The British government will mull over introducing a law which would punish organisations for aiding people evade tax, a senior figure in Britain’s finance ministry said in the wake of scandal surrounding HSBC.
Danny Alexander, chief secretary to the Treasury and a member of junior coalition partner the Liberal Democrats, said: "We should create a new offence of corporate failure to avoid preventing an economic crime and also that organisations who facilitate or encourage evasion should face the same penalty as the evaders themselves."
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Organisations, accountants or banks helping in dodging taxes should be liable for this new offence and face financial penalties, he added.
Alexander expects the new law to be launched before the May 7 election but if not his party would make it part of its election manifesto.
Earlier this month, HSBC was alleged of aiding hundreds of people in getting UK tax waiver through using concealed HSBC accounts in Geneva.
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