As for the bank\u2019s behaviour, I note what the BBC says. But it always baffles me as to how a bank can be innocent in these cases. It has a duty to make sure it is not handling money laundered funds. Tax evaded money is money laundered in my opinion.<\/em><\/p>\n

Also note this is HSBC. Why\u2019s that relevant? Why, because of the Rev Stephen Green, of course! This is him:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure he delivers a great sermon. No doubt he asks his congregation to admit and repent of their sins, regularly. But a Stephen Green is also the chairman of HSBC. This is him:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

Yes, they are the same guy.<\/em><\/p>\n

And extraordinarily there\u2019s been a chap called Stephen Green who has been chair<\/a> of HSBC Private Banking Holdings (Suisse) SA. Yep, that HSBC\u2019s Swiss private bank. This is him:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

Same guy. He\u2019s busy, isn\u2019t he?<\/em><\/p>\n

And then note that a chap called Stephen Green is shortly to become Lord Green<\/a> and become Trade Minister in the ConDem government. Who could it be? No, surely not:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

Oh yes it is.<\/em><\/p>\n

Perhaps in his new role he\u2019s like to tell HMRC where they should be looking.<\/em><\/p>\n

----------<\/i><\/p>\n

I have a feeling he never did.<\/p>\n

It was that old Swiss baking secrecy thing, I am sure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a load of nonsense being talked all around government and the media tonight suggesting that maybe no-one knew about HSBC’s tax issues at
 Read the full article…<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70,63,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-banking","category-switzerland","category-tax-evasion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27795\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}