The Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office sees "serious irregularities" in the actions of Banco Santander with the so-called Falciani list of the Swiss subsidiary of HSBC, but requests the filing of the criminal case for the crime of money laundering as it does not find "unequivocal evidence", "technical" difficulties and consider prescribed the facts investigated.

This is how it is pronounced in a harsh 19-page report sent to the National Court.

Although he requests the dismissal in criminal proceedings, the Prosecutor's Office does demand that it continue in administrative proceedings.

"We are interested in the referral of everything acted on in this Piece

to the Commission for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Monetary Offenses and to the CNMV, for the appropriate purposes, to purge responsibilities

that in their case they proceed in their field of competence, or the activation of the appropriate control mechanisms in view of the facts described ", concludes their 19-page report.

The Prosecutor's Office describes Banco Santander as an entity that collaborated for a decade starting in 2005 with the Swiss subsidiary of HSBC so that important clients, including the president himself,

Emilio Botín

, hid assets of doubtful origin from the Spanish Treasury. "A Through the financial services of Banco Santander and Santander Investment, transfers of funds, movements and securities deposits were carried out,

which managed to hide the origin of such capital from the Public Treasury, CNMV and other competent authorities

", state the prosecutors.

"Specifically, such clients include 90 natural persons reported as a result of the Falciani list," they continue.

In his opinion, supported by experts from the Bank of Spain, "HSBC Private Bank Suisse provided Spanish taxpayers with the mechanisms to

hide their funds from the Spanish Public Treasury (among other criminal acts), extended to the use and repatriation of them,

relying on the necessary action of its correspondent entity in Spain, Banco Santander SA and Santander Investment, and BNP Paribas Securities Services

who lent their support in specific operations ".

It describes that "the reports of the judicial experts and the documentation incorporated into the proceedings

have revealed serious irregularities

carried out by the two Spanish entities under investigation and in the present period, in the assessment of the joint high risk that it represented the HSBC Private Bank Suisse entity, the specific operation carried out, and the country where it carried out its activities, Switzerland. "

"As has been proven for the procedural purposes at hand, the

investigated in both entities, responsible for the Compliance and Prevention of Money Laundering Departments, in clear breach of the provisions of Law 19/1993, of December 28, on Certain Measures for the Prevention of Money Laundering,

considered Switzerland as equivalent country, despite the fact that such situation had not been recognized by the General Secretariat of the Treasury and Financial Policy as required

".

"This irregular consideration, under both laws, allowed them to omit the

Obligations to identify the client, thus obviating the controls that would have prevented persons involved in criminal actions from using their financial instruments (...)

At no time was a control carried out on this operation, nor is there any request for information accredited to HSBC Switzerland on the ownership of the

Swiss bank's

customers

, who ordered the movements, despite the risk entity jointly represented by HSBC Private Bank Suisse and Switzerland. "

The experts point out that

among the clients who should have been controlled is the Botín family, led by the then presidents of Banco Santander and Bankinter, Jaime Botín,

who, according to the Prosecutor's Office, ended up paying more than 200 million to the Treasury after being discovered in the Falciani list in 2010. He also sees evidence of crime, although he assumes his file, in the concealment of a stake by Jaime Botín in Bankinter in Switzerland that was sanctioned in its day by the CNMV for misleading the market.

The action of BNP Paribas in Spain, also investigated in the case, includes the provision of an account that "

was essential to carry out opaque business operations directed by the beneficial owner."

The Prosecutor's Office generally regrets about the investigated banks "the very notorious and irregular absence of risk assessment developed by those investigated in the due diligence files in the cases in the proceedings, even contrary to the criteria assumed in their own internal Procedures Manuals ".

MISSING "INEQUIVOUS TEST"

After this harsh story, why are you requesting the file of the case in criminal proceedings?

"Notwithstanding the foregoing,

the numerous evidences that have emerged could be insufficient to reach the conviction of the criminal accusation by way of fraud

, in view of the absence of direct, unequivocal and seamless evidence, which proves the full knowledge that a Through the instruments made available by both entities, Banco Santander and BNP Paribas, to another high-risk entity, HSBC Private Bank Suisse, funds from criminal activities were channeled ".

It also ensures that "the reckless modality" of the crime of money laundering would have already prescribed due to events of the previous decade.

"This Separate Piece was initiated by order of the investigating judge of April 28, 2016, the investigation being directed against the current investigators responsible for the prevention of money laundering of both entities -Banco Santander and BNP Paribas in writing of the Prosecutor of 25 April April 2017 "

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Know more

  • Spain

  • Emilio Botín

  • Falciani List

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