Howard Wilkinson worked in the Baltic Trading Unit of Danske Bank when he discovered irregularities in bank records that suggested possible money laundering. Upon further research, Howard discovered that a number of accounts that had been marked dormant were making transactions worth tens of millions of dollars. Through his investigation, Howard learned that the bank had ignored numerous financial regulations meant to detect and prevent money laundering. Howard submitted four separate reports to the internal audit unit before ultimately resigning from Danske Bank.

In 2018, when the scandal broke, Howard’s anonymity was violated when he was identified as the whistleblower. Despite considerable risks to his safety, Howard testified before the European Parliament and advocated for greater protections for whistleblowers and for new regulatory requirements to improve transparency. The scandal led to numerous investigations and criminal charges across Europe. Dankse Bank’s CEO resigned, and Danske Bank was forced to cease operations in Estonia.

“Whistleblowers play a very important role in exposing wrongdoing that is otherwise hard to detect,” said Wilkinson. “But all too often whistleblowers are made to suffer for what they have done. I am honoured to receive the Allard Prize. It sends an important message that whistleblowing is important and that whistleblowers should be valued in building the sort of society we all want to live in.”