In this episode of BBC’s Panorama, serious questions are raised for the British government and the city of London, all in regards to an apparent effort by the biggest bank to help some of their biggest and most wealthy clients dodge paying tax.
When the government found out about this scheme, Panorama asks why weren’t the cheats or the banks prosecuted? and even more curious, why was the banker in charge of all this controversy appointed to the government itself?
Panorama also managed to get their hands on some leaked files that reveal how HSBC turned a blind eye to crime and interview a whistleblower who says that the HSBC has broken it’s promise to change.
I watched this Panorama episode last year and it genuinely shocked me. Seeing how HSBC allegedly helped wealthy clients dodge taxes while facing little consequence made my blood boil. The whistleblower footage was especially compelling. It reminded me how confusing tax stuff can be for regular people like us. Last tax season, I was struggling with some deductions and needed the hr block customer service phone number while sitting at my kitchen table surrounded by receipts. The documentary exposes a frustrating double standard, big banks get away with things that would ruin ordinary folks. Definitely worth watching if you want to get angry at the system.
No reason they should be any different than in the USA. Banks that were too big to fail are now bigger – no prosecutions that I know of all these years later. I lost 30% of my money in 2007-8. Funny (not) how the rich and powerful get away with whatever they want.