HSBC,
WORLD’S MOST CORRUPT BANK
We all know, all is not well with
HSBC, proclaimed and advertised all over as “WORLD’s LOCAL BANK”.
HSBC
has recently been charged with money laundering by drug cartels and terrorists all
over the world. HSBC was forced to apologize publicly before the US Senate and
its compliance chief resigned over facilitating a multi-billion-dollar
money-laundering operation for the drug gangs, terrorists and rogue nations
worldwide. Issuing an apology, Stuart Gulliver, the chief executive officer of
HSBC, said: "(W)e have sometimes failed to meet the standards regulators
and customers expect. We take responsibility for fixing what went wrong."
The bank allegedly ignored specific US measures designed to prevent
transactions being made involving terrorists, drug lords and rogue regimes. Two
HSBC subsidiaries, for example, processed 25,000 transactions over seven years,
worth a total of $19.4 billion, without disclosing that the cash had links to
Iran. The bank is also alleged to have moved billions of dollars in cash from
Mexican subsidiary HBMX to its US network - despite being warned by both the US
and the Mexican authorities that such sums could only be linked to drug
trafficking. It has been reported that HSBC had accepted more than US$15
billion in cash between 2006 and 2009 from Mexico, Russia and other countries
at high risk of money-laundering but failed properly to monitor transactions.
The bank even managed to label Mexico, ravaged by corruption and drug wars, as
"low risk", the U.S. Senate Committee said. HSBC also provided US
dollars and banking services to banks in Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh despite
apparent links to terrorist financing, according to reports.
While HSBC has been
charged with indulging in criminal wrongdoings all over the world, this blog
confirms that the bank has not acted any differently in India. HSBC is in the
habit of perpetrating perjury, subornation
and conspiracy to evade and subvert the law of the land in India too.
In a nutshell, HSBC has no
respect for the laws of the land where it operates from and HSBC cares a hoot
about the interests of its small time investors and saving account holders. Had
HSBC really been any different and led to acting in conformity with its claim
to be the “WORLD’s LOCAL BANK”, it could not have endorsed and/or sponsored its
Management to treat Anna Bhatt, a German citizen and my mother who loved India
so much that she chose to relocate to the country, the way it did so
shamelessly.
It
all started on March 12, 2007 when a suit against HSBC was instituted in the
High Court of Delhi for defaming my mother. HSBC kept evading the service of
summons, in defiance of the Law, for more than a year. It is only on July 15,
2008 that the counsel for HSBC appeared for the first time in the court.
Instead
of responding to my mother’s complaint in a legal manner before the Hon’ble
Court, as prescribed under the Law, the Chairman and the Head of HSBC India adopted
various means to influence my mother, outside the court, to withdraw her case. Needless
to mention, Simen Munter, the second in command of HSBC India, was a willing aide
and abettor of this nefarious scheme. When my mother paid no heed to HSBC’s contemptuous
and illegal acts, HSBC started making and procuring false and perjurious
statements against my mother for malicious use of the same in the case before
the Hon’ble Court.
.
My
mother tried her best to summon HSBC again and again, but HSBC intentionally and
illegally refused to appear. My mother had
to file various Applications and had to amend the Memo of Parties at least
three times just to be able to serve HSBC at all of their known addresses and
actually served HSBC thrice. HSBS has
shown scant respect for the Rule of Law by intentionally disobeying the Hon’ble
Court’s various Orders.
In
the meantime, starting January 17, 2008, HSBC began to contact my mother directly
and tried to persuade and entice her by its crafty tricks. Instead of appearing
in court and contacting my mother’s counsel, HSBC adopted a totally illegal
tactic and opened a direct line of communication with my mother to buy her out
and bury the matter. HSBC wanted neither to follow the Laws of the country nor
to have the matter adjudicated by the Hon’ble Court. Instead of making itself subject
to the Hon’ble Court in order that a just process could follow, HSBC very
craftily hatched a dirty trick and contacted my mother and asked her to settle
the matter out of court. HSBC’s acts are in total violation of the Rule of Law.
On
January 30, 2008, Sameer Karekatte, Vice President-Legal, HSBC, India Area
Management Office, 52/60, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Mumbai-400 001, contacted my
mother on her cell phone. My mother received the call at 2:27 p.m. Mr.
Karekatte told my mother that he would be in Delhi on the 5th and 6th
of February, 2008 and would like to meet my mother. Accordingly, a meeting was
fixed between my mother and Mr. Karekatte at my mother’s office at 10:00 a.m.
on the 6th of February, 2008. Thereafter, Mr. Karekatte sent several
SMSes and e-mails and made a number of calls to my mother in furtherance of the
said meeting.
On
February 6, 2008 when my mother and Mr. Karekatte met in my mother’s Office, he
asked my mother to withdraw the case from the High Court and offered her an
apology letter from his seniors at HSBC. My mother flatly refused and said that
she trusted the Judiciary and would like her matter to be adjudicated by the
Hon’ble Court. Mr. Karekatte left my mother’s office with a promise to contact
his seniors in the matter involved. Thereafter, Mr. Karekatte started to open
up a line of communication between my mother and Mr. Simon Munter.. My mother received
a mail from Mr. Munter confirming that Mr. Munter would call my mother on February 27, 2008.
On
February 27, 2008, at around 3 p.m., Mr. Munter called up my mother and offered
her Rs. 1.5 Lacs if she were willing to withdraw the said Suit. On February 29,
2008, my mother received a confirmation letter from Mr. Munter with the subject
matter “Re: Suit No. 525 of 2007”.
In this letter, Simen Munter offered my mother an amount of Rs. 1, 50, 000
(Rupees One Lakh Fifty Thousand) subject to her withdrawal of the suit. All
along, during all this time, HSBC did not make any appearance before the
Hon’ble Court and deliberately evaded the Service of Summonses duly served on
it.
PERJURY
AND SUBORNATION
In
one of its pleadings before the Court, HSBC states as follows:
“by
Order dated 12.12.2011, this Hon’ble Court…… permitted the deletion of these
three Defendants mainly for the reason that no cause of action had arisen
against the said Defendants and allowed the Plaintiff to delete the names of
the said Defendants from the array of parties”.
The
aforesaid statement is totally false, misleading and perjurious. To state that
the Hon’ble Court has “permitted the deletion of these three Defendants mainly
for the reason that no cause of action had arisen against the said Defendants”
is completely false. The order is itself a proof against this false statement. The above said
Order no where states that there is “no cause of action” against the
Defendants. A plain reading of the Order clearly shows that HSBC is deliberately,
intentionally and knowingly perpetrating the acts of perjury and/or subornation
to gain undue advantage.
HSBC,
along with Mr. Simen Munter and Mr. Piyush Tiwari, who have signed and verified the statement, are liable
for perjury and/or subornation as they have
not only perjured themselves but also may have compelled others to perjure using
their positions and high office in the organization which itself is not known
for its honesty..
EPILOGUE
My mother has, throughout
her entire life, been a very determined and strong-willed woman. She has seen, in her life, many good and not
so many good days, but the worst day of her life, was the day when her bank
(HSBC) called her “a thief”.
She was totally shattered.
I have never seen her like that, so
helpless. My mother, my hero, a shattered human being!!! Many years of our love, patience and care have
failed to bring my mother back to the strong woman, my mother once was.
I came to know later that
the Second in command at HSBC India, Mr. Simon Munter contacted my mother,
offered her and tempted her with monetary benefits., What do they think of my
mother at HSBC ?????
Let me tell you, my Mother
is strong and will fight HSBC and Simon Munter
till her last breath. My Mother IS NOT FOR SALE
As her son, it is
difficult for me to comprehend and swallow that it has taken close to a decade for
my mother to fight HSBC and its Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Simon Munter,
to give her back what my mother, and for that matter every single individual in
this world so rightly deserves, HER
GOOD NAME.
