Hervé Falciani

[Magda Hassan]

Politics Justice

BANKING SECRECY

Billion-euro whistleblower

24 August 2012
EL PAÍS MADRID

Hervé Falciani in Nice in 2009.

Hervé Falciani is the 40-year-old computer technician who provided several European governments access to files listing the names of the thousands of their citizens evading taxes via bank accounts at HSBC's Swiss affiliate. Arrested in Barcelona in late July, he is awaiting extradition to Switzerland. Excerpts.
Manuel Altozano
He did not have to look far to find them. They were there, on his computer screen, the one he worked at for six years at HSBC's Geneva headquarters.
Hervé Falciani was responsible for upgrading client databases in one of the world's largest banks and the information to which he had access in October 2006 was priceless. The data, protected by Switzerland's sacrosanct secrecy laws, concerned millionaire depositers' accounts left to blossom over the course of years thanks to covert transfers and financial flows of doubtful, but untraceable, origins.
Then 34-years-old, the computer programmer had before him the list of thousands of bank deposits of foreign businesses and private citizens, placed safely in Switzerland to evade the tax authorities in their respective countries. It was one of the most significant tax evasion cases ever uncovered.
The following scene took place nearly six years later, in the port of Barcelona. On July 1, 2012, Hervé Falciani went to Spain by boat and an alarm bell went off during an identity check.

Branded a thief

An international arrest warrant was issued for Falciani, who is a citizen of Monaco with dual French and Italian citizenship, is married and has a child. Despite the fact his actions revealed thousands of cases of tax evasion all over Europe and some €10 billion in lost taxes were recovered, Bern considers him a criminal, a thief.
He has been arrested and, now, the Bellinzona Federal Tribunal eagerly awaits his return in order to prosecute him for theft of private data as well as for violation of the commercial secrets and banking secrecy laws. But first of all, Spain has to decide to extradite him.
Six intense years have passed between Falciani's incredible discovery and his arrest in Barcelona. During this time the computer programmer became a fugitive whose worth is measured by the value of the information he has at his disposal. He is a criminal who must be tried and incarcerated, according to those who want to destroy the data. But he is seen a sort of hero, a Robin Hood needing protection, according to those who would like to obtain it. Here is what happened in those six years.
After his October 2006 discovery, Falciani spent part of each work day downloading the suspicious data onto his laptop computer. He did this systematically for two years, without exception.

Arrested

Then on March 20, 2008, the Swiss Association of Bankers, a lobby group for Swiss financial interests, sent out a warning. On February 4, a man calling himself Ruben El-Chidiak, had gone to the Audi Bank in Beirut to negotiate the sale of data containing the names of clients of various Swiss banks. According to the Association, this information was obtained through theft. Banking secrecy laws, the pillar of Swiss identity, was under threat.
The police discovered that Ruben El-Chidiak was really Hervé Falciani. On December 20, 2008, Falciani and a colleague were arrested and questioned. Quickly released, Falciani settled the next day in Castellar, a village on the French Riviera near the Italian border. He was thus poised between the two countries of which he is a citizen. In this way he escaped Bern's clutches because neither France nor Italy will extradite one of their own citizens. Switzerland continued to request his return because it wanted to recover the data downloaded by Falciani, who, according to the prosecutor and HSBC, is guilty of theft.
Switzerland then issued an international arrest warrant for him. Yet, during this desperate pursuit, the Swiss authorities committed a serious error. They asked the French authorities to search Falciani's house, to seize his laptop computer and to send them his archives.

Tax treasure trove

On January 20, 2009 the French Nice assistant prosecutor called for a search of Falciani's family home. The routine operation turned into a remarkable find when 130,000 accounts of alleged tax evaders were discovered. The prosecutor opened an investigation, which is not aimed at the programmer but at the holders of the said accounts.
Word of the Falciani case got out and sparked a diplomatic crisis between France and Switzerland. Bern accused France of illegally keeping the stolen data. The government of [then-president Nicolas] Sarkozy for its part, threatened to have Switzerland added to the OECD Tax Haven Black List.
The media got hold of the case in August 2009. The French Budget Minister, Eric Woerth, announced that he had a list of 3,000 holders of Swiss bank accounts but without revealing the origin of the data. He asked that account holders make themselves known to the tax authorities in order to legalise their situation. This prompted 4,200 people to come forward to the tax authorities and France recuperated €1.2 billion in unpaid taxes.
The few names revealed in the French press led to a series of scandals, in particular the case of Patrice de Maistre financial manager for Liliane Bettencourt, the main shareholder in cosmetics giant l'Oréal as well as the cases of the heiress of Nina Ricci perfumes and of Jean-Charles Marchiani, a close associate of a former French Interior Minister, Charles Pasqua. Meanwhile, Switzerland continued to pressure France into handing over Falciani's laptop computer.

Caring is sharing

Paris finally agreed to the request in February 2010. However, before doing so, the prosecutor sent copies of the files, if they requested them, to all the countries with which Paris has tax cooperation agreements.
On May 24, 2010, the information communicated by France was already being studied at the headquarters of the Spanish tax office. The officials asked suspected tax evaders to turn themselves in and to pay their due, plus a fine. The amounts recovered in Spain thanks to the information downloaded by Falciani currently represents the most significant tax recovery operation in the history of the tax office. According to unofficial sources, more than €6 billion were recovered. The list contains powerful people such as Emilio Botín, CEO of the Santander Bank.
Other great names appear on the list sent to Italy. That list of 6,963 people includes fashion designers Valentino and Renato Balestra. In all, the Italian Treasury recovered some €570 million thanks to HSBC's Swiss accounts.

Motive mystery

There is still one remaining mystery. What were Hervé Falciani's intentions in downloading the files to his laptop computer? Did he wish to see justice done and to blow the whistle on the fraudulent practices of his company, as he has claimed from the beginning, or did he simply want to sell the data for a considerable sum of money as the Swiss justice department maintains? One can also wonder if Falciani has additional information and if he can still be useful in investigating further wrong-doing.
Just two weeks after his arrest, the United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations published a report on the lack of control at HSBC regarding money laundering.
The list of Hervé Falciani's enemies which already includes the Swiss department of justice; HSBC, one of the most powerful banks in the world; and thousands of tax evaders may have to be expanded to dangerous criminal groups such as Al-Qaeda and Mexican drug cartels. He is conscious of the value of the information he holds. He knows that a headlong rush is his only option.
http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/arti...stleblower

[Magda Hassan]

List of Swiss Accounts Turns Up the Heat in Greece

By RACHEL DONADIO and LIZ ALDERMAN

Published: October 27, 2012

ATHENS The speaker of the Greek Parliament, several employees of the Finance Ministry and a number of business leaders are on a list of more than 2,000 Greeks said to have accounts in a Swiss bank, according to a respected investigative magazine. The Greek magazine, Hot Doc, published the list on Saturday, raising the stakes in a heated battle over which current and former government officials had seen the original list passed on by France two years ago and whether they had used it to check for possible tax evasion.

But he said the Finance Ministry's legal adviser had warned that the list was a problem because a HSBC employee had illegally leaked it.Hot Doc said its version of the list matches the one that Christine Lagarde, then the French finance minister and now the head of the International Monetary Fund, had given her Greek counterpart in 2010 to help Greece crack down on rampant tax evasion as it was trying to steady its economy. The 2,059 people on the list are said to have had accounts in a Geneva branch of HSBC.
Questions about the handling of the original list reached a near frenzy in Athens last week as two former finance ministers were pressed to explain why the government appeared to have taken no action on the list. The subject has touched a nerve among average Greeks at a time when the Parliament is expected to vote on a new 13.5 billion euro austerity package that could further reduce their standards of living.
The publication of the list is likely to exacerbate Greeks' anger that their political leaders might have been reluctant to investigate the business elite, with whom they often have close ties, even as middle- and lower-class Greeks have struggled with higher taxes and increasingly ardent tax collectors.
The magazine was careful to note that having an account at HSBC was not illegal or proof of evading Greek taxes, a point underscored by a spokesman for the Greek Finance Ministry. But the magazine suggested that Greek officials should check whether those on it had moved money into the accounts to escape paying taxes.
Hours after the magazine hit newsstands, Athens prosecutors issued a warrant for the arrest of Kostas Vaxevanis, the owner and editor of Hot Doc, "where names from the Lagarde list have been published," the Athens police said in a statement on their Web site. They said he was sought on misdemeanor charges; the Greek media reported that the charges were related to violating the privacy of those on the list.
Mr. Vaxevanis, one of Greece's most famous investigative journalists, said he was being wrongly targeted. "Instead of arresting the tax evaders and the ministers who had the list in their hands, they are trying to arrest the truth and free journalism," he said in a telephone interview that was uploaded on the Internet and widely circulated.
The issue of the list has shaken the country for weeks, posing new challenges to the fragile three-way coalition government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. Above all, it put intense pressure on the Socialist party, a key member of the coalition, whose leader, Evangelos Venizelos, is one of two Socialist former finance ministers accused of not having acted on the information.
The finger pointing, likely to intensify with the list's publication, is certain to distract Greek politicians during a week when European finance ministers are scheduled to discuss whether to release billions of euros in fresh financial aid. Greece's lenders have long said that the country must crack down on tax evasion to be eligible for further infusions of cash.
According to Hot Doc, the list includes not only some in the government and businesspeople, but also actors, doctors, lawyers and architects. It also includes several women identified as housewives who the magazine said had moved large amounts of money to the HSBC accounts.
There was no immediate comment from Mr. Samaras, who was meeting with aides throughout the afternoon to discuss the new austerity measures demanded by Greece's lenders.
Giorgos Voulgarakis, the speaker of the Parliament from Mr. Samaras's center-right New Democracy party, denied having any overseas bank accounts and accused the magazine of mudslinging.
Hot Doc said it had been given the list by "one of the people who had received" it. Yannis Stournaras, the finance minister, sent a letter to his French counterpart several days ago asking for the original list, but so far the Greek official has not received a response, according to the ministry spokesman, who was not authorized to speak publicly. The aide said that the Greek Finance Ministry wants to be certain that it has the original list of names before investigating whether any tax evasion occurred. The magazine said it had called a sampling of account holders on its list to confirm that they had deposits in the Swiss bank. Citing privacy concerns for those on the list, Hot Doc said it had redacted how much money was said to be in each account, but added that some accounts were listed as containing as much as 500 million euros. The list dates to 2007.
The magazine also carried a long report on Mr. Voulgarakis. According to Hot Doc, the parliamentary speaker opened an account at HSBC in 2003 that was jointly managed by him, his wife and an offshore company based in Liberia.
The magazine said the deposits do not show up on Mr. Voulgarakis's tax declarations.
Mr. Voulgarakis, a former government minister who was investigated but later exonerated in another high-profile corruption inquiry, issued a statement saying, "I declare categorically that neither my wife nor I have any offshore companies or foreign bank accounts."
On Friday, the office of former Prime Minister George Papandreou denied claims that he had been aware of the list, after a member of the opposition Syriza party alleged that Mr. Papandreou had helped set up a meeting with the head of the Geneva HSBC branch in Geneva when he was in office.
Last week, former Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou told lawmakers that he had asked Greece's financial crimes unit to investigate about 20 Greek citizens thought to hold large deposits at the HSBC Geneva branch after French authorities forwarded him the list of names in October 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/world/...share&_r=0

Why this is important

Tell the Athens District Attorney to drop all charges against Greek
journalist Kostas Vaxevanis. A warrant for Vaxevanis' arrest has been issued today for the alleged crime of "violating privacy legislation" as a result of today's special issue of his bi-weekly magazine HOT DOC publishing a list of 2,059 names and associated professions of Greek nationals from the client database of HSBC in Switzerland. More information on the revelations can be found at today'sNY Times: http://nyti.ms/Rptn9V
The list has recently become a topic of controversy as it was discovered that successive finance ministers and prosecutors have failed to utilize the information to recover any tax revenue or even commence a single official investigation. The fact that the first arrest warrant to arise from the database is for the journalist who was leaked the information exemplifies the corruption and ineptitude that plagues recent Greek administrations.
The database has been in the possession of the Greek government since 2010 after being transferred by then French Finance Minister Christine Lagard to her Greek counterpart in order to assist in recouping lost tax revenue. Several other European governments including France, Spain, and Italy have used the information in the database to recover close to EUR 10 Billion (USD 13 Billion) in much needed revenue as they struggle with tough recessions.

All this while the Greece struggles with conditions of harsh economic depression as a result of EU/IMF imposed austerity that has disproportionately struck the middle and working classes. The list includes -among others- well known business people, journalists, doctors, lawyers, and media figures many of who have declared income that does not justify the amount of money in their HSBC accounts. http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Drop_al...Vaxevanis/

[Jan Klimkowski]

The fate of Hervé Falciani shines a bright light on the true nature of Power.

Arrest the whistleblower. Protect the crooks.

[Peter Lemkin]

The fate of Hervé Falciani shines a bright light on the true nature of Power.

Arrest the whistleblower. Protect the crooks.

Hmmm....where have I seen and heard that being put into effect before???
......seems to me more than just once...oh, yes,....
ITS ALL THE TIME NOW!.....SORRY, HOW SILLY OF ME TO FORGET.....
...it won't happen again....:popworm:

[Magda Hassan]

Falciani private letters: "The bank is led by liars and corrupt"

The former employee of Swiss bank HSBC that uncovered the identity of thousands of tax evaders worldwide exchanged letters with anonymous citizens during the five and a half months he was in prison Valdemoro (Madrid).In these texts, the Franco-computer insists that his intention is to collaborate with justice.

NATIONAL | 29/01/2013

• PRINT
  
• SEND
  

PHOTO: VOZPOPULI

Fragment of the handwritten letters sent by Falciani.

• 
  
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Ó. Lopez-Fonseca

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Hervé Falciani, the former employee of HSBC Swiss data revealed thousands of tax evaders worldwide and is on probation and guarded by Spanish police since mid-December, held for five and a half months he was held in Madrid prison Valdemoro an intense exchange of letters with anonymous people who wrote to him to show support. In these letters, some of which have accessed this newspaper, Falciani explains the reasons for its decision and shows his firm intention to continue to cooperate with the law. "Large financial institutions are very dangerous," says one of them before stating that the bank is led by "liars and corrupt".

The former employee of HSBC believes that the symbolic Berlin Wall has been replaced today by the "wall of secrecy of banks"

The letters, some of which circulated online for weeks between computer support groups and that media have echoed the magazine as Asturian Atlantic XXII , are handwritten in blue ink, and although they are more abundant which are in English, there is also a Castilian. One of the letters sent on 25 October to GH, a woman already in the first line gives thanks "for your support and your letter." In it lay hold Falciani a quote from Greek philosopherHeraclitus - "is well known that the universe is a constant battle" - to reaffirm its intention to continue in the "fight". Even he says that his only intention is to "share truth, friendship, ideas, information useful for not losing sight of the goal: transparency, transparency against corruption and the machinations that hurt most." Falciani believes that the Berlin Wall, which served "to separate two ideologies", has been replaced today by the "wall of secrecy of banks to keep us away from the real information we deserve."
In this letter, two pages in length, the former employee of HSBC even complains about his status as a prisoner, he considers "the opportunity to share the best, useful and true information."Falciani is also convinced of the power of social networks in their particular fighting big Swiss banks and ensures that longs "have the opportunity to participate in this war even more effectively with more and more people." For him, the goal is to "put pressure on politicians to change the laws against fiscal and financial crimes, and the statute of limitations for these crimes (which means impunity) should be the first law to change." "For now, he continues this in my main goal, to expose and bring to justice".
Justice, justice, justice
The term "justice" is, in fact, the most repeated word in these texts, even in the plural: "There are many injustices, as many countries, and we must ensure that our justice defend our interests," he said before stating that " large financial institutions are very dangerous and we have to find a way to get people to ask themselves if they should trust a major bank led by corrupt liars and forgers. " This letter ends asking his interlocutor that "lose faith" and to devote their free time "as much as you can" exchange ideas "because the solutions appear through the 'community' of people who want and love to live sharing with their peers, rather than selfishly ".

The computer does not lament its passing through prison: "It is the best place to find true friends and true enemies"

In a second letter, in late November, and also directed to GH, Falciani insists on showing it passes through prison as a positive - "is the best place to find true friends and true enemies" - and stresses that with the letters receiving support is "better". "No man is an island, and can do no good being alone, [so] e need people equally motivated to accomplish what we started and help make changes in our societies", said before underlining that "it is time to speak loud and clear" and publicize "our voices, opinions and proposals". Falciani front will ensure that "people with cold blood, they are happy and secure in their impunity, arrogant that have no rule to control your greed. "To fight them, the former employee of HSBC gives an example:" If a child is doing something bad, will continue until we, as their parents [...] we learn and take action . In this case the children are some bankers ".
Falciani accuses big banks to be "playing" with the world economy to "deprive many European countries in their liquidity" through public debts "larger and more difficult to sustain." "We had enough money to get rid of it until most disappeared and flew to certain countries with special financial characteristics, as Switzerland," he says. Therefore, the computer thinks that "people should understand that it is under attack, we must join forces and prepare [...] We must listen to the people who have been abused by the system and get them on our side helping them know they're not alone and giving them tools to make their stories heard and be useful. " In this regard, stresses the value of the Internet as a key tool in their strategy.
"Corruption is the problem"
In a third letter, this Nov. 7, Falciani dares even with Castilian. In a brief text addressed to Italian twists sprinkled RP and only one page long, the former employee of HSBC says he wants to "live like everyone else, enjoy life, and your letters help me to continue." Franco-The computer returns to repeated its intention to work: "I know that we must regain our institutions sacándole (sic) of corruption. Make Justice, law or politics [...] Today thought (sic) is il (sic) time to see , to help justice. "even accuses the authorities of Switzerland, who have asked for his extradition to Madrid," lying to protect [a] their banks against their people "." Corruption is the problem. We must force [ our] institutions actionable verse (sic) banks. "and signs his name, Hervé.

Falciani proposed recipients of his letters "pressuring politicians to change the laws against tax crimes"

Since mid-December, when he left prison Valdemoro, Falciani has not returned to exchange letters with his followers in Spain. His release from prison took place on December 16 surrounded by exceptional security measures (eight officers and a bulletproof vest protected him, asVozpópuli forward ) and since then has remained hidden and protected in an unfamiliar place with the only legal obligation to appear every three days at the police station nearest to his home and forbidden to leave the territory Spaniards. All while the Spanish authorities finally decide whether accessing the Swiss request to extradite him.
Until that time comes, the Spanish police expected large data, not only of Spanish fortunes hiding his fortune in Switzerland, but also mechanisms money laundering and concealment used by organized crime that are unknown so far for the Armed State Security."Falciani is a mine, but perhaps not as much as he would have us believe" highlighted a few weeks ago this newspaper consulted agent. A 'mine' that not only served to discover hundreds of fraudsters in Spain but also in France, Italy, Britain and the U.S.. In fact, authorities in Paris were the first who managed to identify more than 4,000 taxpayers who had evaded paying taxes after his police entered in January 2009 at the home of the French town of Castellar, near the border with Italy, where he was hiding Falciani and be seized of a computer, a phone and a notebook Iphonespirals with sensitive information.
The 659 Spanish fraudsters
Then, the French courts did not just use information directly affecting its treasury and other countries provided data that was obtained from the former employee's computer support of HSBC.It was with this information that our country identified 659 fraudsters in 2010. The performance of French justice in turn provoked a diplomatic crisis between Paris and Bern, which has always considered that the action of the former bank employee was a very serious crime. In addition, the Swiss authorities considered that France should never have 'exploded' policing the information contained on the hard disk as the recording was made by the housing demand of them.

The crimes of the former employee is accused of HSBC in Switzerland are not criminal in Spain

A tension that was moved last July 1 to Spain. That day, Falciani was arrested in the port of Barcelona, ​​where he had arrived by ship from France. When checking your paperwork, police discovered he had an international warrant for his arrest issued by the Swiss authorities, so he proceeded to arrest him. Since then, had remained imprisoned until he was released last December pending the Fourth Section of the National Court decide in coming months whether to extradite Swiss country.
Something, however, seems unlikely, after the Spanish courts reached an agreement with him to begin to collaborate. In addition, the Prosecutor has already made clear in late August opposing Falciani delivering a letter in which it stated that the offenses for which he was charged in Switzerland - violation of trade secrets, espionage and violation of banking secrecy - do not involve criminal offense in Spain. In fact, the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering fixed opposite: it is mandatory for residents in our country report any sign of evasion.




http://translate.google.com/translate?hl...-corruptos

[Magda Hassan]

List of Greek business people and politicians with alleged secret Swiss bank accounts

Posted on October 28, 2012 by admin

Greek police attacking protesters

On 28 October Greek prosecutors ordered the arrest of journalist Kostas Vaxevanis after the publication the day before in Hot Doc' of the so-called "Lagarde List," allegedly containing the names of 2,056 Greeks with hidden Swiss bank accounts. Darker Net publishes all the names on this list see links below plus a synopsis of the list and background info on the story.
1. The Lagarde list (broken into 10 sections)
List 1: http://www.zougla.gr/file.ashx?fid=853939
List 2: http://www.zougla.gr/file.ashx?fid=853954
List 3: http://www.zougla.gr/file.ashx?fid=853956
List 4: http://www.zougla.gr/file.ashx?fid=853957
List 5: http://www.zougla.gr/file.ashx?fid=853958
List 6: http://www.zougla.gr/file.ashx?fid=853959
List 7: http://www.zougla.gr/file.ashx?fid=853960
List 8: http://www.zougla.gr/file.ashx?fid=853961
List 9: http://www.zougla.gr/file.ashx?fid=853962
List 10: http://www.zougla.gr/file.ashx?fid=853963
2. Synopsis
Most names are from the business world particularly the shipping and banking sectors. Amounts held in the accounts all in HSBC in Switzerland are not given. The list was first revealed by French Intelligence and was provided to Greek Intelligence. There is no suggestion that the people on the list have illegally trafficked the money or have evaded taxes or broken the law.
One name on the list is Stavros Papastavros, an advisor to Prime Minister Samaras. Another is Georgios Voulgarakis, a former minister and a member of Samaras' New Democracy political party, who dismissed his inclusion on the list as "disinformation" and "mudslinging". The list also includes leading business leaders such as George and Fotis Bobolas, Lavrentis Lavrentiadis Marinopolou and Dimitris Copelouzos.
Persons from the fields of medicine, media, and politics are included. For example: Katerina-ax, notary; Panagiotis Agraniotis, obstetrician gynecologist in Kolonaki; Daniilidis Vasileios, dentist in Thessaloniki; Karaitianos-John, Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Athens; Sotirios-Stylogiannis, Surgeon in Athens; Mary-Vidali, actress; Ptolemy-Petrides, ENT specialist in Thessaloniki; George Papadimitriou, a gynecologist in Athens; Angela Kanellopoulou, veteran tennis player; John Lekakis, specialist cardiologist, professor of cardiology; Ellie-Manchu, pediatrician in Agia Paraskevi; the journalist George Traghen; cartoonist Katerina Shina; Ioanna-Sakkoulas, wife of founder of publishing group, "Sakkoulas"; Antonis Kyriazis, founder and CEO of Singular AE; Moutoussi-Amalia, actress; and Alexandra Athanasiadis, sculptor.
It has been alleged that the list may be out of date, or could even be fake. There are also some anomalies for example, the list includes people who are not alive, like John Bush, a politician who died in 2004.
3. Background
In 2010 the then-Finance Minister, Giorgos Papaconstantinou, was given the list by his then French counterpart Christine Lagarde, now head of the International Monetary Fund. Papaconstantinou then claimed he had handed the CD to the Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE), where it went missing.
The complete list allegedly contains the name of 24,000 tax dodgers in various European countries. Twenty Greeks were revealed to have deposits in excess of one billion euros.
For more on the background to the story click here and here and here . For more on the arrest of Vaxevanis, click here .
http://darkernet.in/list-of-greek-busine...-accounts/