Traffic fines can no longer be paid in cash at DGT centres

MADRID As from today, traffic fines can no longer be paid in cash, within the voluntary (i.e. discount) period, at any provincial or local Jefatura (i.e. Direción General de Tráfico) offices. The fines can be paid by credit or debit card, however. The Ministry of the Interior reminds us that you can still pay through the website as well as in cash at Banco de Santander branches throughout the country, or at post offices (Correos). It is also possible to call 060 to obtain information and to pay with your card. (See out January article: How to pay traffic fines)

HSBC whistleblower out on bail

BARCELONA Hervé Falciani, who identified 3,000 French tax evaders when he stole data from the bank he worked for as an IT specialist, was released on bail last month pending extradiction proceedings to Switzerland. He had been arrested in July last year in Barcelona and had been in prison since then, charged with stealing data from the HSBC Private Banking in Geneva. He then handed over the list to France's then-Minister of Finances, Christine Lagarde, who now heads the IMF. The list of tax evaders has been called the Lagarde List and details and identifies over 3,000 French and other citizens or residents (659 of whom are Spanish, including members of the Botín family that owns Banco Santander) with accounts in Switzerland that at that time remained undeclared during the period between February 1997 to December 2007.(A more detailed article on this subject will soon be available on SpainInformer.com)