HSBC whistleblower arrested

A WhiSTLEBLoWER who revealed a massive tax avoidance scandal at hSBC has been arrested in Spain.

herve Falciani was this week detained by police in Madrid while on his way to a whistleblowing conference and is facing extradition to Switzerland to serve a prison sentence.

A judge has ordered him to hand over his passport and stay in Spain until a decision has been made, but rejected a Swiss request to keep him in custody. Falciani is French and lives in France, which rarely extradites its own citizens. The 46-year-old was an iT worker at hSBC’s Swiss bank who fled to France in 2009 with the records of 120,000 mega-rich customers.

it revealed a toxic list of clients including arms dealers and blood diamond traffickers as well as politicians and celebrities – sparking a worldwide criminal probe which is still continuing.

hSBC paid £ 262m to the French last year to end a tax investigation into the affair.

While abroad in Spain – where he had fled in fear of assassination – Falciani was found guilty of corporate espionage and sentenced to five years in jail.

The Spanish authorities rejected a request to extradite the whistleblower in 2013 on the basis his actions were not illegal in their country, releasing him with eight bodyguards and a bulletproof vest to stop his enemies killing him. But his fresh arrest this week suggests there has been a rethink.

it comes as Spain seeks the extradition of two Catalan separatists who fled to Switzerland earlier this year.