HSBC has vehemently denied the various allegations made in a complaint by IPS officer Amitabh Thakur and social activist Nutan Thakur to the Governor, RBI about allegations made by AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal.
The allegations included HSBC facilitating in getting black money stashed in Swiss Banks and brazenly running a hawala racket in India, encouraging tax evasion. It was also alleged that HSBC, Dubai
and Geneva do not have a license from RBI to conduct banking operations in India and their operations in India were completely illegal. Based on these allegations, Amitabh and Nutan had asked RBI to enquire into the allegations and cancel grant of licence under section 22(4) of the Banking regulations Act 1949, if found true.
RBI asked HSBC to look into the complaint and respond in 30 days. Seema Mehta, Chief Nodal Officer, HSBC, through her letter dated 20 December 2012, has said that the Bank takes compliance with the law very seriously and with a new senior global leadership team and a new strategy since last year, it takes concrete steps to strengthen compliance.
Not satisfied with the response and feeling that the core issues in the compliant are still completely untouched and unanswered, Amitabh and Nutan have again written to the Governor, RBI to get the allegations enquired and take suitable legal actions.