Italian VIPs among alleged tax evaders in Switzerland
Xinhua, February 10, 2015 Adjust font size:
Thousands of Italian citizens including motorcycle champion Valentino Rossi and fashion stylist Valentino were among the wealthy customers who allegedly dodged millions of euros helped by banking giant HSBC, Italy's la Repubblica newspaper said on Monday.
Secret files published by international media at the weekend claimed the Swiss division of British-led HSBC helped clients in more than 200 countries and regions evade taxes in a scheme involving some 180 billion euros (about 203 billion U.S. dollars) deposited between 1998 and 2007.
The leakage was reportedly possible thanks to Herve Daniel Marcel Falciani, a Franco-Italian systems engineer who has revealed information relating to more than 100,000 suspected tax evaders with Swiss bank accounts.
La Repubblica said the files were also related to more than 7,000 Italian clients who in 2007 had accounts containing around 6,5 billion euros.
Among them, the Rome-based newspaper cited Rossi and Valentino along with noted businessman Flavio Briatore, who all said their accounts are legal and complied with tax laws.
The leakage came after Italy and Switzerland last month reached an agreement on future cooperation in tax matters following two and a half years of negotiations over untaxed Italian assets in Swiss banks.
The Italian revenue service has published voluntary disclosure forms on its website, aimed at encouraging tax evaders with offshore accounts to come clean on a voluntary basis. ( 1 euro = 1.13 U.S. dollars) Endit