French protestors call for HSBC nationalization
Activists in France have staged a protest rally against the British bank, HSBC, for its illegal banking practices, Press TV reports.
On Thursday, members of the French Communist party gathered on the Champs-Elysées avenue in the capital city of Paris to demand the nationalization of the bank.
The protesters staged a mock arrest of the HSBC Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver as anger toward high finance continues to mount in austerity-racked France.
“There is an investigation against HSBC, but what about the other banks which all do the same? We need to see banks save the people instead of hiding the colossal fortune of the rich,” a protestor told Press TV.
A recently retired employee of the HSBC also said, “I want to say that we are not all the same as the thieves who are higher-up…We need to nationalize the banks. That would undoubtedly lead to less fraud.”
The London-based HSBC is under fire for the staggering scale of its allegedly illegal banking practices, including money laundering and tax fraud.The Swiss arm of HSBC is being investigated in France over a series of leaked files.
According to the cache of files leaked in the so-called SwissLeaks case, HSBC Switzerland helped clients in more than 200 countries evade taxes on accounts containing USD 204 billion (119 billion euros).
The claims against the HSBC, which is Europe’s largest banking and financial services institution, emerged after the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) website early February leaked documents from the files stolen by an HSBC former software engineer and handed to French authorities in late 2008.
HSBC is charged with helping their French clients avoid 181 billion euros in taxes just over the years 2006 and 2007.
The billions in unpaid taxes have appalled the average French citizens who have been affected by three years of social service cuts and failed right-wing economic policies.
Last week, Swiss judicial authorities raided the HSBC bank in the city of Geneva as part of their money laundering probe.
YH/MKA/HMV
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