The Frenchman, who worked for PwC from 2008 until 2010, during which time he says he became dismayed at some of the commonplace practices at the firm.
In an interview with French newspaper Libération, he revealed his identity, lifted the lid on his motivation for whistleblowing and said that he did not act alone.
“From the beginning, I acted out of conviction, for my ideas, not to appear in the media,” he said, in French. “I’m just part of a broader movement.”
The documents, which were initially reported on in 2012 in Germany and the UK, came back to the public’s attention in November when they were released in full by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
“In LuxLeaks 1 [the tranche of documents released on November 6] several internal documents subsequent to my departure are mentioned. I am not alone,” said Deltour.
“In Luxleaks 2 [released a month later] there are records controlled by other members of the Big 4.”
Deltour was charged with a string of offences: theft, trade secrecy violations, professional secrecy violations and illegal obtaining of data earlier this month, following an action brought by PwC in 2012, when the documents were initially leaked to media organisations.
“The mistakes made by most whistleblowers are usually made before they make contact with a journalist,” said Gerard Ryle, director of the ICIJ. “It is up to journalists to better educate whistleblowers on how to maintain their safety.”
What is clear, however, is that despite high-profile whistleblowers such as Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden receiving harsh treatment by their governments, workers with an axe to grind are yet to be dissuaded from leaking information.
In a recent UK Public Accounts Committee grilling of PwC’s UK head of tax Kevin Nicholson, chairwoman and member of parliament Margaret Hodge brought up the subject of whistleblowing after Nicholson had referred to the LuxLeaks documents several times as “stolen”.
“You talked about material being stolen from PwC,” said Hodge. “In my view, you had whistleblowers. I have done this job for four and a half years, and I must tell you that you will carry on having whistleblowers for as long as you undertake business of this nature.”
“You will carry on having such people in your employ. In fact, I will invite them to write to me, and I am sure this committee will treat their evidence with confidentiality.”
Whistleblowing is becoming more sophisticated. Organisations which receive and analyse leaked documents now do so through encrypted websites concealing the leaker’s identity and location, before working through them at breakneck speed.
“Technology is making it easier because email is the most common form of contact in this regard,” said Ryle. “It is making it easier for people to copy large tranches of data. That is why leaks are, generally, getting larger and larger.”
“I wasn’t really feeling at home in that environment,” said Deltour of his time at PwC. “Bit by bit I discovered how extreme the system was in reality – it was a massive tax optimisation practice. I didn’t want to be part of that.”
He is now almost certain to face jail time.
"Investigations like [LuxLeaks] rely on concerned citizens who wish to see a more transparent society and would not be possible if these citizens fear prosecution and persecution for their part in uncovering injustice, corruption or wrongdoing,” said Ryle.
“There will always be people who are willing to stand up for what is right, therefore there will always be whistleblowers,” he added.
At any company there is the potential for staff to feel a moral duty to expose practices they see as unethical. Perhaps the only way to effectively deal with whistleblowers – instead of putting band-aids on leaks by dealing with individual culprits – is to reform the practices themselves.
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