HEAD OF ARMENIAN CHURCH SHOWS UP IN LEAKED HSBC FILES
13:32, February 9, 2015
The head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Garegin II, has
shown up in a project published by The IJIC (International Consortium
of Investigative Journalists) looking into 60,000 leaked files
providing details on over 100,000 HSBC clients and their bank accounts.
The HSBC files were obtained through an international collaboration
of news outlets, including the Guardian, Le Monde, BBC Panorama and
the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reveal that
HSBC’s Swiss private bank:
The Guardian writes:
HSBC’s Swiss banking arm helped wealthy customers dodge taxes
and conceal millions of dollars of assets, doling out bundles of
untraceable cash and advising clients on how to circumvent domestic
tax authorities, according to a huge cache of leaked secret bank
account files.
The HSBC files, which cover the period 2005-2007, amount to the
biggest banking leak in history, shedding light on some 30,000 accounts
holding almost $120bn (£78bn) of assets.
Here’s the profile of Catholicos Garegin that has appeared in the
IJIC website:
His Holiness Karekin II
Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians
Born Ktrij Nersessian, he was enthroned in 1999 as the 132nd Supreme
Patriarch and Catholicos (meaning “universal leader”) of Echmiadzin,
the holy seat of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church. He has
traveled the world visiting the Armenian diaspora and promoting
inter-faith dialogue. His travels have taken him to places including
Vatican City, the United States, India and Turkey, milestones of his
pontifical visits.
File details
HSBC internal files first listed Karekin II among its clients in 2000.
He was connected to an account named “His Holiness Karekin II Nersis”
that listed one bank account and held as much as $1.1 million in
2006/2007. The leaked files do not specify the exact role that Karekin
II had in relation to the account.
Comment
A spokesman told ICIJ that the account in question was opened by His
Holiness Karekin II’s predecessor “for the benefit of the Church and
its charities. This account was transferred to His Holiness Karekin
II Nersissian upon the death of his predecessor to be used for the
same purposes. The Catholicosate -the area of responsibility of the
Catholicos- of the Armenian church is a national religious institution
and is not subject to any taxes” and that His Holiness “has immunity
from any taxes.”