Private Eye today also notes their speculation in a previous issue that the government’s failure to prosecute HSBC for money laundering may well have had something to do with the revolving door between ‘the most sensitive parts of government’ and the bank. It noted that one of the bank’s non-executive directors was Lord Jonathan Evans, who was head of MI5 up to 2013, and a non-executive director of the National Crime Agency. This is the branch of government that should be prosecuting the bank. Now, apparently, Evans has resigned from the National Crime Agency, stating that ‘there could be a perceived conflict of interest’. He has not, however, resigned from his directorship of the bank.
Private Eye’s almost certainly right here, and as I might have written previously, it’s strongly reminiscent of the BCCI scandal. That also escaped international prosecution for so long because it was being used by the CIA to launder drug money, amongst other things. Makes you wonder what MI5 are doing over here.
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