LuxLeaks trial:
fifth hearing

Consistency in Antoine’s statements

Calm and focused, Antoine provided –during more than one hour and a half– answers to successive questions from the judge, the prosecutor, his lawyer and the civil party’s lawyer. He repeated what he has always publicly said.

After 2 years working for PwC, Antoine resigned from the company as he no longer wanted to work for tax dodging clients; although he was about to get a promotion, this did not make him stay longer; money was not his motivation. The day before leaving, as he was looking for training materials that could be useful for his conversion, he found a folder containing ATA (Advance Tax Agreements), which he copied. Antoine later tried to reach out to NGOs working on tax justice, to confirm the harmful tax practices documented in the files, but these contacts fell through. His sound analysis of tax issues , posted in a comment to a blog of French newspaper Libération, was however spotted by Édouard Perrin who was preparing a report on tax evasion. They entered into contact and mutual trust arose, leading to Antoine accepting to provide the copied documents to the journalist. By doing this, Antoine wanted to open the debate, seeing his “civic duty to inform the public as higher than his obligation of confidentiality”.

A spontaneous action

The judge, the prosecutor and the civil party’s lawyer questioned the spontaneous feature of copying the documents. Antoine stand very firm on this: " I did not try to hide, my gesture was spontaneous, I did not think of providing them to a third party." He knew what these documents were, but it is only progressively, that he realized the importance of the pieces of information in his possession.

Antoine repeatedly stated his motivations. Some rulings are an abuse detrimental to the companies that pay their taxes. Consent to taxation is a founding principle of our society. Antoine repeated that he does not regret anything, considering the positive impact of the LuxLeaks revelations.

The questioning of the journalist Édouard Perrin

The journalist confirmed overall the pieces of information provided by Antoine, stating that Antoine "had strong convictions about the impact of fiscal resources looting by multinational companies," which was in line with the “Cash investigation” reportage that was being prepared. Concerning his case, Perrin clearly rejected the charges against him, saying he was not “behind the gestures”.

Next hearing is on Wednesday at 3 pm… But Antoine’s lawyers will plead only on Tuesday, May 10th.

Press coverage

• Politico – LuxLeaks whistleblower: ‘It was a necessary evil'
• Bloomberg – Whistle-Blower Needed a Smoke Before Giving Up LuxLeaks Data
• Luxemburger Wort – Deltour 'proud' to have advanced the debate
• AFP – Le lanceur d'alerte Antoine Deltour se dit “fier” d'avoir fait avancer le débat fiscal en Europe (in French)
• Libération – Antoine Deltour : «C’est un soulagement de pouvoir exprimer mes motivations» (in French)
• Le Monde – Procès LuxLeaks : le journaliste de « Cash Investigation » accusé de manipulation (in French)
• RFI – Procès LuxLeaks: Antoine Deltour s'explique sur ses actes (in French)
• Médiapart – Le lanceur d'alerte et le journaliste font front au procès «LuxLeaks» (in French)
• Les Jours – Procès LuxLeaks : se protéger ou assumer (in French)
• Le Quotidien – Procès LuxLeaks (5e jour) – Antoine Deltour : « C’était un mal nécessaire » (in French)
• Le Quotidien – Procès LuxLeaks : quand le juge défend la réputation du Luxembourg (in French)
• Le Quotidien – Procès LuxLeaks – Edouard Perrin : « Je suis journaliste, pas un commanditaire » (in French)
• RTBF - Le lanceur d'alerte Antoine Deltour “fier” d'avoir fait avancer le débat fiscal en Europe (in French)
• PaperJam – Les deux visages de l’intérêt général (in French)
• Vosges Matin – LuxLeaks : « Je réprouvais ces pratiques », confie le Vosgien Antoine Deltour jugé au Luxembourg (in French)
• France Culture - Journal de 9h, mercredi 4 mai (in French)
• Woxx – Procès Luxleaks : Glissements politiques (in French)