Reuters reports on another aspect of HSBC-French tax mess: the ex-employee’s allegations that he tried to warn the private bank:
IT specialist Herve Falciani, an ex-HSBC employee accused of handing data taken in 2006 and 2007 to the French, told Le Figaro he had passed the information to French tax authorities after it was ignored by his bank and the Swiss government.
An HSBC spokesman said that there was “zero” about any warnings from Falciani, and said the comments were his defence against the charges.
[…]
Falciani told the paper: “My suggestions were not listened to. I was constrained, under pressure at the bank,” adding that his aim had been to effect change because he was worried over security standards at the bank and felt loyal to France.
“At the end of 2006, I alerted Swiss authorities. Following a lack of response from (Switzerland), I approached other authorities,” he added, saying he did not want to specify which countries he had addressed.
Read more on Reuters.