|
 "It was in the public domain in September 2010 that HSBC was
enabling tax avoidance on an industrial scale," Miliband said in
parliament.
Addressing Prime Minister David Cameron during a weekly questions
session, Miliband asked: "are we seriously expected to believe that
when he made Stephen Green a minister four months later that he had
no idea about these allegations?"
Green was chief executive and subsequently executive chairman of
HSBC when much of the alleged evasion occurred. Cameron later made
him a trade minister and put him in the British upper house of
parliament.
After the leak this month of its Swiss bank's customer list, HSBC
said its Swiss arm had not been fully integrated after its purchase
in 1999, allowing significantly lower standards of compliance and
due diligence to persist.
So far, Green, 66, has declined to comment.
Cameron did not directly answer Miliband's question, merely noting
that former Labour leader Gordon Brown had appointed Green as one of
his senior business advisors.
[to top of second column] |
(Reporting by Andrew Osborn, writing by Stephen Addison, editing by
Guy Faulconbridge)
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