Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)-The Bangladesh Bank held a meeting with the high officials of HSBC’s Dhaka office Thursday to find out information on Bangladeshi accounts with HSBC's Swiss private bank.
A delegation of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Bangladesh’s central bank held the meeting at its headquarters in Motijheel, the commercial hub of the country.
During the meeting, the FIU members sought information on the secret accounts.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Bangladesh FIU decided to seek information from its Switzerland counterpart on the hidden accounts.
The FIU Bangladesh chapter came with the move after the allegation that the British banking giant operated a huge tax evasion scheme via its Swiss subsidiary, HSBC Private Bank (Suisse).
The HSBC scandal came to light after Herve Falciani, former IT worker for HSBC and the whistleblower of the scandal, secreted away a list of accounts at the branch in Geneva and the conversations between the clients and the bank between 2006 and 2007.
According to the leaked information 106,000 clients from 203 countries including Bangladesh deposits worth $102.05 billion at that period.
Of the amount, around $13 million (over BDT 101 crore) were deposited with HSBC Private Bank by 16 individuals connected to Bangladesh.
Of the individuals, 31 percent are Bangladeshi, the information added.
The report however did not mention the name of the individuals who had the amount with the HSBC.
In the backdrop of the situation, the Bangladesh Bank held the meeting with the senior official of the HSBC bank’s Dhaka office Thursday to get the information on the Bangladeshi persons who had availed the tax-dodging scheme.
During the meeting, the officials said they had no information on the Bangladeshi passport holders who had benefited by the HSBC’s tax scandal.
Now, Bangladesh decided to send a letter to their Switzerland counterpart seeking information on the hidden accounts in the country.
The leak stirred the economic arena of the world as a large number of prominent high ups kept their money with the super-secret Swiss banking system to dodge taxes in their respective countries.
BBN/ASI/AD-12Feb15-2:00pm (BST)