220 clients of HSBC Switzerland, with total accounts amounting to1.3 billion dollars are connected to Romania. 11 of them have Romanian citizenship or passport, according to a report incriminating the banking institution that helped traffickers and criminal organizations keep secret their identity and deposits.
According to the report published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalist and presented by Mediafax, Romania ranked 39 of 203 countries in the ranking drawn according to the total amount deposited by customers in the HSBC accounts in Switzerland between 2006-2007.
The maximum amount of a customer's account with ties to Romania was, in the analyzed period, of 829.1 million dollars, the report shows.
HSBC Private Bank, the Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC has helped over 100,000 people in 203 countries and companies to evade tax by hiding the identity of depositors, the report reads.
The ICIJ report is based on a list of HSBC clients was provided by a bank employee, Herve Falciani, who left the institution in 2008.
The Swiss customers deposited the highest amounts in the HSBC accounts from 2006-2007, the deposits totaled 31.2 billion dollars, followed by clients with links to the UK (21.7 billion dollars), Venezuela (14.8 billion), USA (13.4 billion dollars), France ($ 12.5 billion) and Israel ($ 10 billion).
Depending on the number of depositors, Romania is ranked 62 ICIJ in the top, with 219 clients, Luxembourg (222 clients) and the Cayman Islands (212 customers). The top is led by Switzerland, with 11,235 customers with ties to this country, France (9187 clients), UK (8844 clients) and Brazil (8,667 clients).
Most data on the number of depositors covers the period 1988-2007.
Among the clients listed, the report includes King Mohammed VI of Morocco, several members of the royal family of Saudi Arabia, Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain and famous artists and athletes.
Authorities in several countries, including Argentina, Belgium, France and Greece have been investigating for many years the HSBC for their involvement in tax evasion and money laundering.
Three years ago, HSBC agreed to pay the US authorities a record fine of 1.92 billion dollars for the amicable conclusion of an investigation on deficiencies in the mechanisms to combat money laundering.