HSBC ignored internal warnings about large transfers of cash out of South Africa by the powerful Gupta business family, a British peer has alleged, demanding regulators investigate the bank for “possible criminal complicity” in money laundering.
Peter Hain, the former Labour cabinet minister, told the House of Lords on Wednesday he had asked the UK Treasury to seek an investigation into an unnamed British bank over allegations of illicit transfers of funds on behalf of the Guptas, who are at the heart of a South African corruption scandal.
Lord Hain separately sent a letter to the Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority on Tuesday in which he cited evidence showing the transfers had been flagged as suspicious by HSBC’s internal systems.