HSBC Bangladesh says it has no information on money laundering

HSBC officials have told Bangladesh Bank its local office has no information on money laundering to evade taxes, as global media reports have alleged.

They met BB Financial Intelligence Unit deputy chief M Mahfuzur Rahman following a summons by the central bank on Thursday.

The four-member HSBC delegation included chief anti-money laundering compliance officer Ibrahim Sarwar and its Public Relations Officer Noman Anwar.

Rahman told reporters after the meeting that the alleged money laundering incidents took place before 2006.

“We’ll send our people to pay sudden visit to the HSBC in order to check the relevant information,” he said.

“We will also write to the Swiss bank to know whether the money was of Bangladeshis or expatriates,” he added.

Global media outlets including French newspaper Le Monde, Britain’s The Guardian and the BBC published reports about HSBC's involvement in helping clients dodge taxes and siphon off money.

The news outlets cited documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

The ICIJ documents say that 16 clients of HSBC siphoned off US $13 million from Bangladesh until 2006.