Former HSBC analyst, Hervé Falciani, will not receive an extradition for leaking the details of thousands of HSBC clients. The Guardian has reported that Spain’s high court rejected Switzerland’s second request for an extradition.
Whilst working for HSBC back in 2008, Falciani leaked the private details of roughly 130,000 holders of secret Swiss accounts. After being handed to French investigators, other European Governments also received the private information.
Falciani is a French citizen and former HSBC worker and has divided public opinion. Some consider him a “hero” for igniting investigations in certain countries. Whereas Swiss courts have sentenced him to five years in jail for the data leak. But, several of these clients were suspected of tax evasion. Indeed, France, Austria, Belgium, Spain and Argentina launched investigations because of the information leaked. Despite this, Switzerland remains certain that the data was stolen and thus legally invalid.
Additionally, the Guardian have said that Falciani is currently seeking refuge in France from his Swiss jail sentence.
This is the second extradition request that Spanish courts have denied. This is because the charges Switzerland has made are not criminalised in Spain.
The Spanish court said:
“The Spanish criminal code does not include any charge similar to the crime of ‘aggravated financial espionage’ for which the Swiss justice had sentenced Falciani to a five-year prison sentence”.
