Banking giant HSBC has helped wealthy clients all over the world to evade millions of pounds of taxes for the UK government in a scam that was leaked in 2007 but not prosecuted yet by the UK government.
HSBC bank has admitted so far that it was accountable for past control failures but that it systems for keeping track had been fundamentally changed. Although offshore accounts are not officially illegal, having them for the purpose of tax evasion is considered illegal, and HSBC is currently being prosecuted for facilitating tax evasion in France, US, Belgium and Argentina but surprisingly not the UK.
One could assume that this may have something to do with the man in charge of HSBC at the time, Stephen Green, who was made a Conservative peer and appointed to the government. Lord Green was made a minister eight months after HMRC had been given the leaked documents from his bank. He served as a minister of trade and investment until 2013. He told the BBC: "As a matter of principle I will not comment on the business of HSBC past or present."
The Treasury minister David Gauke defended Lord Green's appointment on BBC's Radio 4. "I am not aware of any evidence that suggests that Lord Green was involved in this sort of activity", but said he did not know whether anyone asked him about HSBC prior to his government appointment. But Ms Hodge said: "Either he didn't know and he was asleep at the wheel, or he did know and he was therefore involved in dodgy tax practices. "Either way he was the man in charge and I think he has got really important questions to answer."
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