HSBC left itself open to criminal charges in the UK over its Swiss tax-dodging scandal, ex-director of public prosecutions Lord Ken Macdonald says.
The QC said there were strong grounds to investigate the bank for “cheating” HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
He added that HMRC’s decision not to prosecute was “seriously flawed.”
Allegations emerged earlier this month that the bank had helped hundreds of people evade UK tax using hidden HSBC accounts in Geneva.
Also yesterday, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander told the BBC the Liberal Democrats wanted to introduce new laws on tax evasion.
He told the Andrew Marr Show the party wanted to make those who facilitate any tax evasion, for example lawyers, accountants and banks, as culpable as those who evade tax themselves.
He said the party would “seek to pursue this [in government] over the next few weeks” but, if there was not enough time before the general election, the proposal would form a key part of the party’s manifesto.
In a legal opinion prepared for consumer group SomeOfUS, Lord Macdonald said: “It seems clear, from the evidence we have seen, that there exists credible evidence that HSBC Swiss and/or its employees have engaged over many years in systematic and profitable collusion in serious criminal activity against the exchequers of a number of countries.
Despite the evidence being in the hands of HMRC for nearly five years, no action has so far been taken against the bank.
