Opening of the “LuxLeaks” trial
Press Release
Épinal, 22 April 2016
Antoine Deltour’s trial will take place in Luxembourg from April 26th to May 4th.
The Panama Papers recent publication has confirmed the major role played by offshore finance in diverting our democracies’ tax incomes. These revelations follow the LuxLeaks ones from November 2014, which would not have come out without Antoine Deltour’s crucial role. These revelations have led to a worldwide awareness raising on these issues. They have spurred the European institutions to follow up recently with measures towards more transparency and tax justice. Antoine Deltour support committee hopes his trial will also provide an opportunity to move towards an increased protection of whistleblowers, recognizing their status of citizens acting for the general interest.
As soon as the trial starts, support committee members will actively remind the various signs of support received by Antoine: Through the commitment of the 100 000 signatories of the petition; through the support of more than 280 French and international leading figures; through the more than 50 international civil society organizations which have expressed their gratefulness for Antoine’s altruistic action.
Antoine has declared that he is “split between looking forwards to finally having the trial start and some apprehension over its conclusions”. He feels “boosted by the various signs of public support, as well as by the concrete consequences of the revelations”. According to Antoine, “the recent advancements towards fighting tax abuses confirm the general interest of [his] action”.
Over the whole period of the trial, the support committee will be present in Luxembourg to remind civically and pacifically that the charges against Antoine are politically unfair and ethically unacceptable.
Antoine worked from 2008 to 2010 as a junior financial auditor in the Luxembourg subsidiary of PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), before quitting. He acknowledged to have copied, during his notice period, hundreds of tax rulings between the Luxembourg tax authorities and multinational companies in view of reducing their taxes, sometimes towards less than 1% of their profit.
The LuxLeaks affair chronology is available on the Support Committee's website.
The Support Committee reminds that Antoine Deltour’s action was never directed towards its former employer PwC nor against Luxembourg. Antoine acted in order to disclose a general system of tax avoidance favoring multinational companies to the detriment of European citizens. He acted in a selfless way, as a citizen concerned about general interest, as was recognized by the European Parliament which awarded him the European Citizen Prize 2015.
Antoine’s action has led him to be charged today by the Luxembourg justice for theft, illegal access to a database, disclosure of trade secrets, breach of professional secrecy and possession and laundering of concealed documents. Antoine risks up to 10 years in jail and more than one million euros fine.
Press Contact
Comité de soutien à Antoine Deltour
BP 1006
88050 EPINAL Cedex 9
France
Email: contact@support-antoine.org
Twitter: @support_antoine
FaceBook: Support Antoine