Luxembourg’s painful crucifixion of Alain Deltour, the Luxleaks whistleblower.

My Orchids: Phalaneopsis "Bureau 6".
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Luxembourg’s painful crucifixion of Alain Deltour, the Luxleaks whistleblower.

In the life of a nation there are on occasion kinetics developing, that lead to an unescapable climax, though everyone would be happy to see it go away. In the ongoing Luxleaks case in Luxembourg courts, Antoine Deltour, his colleague Raphael Halet, and a French journalist, Edouard Perrin, have to answer for their “crimes”. It is the trap Luxembourg authorities stepped into, as the country, in an abandonment of its sovereignty, virtually outsourced tax rulings to a ruling mill operated by PwC in partnership with the tax man’s Bureau 6.

Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet copied confidential if not secret information from their employer PwC about the tax rulings practice in Luxembourg. Edouard Perrin brought the scoop to French television. Antoine Deltour who started the turmoil faced a sentence of Euros 10 million for damages to PwC, and 10 years in prison. In my opinion, Luxembourg can never win the moral argument when it comes to tax fraud and evasion, tax optimization, and secrecy. So it does in this case. The Luxembourg laws on the book are going to be defeated by public (world) opinion.

Caught between a rock and a hard place, Luxembourg decided to go along with the case without delay, applying Luxembourg laws pertaining to banking secrecy and corporate property. Which is remarkable in a country where delaying justice is a national cancer. It very often results in the pure and simple drop of a case. In that environment the Luxembourg government elected to intervene (we would deny it) in favor of a speedy resolution. It could have delayed it opportunistically. The whistleblower cannot refer to any law protecting the whistleblower, because there aren’t any. Maybe in 5 -10 years under an OECD or UN standard and mandate?

How to get out of the nightmare that has developed into a worldwide story not to Luxembourg’s glory? By soothing the sensitivities. PwC came down by Euros 9,999,999.00 to Euro 1.00 in damages. The Attorney general came down from 10 years in jail to 18 months, possibly on probation. The defense lawyers indicated that they could live with an 18 months jail term on probation. A sentence Alain Deltour will wear proudly like a decoration in a country and European Union indeed that venerates Edward Snowden.

FYI: Bureau 6 is that secret door at the end of the hallway. Go there. The Luxleaks story is over. It’s anyway about Panama Papers now.