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| HSBC man who passed clients' details to tax investigators escapes extradition | HSBC man who passed clients' details to tax investigators escapes extradition |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Spain's national court has ruled against extraditing a former HSBC employee to Switzerland, where he faces charges of stealing and revealing client information known as the "Lagarde list". | Spain's national court has ruled against extraditing a former HSBC employee to Switzerland, where he faces charges of stealing and revealing client information known as the "Lagarde list". |
| The court rejected the charges that Swiss authorities had wanted to bring against the employee, 41-year-old Hervé Falciani. Allegedly he stole information between 2006 and 2007 relating to 24,000 customers of the Swiss division of HSBC. | |
| Details of the accounts were sent to Christine Lagarde, France's former finance minister and now head of the International Monetary Fund, and she passed them on to other governments in the EU and to the US. The move exposed many of HSBC's Swiss clients to prosecution for tax evasion and put pressure on Switzerland to crack down on the practice. | |
| A court statement said two of the Swiss charges – revelation of secrets and infringing client confidentiality – could not be used to protect suspected illegal activities. It said another charge, of bank secrecy, did not exist in Spain. | A court statement said two of the Swiss charges – revelation of secrets and infringing client confidentiality – could not be used to protect suspected illegal activities. It said another charge, of bank secrecy, did not exist in Spain. |
| Regarding a fourth charge, of financial espionage, the court said Switzerland was using this for its own interests and not those of other states, and as such it could not be taken as a base for extradition. | Regarding a fourth charge, of financial espionage, the court said Switzerland was using this for its own interests and not those of other states, and as such it could not be taken as a base for extradition. |
| The court said it was lifting all restrictions against Falciani, who has French and Italian citizenship, allowing him to leave Spain if he chooses. Falciani had been arrested in July 2012 after he left France by sea and tried to enter Spain through the north-eastern port of Barcelona. | |
| The court released him last December but withdrew his passport. It argued then that Falciani was co-operating with investigators from several European countries in investigations concerning certain individuals over tax evasion, money laundering, and terrorism financing. | |
| In an interview with El País newspaper last month, Falciani said US justice department officials suggested he should go to Spain as he was in danger. | |
| At an extradition hearing in April Falciani said he had told Swiss authorities in 2008 about what he had discovered at HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) but that they had refused to let him make an anonymous complaint. | At an extradition hearing in April Falciani said he had told Swiss authorities in 2008 about what he had discovered at HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) but that they had refused to let him make an anonymous complaint. |