The HSBC list of tax dodgers that sent shock waves around the world after it emerged this week includes 246 mainland Chinese people, including the daughter of a former Premier of China, ifeng reports.
The list was stolen from HSBC by a former IT worker in Switzerland in 2007 and handed over to French authorities in order to hunt down tax evaders, but was made public this weekend by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. An in-depth report analyzing notes attached to various accounts by CBC, showed that HSBC was aware of the illegal nature of their clients’ dealings and actively assisted them in avoiding tax.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, 246 mainland Chinese people were also included in the list, holding a combined total of 517 million USD in the Swiss branch of HSBC. Hong Kongers were featured much more prominently on the list with 984 customers and there were 73 from Taiwan.
Among those named on the list is Li Xiaolin, the daughter of Li Peng, who served as Premier between 1987 and 1998. She has been linked to five bank accounts that held an accumulated amount of 2.8 million USD from 2006 to 2007.
The accounts were held under a Panama-registered company, Metralco Overseas S.A which was dissolved in 2012.
This will no doubt catch the attention of China’s high profile current anti-corruption drive which has been gleefully taking down powerful ‘tigers’ who were previously considered untouchable.
Other famous names on the list include David Bowie, Elle MacPhearson and Joan Collins, as well as relatives of Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad and a convicted blood diamond trader.
HSBC has responded by pointing out that the documents date from eight years ago and new and improved initiatives have since been put into place to prevent the use of banking services for tax dodging or other illegal purposes.
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Keywords: Daughter of Former Premier Li Peng among246 Mainland Chinese on HSBC Tax Dodger List Li Xiaolin
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'...taking down powerful "tigers" who were previously considered untouchable.' 1. Where are the caught 'tigers' and their loot? 2. You need two hands to make a clap so where are the collaborators in the private sector? 3. Nothing on the 'flies'. Life as usual. If they are all caught China has to build the largest prison on earth. Not too brilliant your shows are, china. '...Hong Kongers were featured much more prominently on the list with 984 customers and there were 73 from Taiwan.' Bought citizenships for laundering corruption money; yet another reason Hong Kongers and Taiwanese are saying, 'get the @#$@# out of our cities'. '...Among those named on the list is Li Xiaolin, the daughter of Li Peng, who served as Premier between 1987 and 1998' °lol° Wait till you see the names on Alibaba's investors list before its IPO in US. A little example, someone with the Zhang surname yet relatively young....
Feb 10, 2015 19:02 Report Abuse
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