How is this legal?

So I was reading a report in Management Today detailing HMRC's involvement with a Lichtenstein 'Deep Throat' mole.

For some background: Lichtenstein is a tiny country in Europe that exists purely as a tax haven. A number of years ago, an employee of a main bank there stole some account details.

Let's be clear here - he stole them. These contained information including balances, transfers, and other account details for a number of very wealthy account holders, who had Lichtenstein bank accounts for - surprise! surprise! - tax avoidance purposes.

Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have bought this list, and are now using it to conduct tax investigations against a number of people.

What exactly seperates HMRC from any other criminal organisation at this point? There was no moral outrage here, the guy wasn't a whistleblower - he stole people's bank account details and has been trying to sell them to the highest bidder. He'd already sold them to the German tax authorities for £5m.

Given HMRC recently lost personal details (including bank account information) for 25 million people, it's clear how little they value personal information - at least, the public's personal information. Their automated systems also recently screwed up and they sent out hundreds of 'missed payment' penalties to businesses across the UK. Bear in mind, these weren't 'friendly reminder' notices, these were 'we are taking you to court because our system says you didn't pay your taxes 3 years ago' notices.

Try getting a Freedom of Information (FoI) request carried out by HMRC. The double standards here are breathtaking.

Grab the full Management Today story at http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/newsalerts/article/786024/mtsweek/hmrc-cash-liechtenstein-deep-throat/?DCMP=EMC-Daily%20News