Swiss bank leak leads Santander boss to court

The chairman of the eurozone's largest bank, and its UK head, face a probe into their tax affairs after proceedings were opened in Spain's High Court yesterday.

An official investigation into the tax contributions of Santander chairman Emilio Botin, his brother Jaime and their ten children was opened before the case exceeded the period allowed by Spain's statute of limitations.

One of the Botin family being investigated, Ana Patricia Botin, is the head of Santander's UK banking unit.

The Botin family, whose deposits at HSBC's Swiss private banking division caught the eye of the tax authorities after a massive leak of private banking data from the unit, have presented declarations to prove their tax situations are normal.

Investigating judge Fernando Andreu said the total amount of potentially unpaid taxes being investigated was more than €120,000 (105,000), but if the declarations presented by the family were bona fide, the case would be dropped.

The taxes being investigated date back to 2005, so tax inspectors had to go to court before the end of June.

"Given the impossibility of evaluating the declarations within the time period, the investigation is necessary," the judge said.

The Botins say the accounts stem from assets that Emilio and Jaime's father, also named Emilio, held outside Spain at the time of his death in 1993.

A spokesman for the Botins said: "The family has completely and voluntarily normalised its tax situation. It is compliant with all its tax obligations. The family hopes that all this matter will be quickly and satisfactorily resolved in court."

Spain learned of the presence of the money in HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) from French authorities, following a leak that affected up to 24,000 Swiss client accounts.