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2016 FCA rules on whistleblowing procedure come into effect

The British regulator the Financial Conduct Authority recognised the value of whistleblowers, and implemented rules for large banks and insurers to support those individuals. These rules came into force to encourage a culture where individuals feel able to raise concerns and challenge poor practice.

2014 Luxleaks scandal

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) were shown to have helped set up tax rulings in Luxembourg that helped hundreds of large multinational companies such as Apple and IKEA avoid paying billions in tax to EU Member States harming public services across the continent. PwC employee Antoine Deltour was given a six-month suspended sentence for leaking the tax evasion, but this was overturned in January 2018 and Deltour recognised as a whistleblower.

2013 Mid Staffs Hospital

High mortality rates in patients admitted as emergencies, led to a full inquiry which began in November 2010 by Robert Francis QC. Many press reports suggested that because of the substandard care between 400 and 1200 more patients died between 2005 and 2008 than would be expected for the type of hospital. The final report was published on 6 February 2013, making 290 recommendations.

2011 Olympus 1.7 billion dollar scandal

Two weeks after becoming Olympus President and CEO, Michael Woodford was fired for persistently raising concerns about an unexplained 1.7billion mergers and acquisitions. Woodford demanded an investigation into senior leaders in the company but Olympus refused his requests. Woodford went to the press and revealed the epic scale of the wrong doing.

2013 US army soldier Chelsea Manning leaks military documents to Wikileaks

Disclosures included the 2007 Baghdad airstrike and a 2009 airstrike in Afghanistan and U.S. diplomatic cable and Army reports known as the Iraq War Logs and the Afghan War Diary. Manning was court-martialled in July 2013 and ordered to serve 35 years; but, in January 2017, President Barack Obama pardoned all but four months of the remaining sentence. Manning said documents were released “to show the true cost of war.”

2009 Herve Falciani exposes Swiss bank tax evaders

Since 2009 engineer Falciani has been collaborating with numerous European nations by providing information relating to more than 130,000 suspected tax evaders with Swiss bank accounts— specifically those with accounts in HSBC’s Swiss subsidiary HSBC Private Bank.

2006 NSA’s first unwarranted public monitoring program exposed

Mark Klein, a retired communications technician for AT&T, revealed the construction of a secret monitoring facility, which provided the NSA with access to customer phone calls and shunted internet traffic as part of its monitoring program. Mark submitted an affidavit to support the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s lawsuit against the company.