Greens refer scandal-plagued KPMG to corruption watchdog
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The news: The Greens have referred KPMG to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), after the scandal-plagued firm was hit with an effective ban on federal government work.
The context: In a statement on Tuesday morning, Greens finance spokeswoman Barbara Pocock revealed she had made the referral over a series of allegations levelled at KPMG, which hold more than $600 million in government contracts.
The consulting giant is being reviewed by the Finance Department after allegations its executives accessed and shared confidential information for financial gain.
KPMG will not be eligible to receive new government contracts during the three-month review, which will run until the end of September.
But Pocock said the government had “learned nothing” from a separate scandal involving PwC, whose executives shared confidential government tax plans to help clients dodge laws they were helping to design.
“If this was an ordinary worker, not a Big Four partnership raking in billions … you’d be out on your ear, you’d be dismissed in a flash,” Pocock said.
The KPMG scandal first arose in March, when Labor Senator Deborah O’Neill detailed claims from a whistleblower who alleged “profoundly unprofessional and unethical behaviour” at the firm.
The consulting giant refused to give the complainant whistleblower protections, claiming their allegations had not been substantiated.
Some of the allegations were ultimately substantiated, after KPMG concluded its initial internal investigation was not conducted with the “necessary rigour”.
The referral to the NACC comes less than a month before its first commissioner, Paul Brereton, quits early in his term after facing his own allegations of a perceived conflict of interest.
What they said: “The government is too deep in contracts worth millions to be able to act independently. Labor has rose coloured glasses for the Big Four even when they behave unethically,” Pocock said.
The source: Barbara Pocock statement
