Top UK tax officials were probed by MPs on Wednesday over the recent tax evasion scandal that has engulfed British banking giant HSBC. Labour MP Austin Mitchel said Britain’s tax avoidance industry has eclipsed its tax collection industry.
Amid global controversy over HSBC's alleged involvement in industrial scale tax evasion, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) was questioned by Britain’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
On Sunday, it emerged HSBC's Swiss private banking arm had aided royalty, criminals, terrorists, and drug dealers in dodging taxes.
A colossal cache of files leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) shed light on the banking giant's clandestine practices between 2005 and 2007. During this period, HSBC's Swiss private banking arm controlled roughly $100 billion in assets.
Files disclosing the bank’s suspect actions were leaked to HMRC in 2010.
Not exactly the "James Bond" image of British Intelligence. MI5 was perfectly happy to let little children go on being sexually molested just in case they could get video of someone important doing it!