Belgian prosecutors on Monday charged the Swiss branch of HSBC Private Bank with “serious and organized” tax fraud, as well as money laundering and criminal behaviour, allegedly costing Belgium hundreds of millions of euros in unpaid taxes.
“Suspicions brought against the bank ... are based on its presence and illegal intervention in Belgium for several years, to solicit and manage the assets of wealthy clients emerging in particular from the Antwerp diamond world,” the prosecution service said in a statement.
The examining magistrate is to summon several managers and employees of the private banking division of HSBC, the statement added, calling on the British-based banking giant to cooperate, given the “extreme seriousness” of the matter.
HSBC Private Bank is also suspected of having “encouraged” tax fraud by providing some of its privileged clients with access to offshore companies in Panama and the Virgin Islands, with no economic activity and “no goal but to hide clients' assets,” the prosecutors said.
They pointed out that such practices are in breach of EU laws aimed at curbing tax avoidance, and called on Switzerland to honour a cooperation agreement signed in 2004.
Besides the estimated hundreds of millions of euros in unpaid taxes, the prosecutors said they suspect that “far higher sums” may have been subject to money laundering, adding that these funds could be seized by the Belgian judiciary.
The investigation is not the first into the Belgian activities of international banks.
In June, authorities brought criminal charges against a top official from the Swiss banking giant UBS, amid suspicions that the company's Belgian division may have helped wealthy clients dodge taxes.
Sapa-dpa