Hervé Falciani, HSBC banksecrecy whistleblower

The whistleblower who exposed wrongdoing at HSBC’s Swiss private bank has been sentenced to five years in prison by a Swiss court.

Hervé Falciani, a former IT worker, was convicted in his absence for the biggest leak in banking history. He is currently living in France, where he sought refuge from Swiss justice, and did not attend the trial.

The leak of secret bank account details formed the basis of revelations – by the Guardian, the BBC, Le Monde and other media outlets – which showed that HSBC’s Swiss banking arm turned a blind eye to illegal activities of arms dealers and helped wealthy people evade taxes.

Spain’s high court has rejected an extradition request from Switzerland against Hervé Falciani for leaking details of thousands of clients of HSBC’s private bank.

Hailed as a hero by some for triggering investigations in several countries, Swiss courts sentenced Falciani in absentia to five years in jail for leaking details of HSBC clients, many of whom he said he suspected were evading tax.

• HSBC whistleblower given five years’ jail over biggest leak in banking history
• Spain rejects extraditing HSBC whistleblower to Switzerland

References

• Swiss leaks (Wikipedia)