More criminal prosecutions for tax avoidance called for

A former senior tax official has announced there should have been more criminal prosecutions for tax avoidance in the wake of the HSBC tax avoidance scandal.

Giving evidence to the MPs in the Public Accounts Committee, Dave Hartnett, formerly head of tax at HM Inland Revenue & Customs (HMRC), said there needed to be a “really good look” as to how HSBC disclosures were approached.

He said: “I would like to understand – and I don’t as I sit here – why there weren’t more criminal prosecutions. I had always expected there to be more.

“If you look round the world, I think only Ireland and the UK have prosecuted anyone from the Falciani list. That looks like a fairly miserable result. Someone should have a really good look at whether any of that could be done differently.”

Details of some 30,000 accounts at the Geneva-based private bank were leaked to the French authorities by a whistleblower, Hervé Falciani, in 2007.

The French subsequently passed on details covering 3,600 UK account holders to their British counterparts.