ECHR
Ruling is vindication for Raphaël Halet after Strasbourg lower court sided with Luxembourg two years earlier
Luxembourg obstructed the freedom of expression of the whistleblower in the Luxleaks scandal, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday, nearly a decade after the notorious tax scandal rocked the Grand Duchy.
Former PwC employee Raphaël Halet had taken his case to the upper chamber of the ECHR, after the Strasbourg-based court in May 2021 ruled that a criminal fine of 1,000 Halet received in Luxembourg for leaking documents to a journalist in 2012 was "proportionate and moderate".
This time, Strasbourg sided with Halet, whose appeal had come with the support of several non-governmental organisations advocating for whistleblowers, tax transparency and freedom of press.
"The Court considered that the public interest in the disclosure of that information outweighed all of the detrimental effects arising from it", the ECHR said in a press release on Tuesday.
The LuxLeaks media investigation brought to light how Luxembourg had allowed a range of multinationals such as Apple, Ikea and Pepsi Cola to largely avoid paying taxes, offering by offering them sweetheart deals. The companies negotiated the deals through the local branch of PWC.
The case revolved around the disclosure of a batch of documents protected by professional secrecy, comprising 14 tax returns of multinational companies and two covering letters, which Halet had obtained at work.
According to...
Blow the whistle, get paid. A Justice Department bounty program that incentivizes employees to blow the whistle on their employers could lead to more whistleblowing as the Trump administration inte...