HSBC closes accounts linked to South Africa’s Gupta scandal

HSBC has revealed it closed ­accounts linked to South Africa’s Gupta family corruption investigation, admitting for the first time concerns about its potential ties to the snowballing scandal.

The bank said it had also flagged up its worries to the financial crime expert who has overseen its money-laundering controls since it was fined a record US$1.9 billion in 2012 for processing cash for Mexican drug lords and terrorists.

The scandal began when the Indian-born Gupta family was accused of allegedly using its vast wealth to wield influence over South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma. The Guptas and Zuma deny any wrongdoing.

British regulators are already looking into whether HSBC and Standard Chartered had ties to the Guptas after former cabinet minister Peter Hain passed a list of transactions to the chancellor warning of their “possible criminal complicity”.

After previously ­declining to comment on its involvement, HSBC admitted on Friday it was forced to close accounts held by “front companies” associated with the Guptas. “HSBC has been reviewing its exposure to the Guptas for some time and has closed a number of accounts for associated front companies wherever we have found them,” it said.