The lawyer for the whistleblower Stéphanie Gibaud, at the origin of revelations of tax fraud concerning the Swiss banking giant UBS, asked Bercy, on Wednesday in a letter, to give up appealing the decision which paves the way. to his compensation.
It is possible to put an end now to this unjust, unworthy and incomprehensible situation, wrote Me Antoine Reillac in a letter addressed to the Minister of the Economy and consulted by AFP.
He denounces the choice of Bercy to appeal the decision of the administrative court of Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis), rendered in July.
This court declared that Mrs. Gibaud was entitled to be compensated by the French tax authorities, by virtue of the information that she transmitted to it.
The tax administration had initially refused his request, relying on a judgment which stipulates that only information provided after 2017 could give rise to financial compensation. But these documents can be exploited beyond the date on which they were provided, pointed out to the court.
The former marketing manager of UBS France considers himself entitled to receive 3.5 million euros, a sum calculated in relation to the evaded taxes that could be identified by his action.
Your administration cannot indulge in this kind of delaying practice that we usually see on the side of the worst opponents of whistleblowers, retorted Me Reillac to the attention of Bruno Le Maire.
Let’s find a negotiated solution to avoid long and useless litigation, he said.
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By collaborating, Stphanie Gibaud has made it possible to bring back billions of euros in additional tax revenue in France, he also underlined, specifying that his client out of breath was now living on social minima.
In December 2021, the Swiss bank was condemned on appeal to pay 1.8 billion euros for having set up a system aimed at facilitating tax evasion by wealthy French taxpayers between 2004 and 2012. The parent company has lodged an appeal in cassation , but not the French subsidiary for which the sentence is final.
This subsidiary must also be tried for harassment of Stphanie Gibaud and a second whistleblower, Nicolas Forissier, but also for obstructing the regular operation of the CHSCT and tampering with witnesses.