Most of the 3,000 French taxpayers whose names appeared on data stolen from a Swiss branch of bank HSBC have contacted authorities to legalise their financial holdings, French Budget Minister Eric Woerth said on Sunday.
Switzerland protested strongly about the use of the information and France has promised to return the data, but Woerth said the majority of those on the lists had already contacted tax officials to resolve any fiscal problems.
"Closer to 3,000 (people have stepped forward) rather than 1,500," Woerth told Europe 1 radio. "This is a great success," he said, adding France would prolong its drive to persuade taxpayers to step forward voluntarily and declare hidden, offshore accounts.
At the start of December, officials said some 1,400 taxpayers with accounts stashed away in neighbouring Switzerland had settled their affairs with French authorities, raising 500 million euros ($717 million) in tax arrears.
However, news that France had obtained complete data from HSBC's offshore banking headquarters in Geneva only emerged early last month and officials had indicated there was a subsequent upsurge in contacts with the tax authorities. HSBC has confirmed that an ex-employee, Herve Falciani, stole client data in 2006 and 2007 and have launched legal proceedings against him.
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