Authorities in the Swiss city of Geneva have raided the offices of
HSBC in connection with a money laundering probe into the British
bank.
The city’s public prosecutor searched HSBC’s lakeside office on
Wednesday after opening a criminal inquiry into allegations of
aggravated money laundering, the second investigation to hit the
bank this week.
Europe’s largest lender is in regulators’ sights after details about
how its Swiss private bank allegedly helped wealthy clients evade
millions of dollars in taxes were leaked to the media and published
last week.
The cache of files, made public in the so-called SwissLeaks case,
claimed HSBC’s Swiss private banking arm helped clients in more
than 200 countries evade taxes on accounts containing $119bn.
The files provided details on more than 100,000 HSBC clients,
including people targeted by US sanctions, suspected arms dealers
and drug traffickers.
The Geneva prosecutor said he had launched an investigation
following the allegations and could extend it to individuals.
“A search is currently under way in the premises of the bank, led
by Attorney General Olivier Jornot and the prosecutor Yves
Bertossa,” the prosecutor said in a statement.
Anyone found guilty of such crimes could face up to five years
behind bars as well as large fines, Geneva judicial authorities told the
AFP news agency.
HSBC has apologised to customers and investors over the previous
failings of its Swiss business and has said the operation has since
been overhauled.
However, Britain’s financial watchdog said on Monday that it
would investigate HSBC and focus on its current behaviour.
Talented Nigerian songstress Temilade Openiyi, popularly known as Tems, has finally broken her silence after winning her first Grammy, SHARE The sensational Tems , who was nominated in three categories—” Best Rap Song ” and “ Best Melodic Rap Performance ” for her contribution to the hit collaboration with Future and Drake titled “ Wait For U “—and “ Album Of The Year ” as a featured artist on Beyonce ‘s “ Renaissance ” album, bagged her first Grammy at the 65th edition of the Grammy awards, which was held on Sunday, February 5, 2023 , at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, United States. Taking to her Twitter on February 8th, 2023 , the singer showed gratitude to God and her fans for their support. She wrote:
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