SYDNEY (May 25): PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has agreed to remove staff with links to the leak and use of confidential Australian tax plans from government work, a senior government official told an inquiry on Thursday (May 25).
The accounting firm is embroiled in a national scandal over its use of confidential information about proposed tax laws to drum up business. The Australian Treasury referred the matter to police for a criminal investigation on Wednesday.
Finance Department Secretary Jenny Wilkinson told a Senate committee that PwC had agreed to remove staff “directly involved and with knowledge” of the breach from current and future contracts until it wraps up an internal review in September.
A PwC spokesperson declined to comment.
The firm has earlier said it was “committed to learning from our mistakes” and it would continue to cooperate fully with any investigations into the matter.
Wilkinson said she considered “PwC’s abuse of confidence and trust with the Treasury and PwC’s subsequent handling of this breach to be a very serious issue”.
She also proposed adjusting future contracts to give the government more power to scrap contracts, amid mounting calls for the cancellation of PwC Australia’s existing government contracts and a ban on more work in the wake of the scandal.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said earlier in the day the government cannot cancel existing contracts with the auditor due to legal constraints.
The Australian federal government has committed to contracts worth A$255.2 million (RM799.3 million) with PwC in this financial year as of May 16, a finance committee official told the Senate committee.
Source: TheEdge - 26 May 2023
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