The Spanish government is considering legal action against HSBC after it emerged that its private bank in Switzerland helped its clients dodge tax authorities around the world. The HSBC files show 2,694 Spaniards held accounts in the bank’s Swiss subsidiary, with savings totalling $2.3bn (£1.5bn).
On Tuesday Spain’s finance minister, Cristóbal Montoro, said he had asked the government’s legal counsel to carry out a “study of the legal actions that can be taken against HSBC for its participation in carrying out fiscal fraud, laundering and other wrongful acts committed by Spanish residents”.
The conservative People’s party minister’s remarks were a departure from his initial reaction to the leaks published by the Guardian and dozens of other media outlets. On Monday, Montoro called the scandal “old news”, explaining that the list of Spaniards involved had been given to Spanish tax authorities in 2010, when the Socialists were in government. “We’ve already taken action to address them.”
In 2010, tax authorities contacted more than 650 Spanish residents on the list who were suspected of tax evasion, offering them the chance to avoid inspection by voluntarily settling their debts. Spain’s Botín family, whose members head Santander bank, paid €200m (£150m) in back taxes to the Spanish government, ending an investigation for tax fraud. At the time, neither the Socialists nor the People’s party moved to take action against HSBC.
Montoro’s initial dismissal of the subject contrasted with that of his political opponents. The anti-austerity party Podemos announced that it had asked the HSBC whistleblower Hervé Falciani to draw up a report on tackling tax evasion, while the Socialists demanded reforms to Spain’s tax law to allow the names of tax evaders to be released publicly.
In a year that will see municipal, regional and probably general elections take place across the country, Spain’s politicians have been keen to show that they are actively addressing issues such as tax evasion, which ranks high among Spaniards’ preoccupations.
