Global lender HSBC agreed to pay more than €294 million to avoid trial in Belgium for allegedly helping thousands of clients dodge billions of euros of taxes as revealed by the "Swiss Leaks" more than four years ago, Belgian prosecutors said Tuesday.
Nearly half of all suspicious funds transferred out of Belgium last year flowed to the United Arab Emirates, one of the largest diamond trading hubs worldwide.
Members of the terrorist cells that killed 164 victims in two attacks in Paris and Brussels transferred funds between prepaid debit cards to avoid detection by law enforcement, a Belgian official said Thursday.