LuxLeaks: the ECHR condemns Luxembourg and recognizes Raphaël Halet as a whistleblower

Europe 1 with AFP 3:02 p.m., February 14, 2023

It's the end of a long fight for a Frenchman and a "step" for other whistleblowers: the European Court of Human Rights has condemned Luxembourg for violating freedom of expression in the framework of the "Luxleaks" tax evasion scandal.

The ECHR asks Luxembourg to pay damages to Raphaël Halet, condemned by the justice of this country for having transmitted confidential tax documents to a media, at the time when he was employed by the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) .

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The ECHR, which in 2021 had dismissed Raphaël Halet at first instance, this time agreed with him in a judgment of the Grand Chamber made public on Tuesday.

It considers that the public interest attached to the disclosure of this information outweighs the harmful effects resulting from it.

The Court based in Strasbourg therefore condemns Luxembourg and asks it to pay Raphaël Halet 15,000 euros for non-pecuniary damage and 40,000 euros for legal costs.

"11 years of fighting tax evasion"

"It's the end of 11 years of legal combat and not only legal fight against tax evasion", reacted Raphaël Halet after the announcement of this decision.

Raphaël Halet, who came with his family to hear the Court's decision, felt that it could mark a "step" for other whistleblowers.

"It may be a step for them for the future. It is especially in this spirit that I have done this whole process for 11 years", he declared.

He was delighted that there is "a tribunal, a court of justice which (can) recognize that a whistleblower can be in good faith, that a citizen can be right to fight against a tax haven or a multinational, because today it is still a country that has been routed, a tax haven within the European Union”, added Raphaël Halet.

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Prosecuted in Luxembourg for disclosing tax documents from his employer's clients, Raphaël Halet was sentenced in 2014 to a fine of 1,000 euros on appeal.

This Frenchman had communicated to a journalist at the end of 2012 16 documents used in a report of the French program

broadcast in 2013 on France 2. He intended to denounce the "tax rescripts", a practice which allowed many multinationals to benefit from very advantageous granted by the Luxembourg tax authorities.

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Before him, another informant, also an employee of PwC, had copied 45,000 pages of confidential documents in 2010, given to the journalist.

Following a complaint from PwC, the first informant and the journalist were tried and then acquitted by the Luxembourg courts.

Raphaël Halet was fined 1,000 euros.

In May 2021, the ECHR, seized by Raphaël Halet, had agreed with the judges of the Grand Duchy, considering that they had struck "a fair balance" between the rights of PwC and the freedom of expression of the applicant.

Raphaël Halet, who intended to be fully recognized as a whistleblower, had requested and obtained the referral of the case to the Grand Chamber of the ECHR, the supreme formation of the Court.

The latter finally proved him right.

"Today's victory is proof that you should never give up," said Raphaël Halet.

He added that his approach went beyond his personal case, hoping that "other whistleblowers, other citizens (...) can use it to take the fight even further".