PARIS, Feb 13 (Reuters) - France's finance minister said onFriday Paris had not restricted the use of HSBC clientdata it passed on to UK authorities to help pursue tax evaders,contradicting comments by a senior British official.
Britain's Financial Secretary to the Treasury David Gaukesaid in parliament this week that France had provided leakedinformation on accounts at the British bank "under very strictconditions".
In response, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin toldnewspaper Le Monde he "did not understand" Gauke's remarks.
"The HSBC data were sent to them in 2010 under our bilateralconventions," Sapin said in the interview, adding: "If theBritish tax authorities wanted to open a court case, they mostcertainly could. Then it's a matter of judicial cooperation."
France has had access to leaked HSBC client data since 2008,according to the International Consortium of InvestigativeJournalists (ICIJ), which coordinated the release of details.
HSBC has admitted failings in compliance and controls at itsSwiss bank after the ICIJ organised the simultaneous publicationof client names and details by several media outlets.
Gauke said British tax authorities were seeking informationfrom the ICIJ as the data it had received from France wasrestricted in use.
"HMRC received the HSBC data under very strict conditionsthat limited the department's use of it to pursuing offshore taxevasion and prevented HMRC from sharing the data with other lawenforcement authorities," he said in parliament on Monday.
"Under these restrictions, HMRC has not been able to seekprosecution for other potential offences such as moneylaundering," he added.
Gauke said the French had that same day confirmed they wouldhelp the British authorities to "exploit the data to thefullest". (Reporting by Leigh Thomas, Additional reporting by Tom Berginin London; Editing by Laurence Frost and Gareth Jones)