‘Politicians can't be trusted to clean up HSBC’: Govt revenue chiefs grilled over tax evasion scandal
Published time: February 11, 2015 13:22
Amid global controversy over the bank’s alleged facilitation of industrial scale tax evasion and avoidance, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) chief Lin Homer will be questioned by Britain’s Public Accounts Committee in the House of Commons.
MPs on the influential committee will challenge Homer on why HRMC failed to take significant action against 6,000 former clients of HSBC’s Swiss operation, whose details were leaked to the tax authority in 2010.
Committee sources told The Telegraph that the hearing will prove challenging for Homer, who took up her role as HMRC chief in 2011. Previously, she held the position of Permanent Secretary of the Department of Transport.
Commenting on the HSBC scandal, Joel Benjamin, of UK-based ethical finance think tank Move Your Money, said the banking giant had yet again breached international law, and will consequently face criminal investigation.
He expressed little faith in Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or tax authorities to adequately handle the most recent allegations leveled at the scandal-ridden bank.
Edward Troup, HRMC’s second permanent secretary, is also due to give evidence to the accounts committee. The tax chief told parliament in 2012 that while criminal proceedings had only been brought against one of HSBC’s clients contained in the cache of leaked files handed to the HRMC, a further dozen were planned.
Another civil servant, Jim Harra, will also offer evidence on recent allegations brought against HSBC. Harra is HRMC’s director general of business tax.