The over 100,000 latest bank accounts obtained confidentially and leaked by the Washington-based investigative journalists group The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has revealed that there are 129 bank accounts in a Swiss bank linked to 92 account holders in Sri Lanka.

Accordingly, while these accounts are with world renowned HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) belonging to HSBC Holdings based in Switzerland, it has been revealed that the largest Sri Lankan related account is for some USD 10.6 million. This amount is equivalent to over Sri Lankan Rs. 1.4 billion.

According to the information revealed, around USD 58.6 million (over SL Rs. 7.8 billion) has been deposited with these Sri Lankan-linked accounts and some 18 per cent of these Sri Lankan-linked are held by with Sri Lankan passports or nationality. Most of these accounts are reportedly owned by individuals while a few belong to offshore companies

However, The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists says all Swiss bank accounts are not illegal.

In a statement to Britain’s Guardian newspaper, HSBC said the Swiss bank had become part of the group following the acquisition of a US banking group and that standards had been below those followed in the group.