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From The Socialist newspaper, 13 July 2016
HSBC jailbreak
Trust me, I'm a banker - Youth Fight for Jobs Austerity Games, July 2012, photo Paul Mattsson (Click to enlarge)
George Osborne successfully pressured US prosecutors not to press criminal charges against London-based bank HSBC in 2012. A US Congress committee report on 11 July made the revelation.
HSBC had been laundering money for drug barons and terror groups, and aiding international sanction breaking for regimes including Iran. In his role as chancellor, Osborne pleaded with the US Department of Justice, claiming criminal charges could destabilise the economy.
The Socialist recalls the banks doing that just fine on their own in 2007-8. They did not face serious repercussions then either. Osborne's real concern was no doubt to keep his super-rich mates out of jail.
Even the sector's so-called regulator, the Financial Services Authority, "weighed in very strongly" against charges, said one US Treasury employee. HSBC got away with a fine.
At base, the law and its enforcers under capitalism exist to protect private profit, not challenge it. The Socialist says: nationalise the banks and finance sector under democratic workers' control. Try the banksters for their crimes against the working class.
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In The Socialist 13 July 2016:
Socialist Party news and analysis
Child poverty rises by 200,000 in a year
Welsh Assembly to scrap 'right to buy'
Nine-month prison sentence for fleeing ethnic cleansing
What we saw: Angela Eagle Facebook meme
Fighting racism
Fight racism: for jobs, homes and services for all
Police racism still lethal in Britain
Majority support migrants staying - fight hate crime
What we think
Step up the campaign to back Corbyn's fight
Tory coronation is attempt at stability that can't work
Chilcot report
Chilcot Iraq report: More piles of evidence against the blood-soaked war for oil
Socialist Party workplace news
Angry prison officers walk out over reforms
New threat to impose junior doctors contract must be met with strike action
Vote Chas Berry for Napo national chair
Unite policy conference 2016: Blairite coup, Trident and cuts dominate opening days
International socialist news and analysis
Spain: Disappointment for left in re-run general election
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Thousands mobilising to #KeepCorbyn
Why I joined: "I no longer felt isolated from politics"
Fight back is on to save NHS heart services
Sales of the Socialist through the roof since the referendum
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