Former tax chief misses LuxLeaks trial (again)

Court told Marius Kohl can’t attend appeals case because of ill health.

The man who oversaw thousands of “sweetheart” tax deals in Luxembourg failed to show up in court this week to answer questions about his role in the LukLeaks scandal.

Marius Kohl, former chief of Luxembourg’s tax agency for global companies (known as Sociétés 6), has now missed two court appearances, citing ill health, which has angered MEPs and the defendants in the case, whistleblowers Antoine Deltour and Raphaël Halet, and French journalist Edouard Perrin.

The now retired tax chief helped multinational corporations that wanted to set up shop in Luxembourg, helping many save billions of euros.

Luxembourg’s tax culture — under the watch of then Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, now the president of the European Commission — came to light when Deltour and Halet, both former employees at the accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers, leaked details to Perrin.

In June, Deltour and Halet were convicted of data theft and breaking Luxembourg’s secrecy laws. Perrin was acquitted.

They are back in an appeals court in Luxembourg, hoping to overturn the convictions, with the case expected to last until December 21.

Kohl was seen as an important witness, given his close connection to the documents at the center of the scandal.

But he failed to show up Monday.

“The prosecutor and the Court of Appeal in Luxembourg clearly do not want Marius Kohl to come to the trial and answer questions on the legality of tax rulings,” said Bernard Colin, the lawyer for Halet. “They want to skirt around the real issue and ignore the fundamental problem concerning the legality of tax rulings in the country.”

The Court of Appeal is expected to issue an opinion on how necessary Kohl’s testimony is on the final day of hearings in the appeal case.

Court documents — seen by POLITICO — show that Halet’s legal team sent a bailiff to Kohl’s home on December 1 in order to summon him to the court on December 12.

Halet is arguing that Kohl’s appearance is essential to determining the legality of fiscal practices carried out by Luxembourg, the documents show.

Halet said that during his time at PwC, he organized meetings one Wednesday afternoon every month between Kohl and partners at the global accountancy firm. During the meetings, Kohl would sign off on multiple tax rulings.

This is the second-time Kohl has missed a LuxLeaks court hearing with a medical note from his doctor. The first was during the original hearing, when a Luxembourg court handed out suspended sentences to both Deltour and Halet. 

Kohl’s most recent doctor’s note — seen by POLITICO — says he was examined on November 29 and is “ill for a provisional duration of three weeks” and “not able to present himself in court.”

The sick note has caused uproar among MEPs, who are now considering alternative measures to scrutinize the former head of Sociétés 6. Repeated attempts to contact his doctor were unsuccessful. 

“Kohl continues to hide and is shielded by the Luxembourg authorities to protect the ‘godfather’ of tax deals, Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker,” said German MEP Fabio de Masi, who is also vice chair of the European Parliament’s committee looking into money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion.

“I don’t believe he is sick twice for the exact duration of a court procedure,” he said. “I have asked my colleagues to press for Kohl [to speak] in front of the [parliamentary] committee again.”

Last year, the Parliament called on Kohl to answer questions on the LuxLeaks scandal, but he didn’t show up.

“Kohl has refused to [speak] publicly to the court, the European Parliament’s tax committee and now at the Court of Appeal, even though he is the person that signed and rubber stamped nearly all the tax rulings in Luxembourg for years,” said Halet speaking on the phone from Norway, where he is attending a conference on international tax evasion. “It’s a real scandal.”