BRUSSELS, Nov 17 (Reuters) - A Belgian judge has charged theSwiss private banking arm of HSBC with tax fraud andmoney laundering, accusing the bank of offering wealthy clientsways of hiding their cash and evading tax.
Prosecutors said on Monday that the charges related toillegal business carried out by a Swiss unit of HSBC for wealthmanagement clients, many of them from the Antwerp diamond trade.
"The Swiss bank is suspected of having knowingly eased andpromoted fiscal fraud by making offshore companies available tocertain privileged clients," prosecutors said in a statement.
The statement said that the offshore companies were based inPanama and the Virgin Islands, with no economic activity andtheir only aim was to hide the wealth of the bank's clients.
"The damage done to the Belgian state is estimated athundreds of millions of euros," the prosecutors added.
The homes of some 20 clients of HSBC Private Bank(Switzerland) were searched in October last year in connectionwith the investigation.
An HSBC spokesman, reached for comment, referred to astatement in its interim report, saying it was aware magistratesin Belgium and France were investigating whether the Swiss unitacted appropriately on tax reporting requirements.
The bank gave no further comment.
The judge will ask several employees of HSBC Private Bank toappear for questioning. (Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek; editing by Philip Blenkinsopand Clara Ferreira Marques)
HSBC Holdings (HSBA)