PARIS (AP) — French financial prosecutors say the Swiss-based HSBC Private Bank has agreed to pay 300 million euros ($352 million) to France to close a tax fraud case, a first in the country.
In a written statement, prosecutors said a Paris court on Tuesday approved the agreement under a 2016 anti-corruption law. Under this agreement, the bank acknowledges “the existence of the alleged facts.”
HSBC’s Swiss bank was under investigation over helping clients to illegally avoid paying taxes worth 1.6 billion euros ($1.9 billion) to the French government in 2006 and 2007. A former HSBC employee gave the data to French authorities in 2008.
The bank has been investigated in several other countries, including Spain and Belgium, following the leak.
