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Following last month's reports that HSBC's Swiss private bank served thousands of possible tax cheats, the U.K. government outlined plans Thursday to target tax evaders and those who assist them. In a 24-page proposal attached to an annual budget request, U.K. Chancellor George Osborne said that the Conservative government would "take every opportunity" to design legislation that would impose strict-liability, criminal charges on serial tax evaders and preclude them from pleading ignorance to escape prosecution. Companies caught helping individuals to hide undeclared wealth overseas would face the new offense of "failing to prevent tax evasion or the facilitation of tax...