"J'accuse...!"

Everything runs smoothly here, after my arrival on Monday. Taking off from London with the customary 2 hour delay due to English incompetence and shortcomings, we managed to arrive with just 50 minutes delay in CT. After two days in the Mother City, the 3-car motorcade filled with next of kin moved to our family retreat at Franschhoek near Stellenbosch, some sixty miles inland and in the heart of spectacular wine land.


Mother's organisational skills excelled and Xmas was a splendid feast rivalling Le Grande Bouffe. Not a moment of boredom, no frictions, some debates more spirited than others but never disharmonious - I hardly recognised my kinship. And a slightly sozzled mum is still a delight to be with...

Some appalling stuff is going on in this arguably most beautiful country in the world. The man-made mayhem, however, has reached proportions unseen elsewhere and affects everyone. The sheer numbers and heinous methods used in the the slaughtering that is going on are mind-boggling. The Christmas period from December 24-26 has seen 73 reported murder victims, and who knows how many will still be discovered in the coming days. Typical example for the random violence is the 7 young people killed at a party of 11 near Durban on Christmas Day, when three black thugs intruded a private home and shot up the place.

And then there is the bloodbath on South Africa's roads this month.  Just days after the government boasted about increased road safety in November, this month's statistics are horrendous: as of noon yesterday 655 deaths have been reported, an increase of 68% from the year before. There have been 27 road accidents with more than 8 fatalities involved. A defeatist and rather helpless government appeals on drivers not to embark on long journeys without functioning brakes in their vehicles...

It was also an e-mail from a former employer of mine that put a lid of otherwise undiluted fun, in which this banking institution inquired about a former colleague of mine at our Geneva head office. Whilst I sympathise and feel complete solidarity with the bank's position I also feel that events two years ago do not compel me to co-operate, especially as a hostile government - that of France - is deeply involved in the scandal.

The e-mail, and my reaction, caused lively debate here, and I found myself pretty isolated within the group of family and friends. But then - they are mostly with medical background - medical doctors - and not experts in banking and law.

What's it all about?

The short synopsis is: a former employee of HSBC Private Bank (which is a rather independent organisation within the HSBC banking group) in Geneva, who worked as an IT specialist, assumed the role of 'whitleblower' on banking secrecy. He concocted a clandestine scheme to collect and steal data on some 4,500 more or less wealthy clients of the bank, in violation of Swiss, French and International laws as well as the terms of his employment contracts and privileges with HSBC. These illegally obtained data found their way to the French authorities, police and tax authorities, who pursue now thousands of French citizens for tax payments and penalties.

Emile Zola's thundering words "J'accuse...!" come to mind, as once again a French government embarks on a vendetta against its perceived enemies. For it was the Jewish colonel Alfred Dreyfus in Zola's time that had to take the brunt of French anti-Semitism, falsely accused and convicted of treason under false and fabricated evidence, that drove a French government into high gear. Just as Vichy France cooperated with the Nazis to hunt down and send to their deaths thousands of French Jews and Roma & Sinti, Sarkozy's France today uses hearsay, eavesdropping, illegal evidence and criminal associations with the underworld to exert on a manhunt for anyone wealthy enough to seek shelter for hard earned riches in tax advantageous entities where banks like HSBC Private Bank happen to operate.

The former employee, that was identified to me in 2006 as “Antoine”, is now living in Nice on the French Riviera under French judicial protection. I was approached by the former colleague during a visit of the Geneva office on Quai Général Guisan in late 2006 and met Antoine at a nearby restaurant. In the conversation during lunch I was offered information regarding clients with substantial holdings in HSBC accounts in Geneva, with some links to the Channel Islands where I worked. Antoine boasted about contacts to the French government at the time and that he is being paid well to channel information on French tax evaders to the French finance ministry.

Alarmed by the revelations I declined to participate in the scheme that was to target wealthy clients in France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany holding accounts at HSBC Private Bank in Guernsey. I left Geneva the next day and drove to Lyon from where I contacted HSBC's legal department in London. The suggestion by the London office, to co-operate with Antoine ostensibly to find out more details about the illegal activities, were met by me with great reluctance. I clearly disapproved of the breaches of security and confidentiality, but I agreed to drive back to Geneva and see Antoine for another meeting.

I told Antoine during a dinner at the Ambassador Hotel on Rue des Bergues that I was on a tight schedule and have to drive to Milan during the night for a meeting the next morning. I 'expressed my willingness' to look into the account details of numerous clients of the Guernsey branch and 'take things from there'. Antoine was clearly pleased and also added that he too intended to travel to Milan "in the coming days" and asked if he could accompany me during the drive. I declined as I wanted to go back to Milan as quickly as possible and drive 'fast and alone' for the 5 hours journey. I also had concern for my safety, having been introduced to Antoine only a few days earlier. Antoine told me that he would fly to Milan the next morning and we agreed to meet for lunch at the Galeria.

I returned to Milan and arrived at around 2AM as pre-arranged with the hotel, the Sir Edward, on Via Giuseppe Mazzini, which I liked because of its quality and its central location near the Dome and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. I contacted HSBC London in the morning of the plan to meet for lunch with Antoine and was advised to change the venue on 30 minutes notice. I did so and called Antoine shortly before the time of lunch and changed the restaurant to Peck, which is just a five minute walk from the Galleria as well as the hotel.

During the lunch in a private setting of the gourmet restaurant, Antoine showed me files of account statements from French and Italian clients who have maintained their accounts with HSBC Private Bank for the sole purpose of tax shelter and evasion, according to Antoine. Much of his contentions were expertedly, focused and comprehensive. He estimated the combined wealth covering his total amount of files at 'approximately €5 Billion'.

I also gathered from Antoine's narratives that he expected to be uncovered soon and that the "window of opportunity to make big profits in an admittantly "dubious but not illegal way" will close soon." He mentioned that French authorities have made plans to relocate him to the Cote d'Azur in due time and to enter him in an anonymous witness programme. Nothing of Antoine's deliberations at any time sounded attractive and tempting enough to consider playing any part of the plot. From his description I reckon that the financial rewards that Antoine had received by that time was 'less than a million euro.' He also hinted at "another source of revenue" which implied that he would contact clients whose details he had retrieved, and intended to trade his knowledge for "a fee" from his victims - a clearly criminal ruse.

Upon my return to Guernsey a few days later I passed on all informations I had gathered from Antoine to London. I made clear that I considered this as a de-briefing and considered the case closed as far as I was concerned. Two weeks later I heard through a colleague at the Geneva head office that "Antoine had left the bank" - and the country.

Back in France, Nice prosecutor Eric de Montgolfier has opened now preliminary inquiries into local residents suspected of hiding cash in HSBC’s Swiss bank accounts. The French finance ministry has refused to confirm or deny the report, but admitted it has been working with names of suspects from several sources. In August, France announced that it had obtained a list of 3,000 French citizens it alleges are hiding behind Swiss banking secrecy laws to conceal the profits of tax evasion and in some cases to launder cash from criminal activity.

At the time, French Budget Minister Eric Woerth said the list had been handed to the authorities "anonymously, it had not been paid for and had been done with the cooperation of the banks concerned." That is curious, given the bank's own admission that tax files have been stolen - hardly indication for cooperation. The suspects have been given until the end of the year to pay overdue tax and will otherwise face an audit on an overall sum which Eric Woerth estimates at three billion euros.

'Antoine' is now known as Herve Falciani and defends his despicable conduct as something like a Robin Hood today. The business of HSBC Private Bank is legitimate, ethical and correct - that of Falciani was one of greed, criminal energy and thievery. The French governement clearly shares these values and abides by them in its handling. To me, the French government takes on board business rules and regulations enforced in its former African dependencies and its Nazi collaborators in the 1940s, rather than the laws fit for a member of the G-20.

If countries apply fair taxation there would be no need for "tax havens." Countries that impose a 50% tax on honestly deserved boni deserve to be punished by an exodus of wealth.