BREAKING NEWS: HSBC has been helping Britain's richest evade tax on an unprecedented scale, using offshore accounts in Switzerland and Panama.

The worst part: HSBC knew what it was doing was wrong, and actively helped its customers evade tax and avoid paying their fair share. As yet, it's failed to fully cooperate with the authorities and hand over information on its illegal advice, or its thousands of clients it helped break the law and evade paying their taxes.

HSBC says it's changed its ways. But a former employee was sacked for speaking out after seeing that HSBC was still engaging in tax evasion schemes.

HSBC is incredibly politically well connected and is the UK's largest bank. It has friends in high places who will help it avoid the worst of this scandal -- and we can't let that happen. HSBC needs to be brought to book for aiding and abetting tax evasion on an industrial scale.

HSBC: Hand over all the information you have on every single client you helped to criminally evade their taxes to the authorities.

The revelations come from a Guardian and BBC investigation into thousands of leaked documents from HSBC's Switzerland branch, after a whistleblower alerted the French authorities to hundreds of its citizens evading taxes.

HSBC is also facing criminal investigations in Argentina and in Belgium for helping thousands of people evade their taxes.

Now, the bank is facing a growing crisis at home.

This is an issue that goes right to the heart of what kind of country we live in. Our democracy has been captured by the rich and corporate elites and run for their benefit -- the rest of us are merely incidental. It's time we drew a line and said 'no more'.

HSBC must reveal the full extent of its tax evasion scheme.

It's easy to feel like we can't change this corrupt system and return our country to one that puts the needs of its citizens first and not the rich and powerful. But the tide is already turning on the cosy relationships between business and government.

So far, HSBC has hoped that if it keeps its head down and its mouth shut, then no one will notice it's been involved in one of the biggest criminal tax scandals in history. It wasn't counting on us finding out -- and so we'll be following this story as more details are revealed, and together we will keep the pressure on HSBC.

We've seen thousands of ordinary people take action on corporate tax dodgers like Vodafone and Boots. We've seen the residents of the New Era estate rise up and fight back against powerful property developers.

Now it's our turn to demand change.

Tell HSBC to hand over all the information it has on the clients it helped to illegally avoid paying their taxes.

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More information:

HSBC bank 'helped clients dodge millions in tax', BBC, 8 Feb 2015

HSBC files show how Swiss bank helped clients dodge taxes and hide millions, The Guardian, 8 Feb 2015