HSBC whistle blower Herve Falciani, who’s Swiss leaks have been key to India’s black money probe, has been sentenced to five years in prison by a Switzerland court. Quoting a Swiss news agency, Falciani has been charged with industrial espionage.
The trial took place in absentia in the Swiss Federal Court in Bellinzona Friday.
Falciani had refused to appear saying that the conditions for fair trial were missing. There was, however, a state appointed lawyer who represented him in court.
Falciani, a former employee of HSBC, had leaked documents that apparently revealed that HSBC’s Swiss private banking arm aided over one-lakh clients to evade taxes worth more than 200 billion US dollars. The list of account holders had later reached the French government and subsequently was shared with India as it had accounts of those Indians who had stashed funds abroad.
Earlier this month, Falciani had said that he was willing to co-operate with the Indian investigative agencies in their black money probe but would need protection.
Friday night, he told an Indian news channel that nothing has changed and it should not affect his collaboration with Indian authorities. He said, he would make an appeal to the European Human Rights Court.
HSBC has announced shutting down of its private banking business in India that offers wealth management services. The bank’s spokesperson said, after a strategic review of the global private banking operations in Mumbai, they have decided to close down the business.
This follows within two months of Royal Bank of Scotland also exiting the private banking business by selling it off to a company floated by a few of its senior management personnel.