Ed Balls MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on today’s revelations about HSBC, said:
“There are very serious questions for George Osborne and David Cameron to answer today.
“Why, in the five years since this government was first given information about how HSBC helped people evade tax, has there only been one prosecution out of 1100 individuals identified?
“And why did they appoint the Chairman of HSBC as a Tory Minister eight months after the government was told about the bank’s activities?
“Nobody will fall for yet more desperate distraction tactics from George Osborne and the Tories when it is clear that this information was first given to the government in 2010.
“That is why the Chancellor should come to the House of Commons and answer questions about this today.”
David Cameron’s questions to answer over HSBC and Stephen Green
• The Government was handed information about malpractice at HSBC in 2010 and took no action.
• The Chairman of HSBC, Stephen Green, was appointed as a Government Minister in January 2011, after the Government was informed of accusations of malpractice. This morning the Treasury Minister David Gauke has said he did not know whether anyone asked Mr Green about issues surrounding HSBC prior to his appointment.
• Richard Brooks, former HMRC tax inspector and BBC reporter, has said that the Treasury and HMRC “knew that there was a mass of evidence of tax evasion at the heart of HSBC” in 2011, but that the Government “simply washed their hands of it”
• It is now essential that the Government comes clean over what information was known about suggestions of malpractice at HSBC prior to Stephen Green’s appointment, what efforts were made by the Government made to ensure Mr Green was not involved, and why they did nothing when evidence came to light.
Timeline of events: how Cameron personally brought Stephen Green in to government
2010 – HMRC receives information on leaked HSBC client list, which includes detail of UK tax avoiders
Britain’s tax authority, HMRC, received a list in 2010 from which it identified more than 1,000 tax evaders.
The Guardian, 08 February, 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/feb/08/hsbc-files-expose-swiss-bank-clients-dodge-taxes-hide-millions
July 2010 – Stephen Green goes on trade mission to India with David Cameron, where they reportedly discussed his appointment to government
“Cameron was personally involved in recruiting Green and they are understood to have spoken during a trade delegation to India in July.”
The Guardian, 7th September 2010, http://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/sep/07/stephen-green-named-trade-minister
7th September 2010 - Green announces he is standing down from HSBC to join the Government
“The lay-preaching chairman of HSBC, Britain’s biggest bank, announced plans to quit yesterday to join the Government as a trade minister.”
The Times, 8th September 2010, http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article2718175.ece
September 2010 - it is reported that No 10 led the recruitment of Stephen Green and that Cameron ‘wooed’ him to become a Minister
“Stephen Green, HSBC chairman, is set to become one of the most influential ministers in government, after succumbing to David Cameron’s wooing and agreeing to become trade minister.”
The Financial Times, 7th September 2014, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b5ffc1ac-ba59-11df-8e5c-00144feab49a.html#axzz3QxuXT3MB
HSBC insists that the call asking Mr Green to become the new trade minister in the Coalition only came a few weeks ago – direct from the Prime Minister himself.
The Telegraph, 11 September 2010, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/kamal-ahmed/7996541/Why-Stephen-Green-really-joined-the-Government.html
16th November 2010 - takes up his seat as a Conservative member of the House of Lords
“Full title
The Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint
Name
Stephen Green
Joined the Lords
16 November 2010”
http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-green-of-hurstpierpoint/4191
11th January 2011 - Green takes office as Trade and Investment Minister, reporting to Vince Cable and William Hague
“Lord Green, previously Group Chairman of HSBC, today joined the Prime Minister at an event for Business Ambassadors at 10 Downing Street to discuss international trade as he took up his new role as Minister of State for Trade and Investment”
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/lord-green-takes-office-as-trade-and-investment-minister
In office, Stephen Green’s responsibilities were extensive
The minister is responsible for trade and investment. This role is shared between the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Responsibilities include:
• developing and implementing cross-government strategy for trade and inward investment
• UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), UK Export Finance (Export Credits Guarantee Department) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Prosperity Directorate
• speaking for the government on trade and investment issues in the House of Lords
• membership of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group
• coordinating European business
• multilateral trade policy
• single market and implementation”
https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers/minister-of-state-for-trade-and-investment
Stephen Green chaired David Cameron’s Business Advisory Group
“The Minister will chair the Council of Business Ambassadors which he will be introduced to by the Prime Minister and become a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Network.”
Government Announcement, 11 Jan 2011, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/lord-green-takes-office-as-trade-and-investment-minister
As part of this role, Stephen Green worked closely with George Osborne and served as a member of the Cabinet Committee for Banking Reform
“Lord Green was appointed as Minister of State for Trade and Investment on 11 January 2011. He reports to the Secretary of State for Business and the Foreign Secretary.
As part of his responsibilities, Lord Green will now also support the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Financial Secretary to the Treasury on Treasury matters, in particular financial services and banking issues. He is already a member of the Cabinet Committee for Banking Reform.”
HM Treasury Press Release, 1 Nov 2011, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/lord-green-of-hurstpierpoint
July 2012 - US Senate investigation reveals HSBC involved in money laundering
“Global banking giant HSBC and its U.S. affiliate exposed the U.S. financial system to a wide array of money laundering, drug trafficking, and terrorist financing risks due to poor anti-money laundering (AML) controls, a Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations probe has found.”
Senate Subcommittee Press Release, 16 July 2012, http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/subcommittees/investigations/media/hsbc-exposed-us-finacial-system-to-money-laundering-drug-terrorist-financing-risks
July 2012 - David Cameron insists that Lord Green has his full confidence
“Downing Street sources insisted that David Cameron has full confidence in the minister and dismissed the Labour attack…”As far as we are concerned, he’s not going anywhere – there are no allegations against him and all this information was already in the public domain,” said a No 10 source.”
The Telegraph, 18 July 2012, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9410134/Lord-Green-under-pressure-over-HSBC-money-laundering.html
10 December 2013 – Stephen Green stands down, replaced by Lord Livingstone
“Ian Livingston will be Minister of State jointly at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office following the retirement from government of Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint.”
Lord Livingston has today (10 December 2013) succeeded Lord Green as Trade and Investment Minister, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/lord-livingston-becomes-new-trade-minister
David Cameron and senior Tories’ comments on Stephen Green
“David Cameron said he was “delighted” to bring Mr Green on board. He added:
“With Stephen’s experience and expertise, I know he will make an invaluable contribution towards this crucial agenda, helping to drive strong economic growth in the UK."”
The Telegraph, 7th September 2010, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7986892/HSBC-chairman-Stephen-Green-named-Trade-Minister.html
“Stephen Green has made a huge contribution to promoting trade and investment, leading the reform and rejuvenation of UK Trade and Investment, which now assists a significantly greater number of small and medium-sized businesses to export around the globe.”
David Cameron, 10 Dec 2013, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/lord-livingston-becomes-new-trade-minister
“Under the coalition Government, the Foreign Office is making economic and commercial objectives a priority in our international engagement. Stephen’s appointment will hugely strengthen our work to secure the UK’s economic recovery, promote open markets and inward investment and support greater access for British companies worldwide.”
William Hague, The Telegraph, 7th September 2010, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7986892/HSBC-chairman-Stephen-Green-named-Trade-Minister.html
Transcript from the Today programme where David Gauke is asked whether anyone questioned Mr Green about malpractice at HSBC in the run up to his appointment and replies, “I don’t know”.
SM: The question I asked you though was whether the government was aware of what had been happening and HMRC certainly was aware of what had been happening in HSBC’s private bank in Switzerland in May 2010. Stephen Green was appointed in September 2010, made a Conservative peer and appointed to the government in 2010 so that appointment was made knowingly then?
DC: Well it was in the public domain that HSBC, the leaks that occurred in respect of HSBC’s private bank in Switzerland in 2007 so the answer to that is yes, but what I’m saying to you is that there is a suggestion and there has been no evidence that suggests that Stephen Green was involved in that particular activity.
SM: Did you ask him specifically about that at in the run up to his appointment?
DC: I didn’t speak to Stephen Green about his appointment but in terms of…
SM: Did anyone in the government ask him about it?
DG: It is not for me to say, I don’t know
The Today Programme, 9th February 2015
Richard Brooks transcript from the Today programme
You’re referring to the Agreement that was signed between the UK & Switzerland government in October 2007. The aim there was to bring in billions of pounds in unpaid…
RB: 2011. That was signed in 2011. It was… David Gauke, Tax Minister, and David Hartnett the senior tax official, started negotiating it straight after they’d received this data from the French authorities, so they knew that there was a mass of evidence of tax evasion at the heart of HSBC. They set about negotiating agreement with the Swiss Government which says – I’ve got the words in front of me – it says that, “It is highly unlikely to be in the public interest of the United Kingdom that professional advisors, Swiss paying agents and their employees – in other words bankers – will be subject to a criminal investigation investigation by HMRC.” So knowing they’re sitting on all this evidence they’ve simply washed their hands of it and said we’re not going to prosecute. And that’s why no one has come before the courts in five years.
Richard Brooks, BBC Radio 4: Today, 9 February 2015