GUE/NGL MEP slams LuxLeaks whistleblower verdict as shameful

• Teri Sprackland

A court in Luxembourg has found former PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) employees Antoine Deltour and Raphaël Halet guilty of theft and breaches of confidentiality after leaking secretive tax documents that triggered the Luxembourg Leaks. 

The two whistleblowers have been given 12 and nine-month suspended sentences respectively.

GUE/NGL coordinator in the LuxLeaks Committee in the European Parliament and German MEP, Fabio De Masi, said the verdict is a travesty: 

“It is absolutely outrageous that those who risked their jobs and future for the public good are being convicted whilst tax fraudsters go free with mister tax haven architect himself, Jean-Claude Juncker, heading the EU Commission!” 

“Our group has already requested a plenary debate over the issue of protecting whistleblowers in the upcoming Strasbourg session,” De Masi said.

“This is a particularly harsh verdict in spite of the symbolic fines - much lower than what the prosecutors had requested. It goes entirely against common sense. Instead of investigating the wrongdoings of its own administration which has acted as a self-service restaurant for the ‘big four’ and large corporations, Luxembourg has gone after those who sought to bring the truth to light.”

“The protection of whistleblowers in Europe is absolutely ridiculous and grossly insufficient. Even Juncker admitted improvements were needed when he was questioned by the LuxLeaks committee,” the German MEP said. 

“But the Commission is not doing anything about it - you only have to look at their response to our written question. And Luxembourg is supposed to have one of the strongest national laws on the matter in the EU!”

“This is a shameful day for the EU and its empty promise on tax justice,” De Masi concluded.