Anyone who has watched ‘The Wolf of Wall Street” should learn two valuable lessons from Jordan Belfort. Firstly, Quaaludes look like a rather enjoyable evening in, just stay away from driving your supercar if possible. Secondly, if you want to stash some cash away from the prying eyes of pesky tax organisations, the Swiss can be an accommodating bunch.

Well it seems some of our countrymen were taking notice. Some digging from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has uncovered R23 billion stashed away by South Africans at the Swiss banking group HSBC…sneaky pofadder. TimesLive reports:

It is not illegal to have a Swiss account, and not all South Africans who have them use them with duplicitous intent.

However, the list has also exposed the secret bank accounts in which crooks, tax dodgers, arms dealers, shady diamond dealers, politicians and celebrities stash their cash.

In total, the investigation uncovered 585 South Africans with accounts totalling over $2 billion. Anyone doing anything naughty, you ask? Well, a certain Fana Hlongwane has come under scrutiny, holding a number of accounts at the bank with some startling numbers. Hlongwane is accused of receiving bribes during South Africa’s notorious arms deal. TimesLive again:

Hlongwane is listed as the beneficial owner of an account, Leynier Finance SA, that contained $888000. Two other accounts, which held $12-million at one point in 2006-2007, do not specify his role.

Yeah, that’s a fair whack of cash. Then again, whether or not anything will come of these findings remains to be seen. These days a spot of corruption on our shores barely registers on the radar.

[source:timeslive]