Petition launched by Members of the European Parliament Sven Giegold (DE), Molly Scott-Cato (UK), Ernest Urtasun (ES), Ana Miranda (ES), Eva Joly (FR), Marco Affronte (IT).

Why is it important ?

As one of the first whistleblowers, Hervé Falciani was a pioneer in exposing tax scandals.

Falciani worked for the Swiss branch of Bank HSBC as a computer specialist and in 2006 and 2007 passed on data from over 100,000 wealthy clients to the then French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde. The French government shared the data on tax evaders and money launderers with other EU countries.
This allowed authorities to convict many tax evaders, including in Spain, where Falciani has now been arrested.
Together, the 106,500 customers had assets of €135 billion with the Swiss HSBC subsidiary.

The international arrest warrant is based on Falciani’s conviction in Switzerland for industrial espionage. Falciani's courageous decision to pass on this crucial data has contributed significantly to the ending of tax evasion in Switzerland. It was followed by many data leaks in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and other tax havens.

Thanks to Falciani and other whistleblowers, numerous tax evaders and money launderers have been identified and their tax contributions have been paid as they should have been.

Political changes are all too often only possible with the help of courageous people like Falciani, Snowden or Deltour.
Falciani deserves a European medal instead of a Swiss prison.

Making illegal profiteering public is not a criminal offence but it needs better legal protection. The European Commission promised months ago to publish a directive to protect whistleblowers. The Falciani case shows once again the urgent need for comprehensive protection for whistleblowers in the European Union. The European Commission must finally deliver on the whistleblower directive it has promised.