“Britain’s revenue and customs service is examining allegations that criminals may have used offshore accounts with HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, to launder money, it confirmed Friday.
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs said in a statement that it had been contacted about a leaked list of the bank’s customers, and accusations in a British newspaper that the clients include drug dealers and gun runners.
“We can confirm we have received the data and are studying it. We receive information from a very wide range of sources which we use to ensure the tax rules are being respected,” the HMRC said.
In a report published Friday, the Daily Telegraph newspaper alleged that a list of the bank’s disclosed by a whistleblower had identified 4,388 people holding 699 million pounds ($438 million) in offshore current accounts, including criminals.”