Antoine Deltour: LuxLeaks whistleblower speaks out

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Antoine Deltour: LuxLeaks whistleblower speaks out

Deltour-Antoine-c

Antoine Deltour, one of the two whistleblowers at the centre of the LuxLeaks scandal, said that he had “mixed feelings” after his conviction for leaking confidential information was upheld, but his sentence was reduced.

Luxembourg’s Cite Judiciare upheld an earlier judgment against the former PwC employee, as well as his ex-colleague Raphaël Halet , but reduced Deltour’s 12-month suspended prison sentence to six months.

“There was a lot of support outside the court. It is a partial victory that for the first time in Europe that a national judge recognised the whistleblower status for revealing professional secrecy, but a satisfying judgment would have been a full acquittal,” Deltour told International Tax Review.

The Frenchman also revealed to International Tax Review that he is considering appealing the decision.

“I need time to read carefully the judgment and then I will make a decision,” he said. “The last possibility [is] to contest the judgement and it will allow me to go to the European Court of Human Rights, but I haven’t made a decision yet.”

Despite the fact that he was convicted, Deltour is optimistic that his case will have a positive impact and bring greater tax transparency in the future.

“It’s a step forward to whistleblowers in Europe, as my lawyer said it is the first time a European judge recognised whistleblower statues . I think it is step forward for tax justice.”

“Unfortunately, the first trial and the appeal trial gave a lot of attention to the messenger and not to the message, which is about tax competition in Europe and how it is more or a little more transparent thanks to the leak. Tax competition is more intense than ever with the decreasing corporate tax rates everywhere in Europe and I think that is having consequences on budgets and public policing.”

“Today’s decision is a recognition of my role in this story,” he added.

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

Brazil appears to be adopting protocols to align national taxation with international standards, but recent changes are not immune from criticism, experts tell ITR
The US president did not have the authority to impose the tariffs, a court ruled; in other news, Fried Frank and Crowe Ireland made key tax hires
Pillar two considerations have become a fact of life for taxpayers everywhere, not least in Switzerland, where companies nonetheless continue to be active with investment
The Dutch TP software company’s co-founder tells ITR about speeding up documentation processes, following in Steve Jobs’s footsteps, and what makes tax cool
The ruling underscores the need for companies to provide robust and defensible valuations of intangible assets, one partner tells ITR
Pillar two is certain to be a game-changer for tax advisers and their clients. Russell Gammon of Tax Systems outlines 10 reasons why
Despite a general decline in corporate tax rates around the world, jurisdictions are now more reliant on it than in 1990, a Tax Foundation economist found
Australian law firm Webb Henderson’s report said PwC had met 46 of 47 targets; in other news, the OECD has issued new transfer pricing country profiles
The arrival of a seven-strong team from Baker McKenzie will boost WTS Germany’s transfer pricing capabilities and help it become ‘a European champion’, the firm’s CEO said
Germany has forgotten to think about digital reporting requirements, a WTS partner claimed at ITR’s Indirect Tax Forum 2025
Gift this article