PwC accused of interfering in Australian tax leak investigation
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PwC has been accused of meddling in Australian political and legal affairs after documents revealed the Big Four accounting group warned its local firm not to co-operate with investigations into the scandal. tax leak scandal causing damage without permission.
The Australian Senate released documents on Friday, including a letter from PwC global counsel Diana Weiss to PwC Australia last year. She wrote that the local company needs to comply with a series of corrective actions or face suspension or expulsion from the global network.
A drastic move by PwC International aimed at takes control of PwC Australia last year followed the Senate release of internal PwC emails in May, which revealed a partner in its tax practice used confidential information from government meetings to assist His colleagues win new business from multinational technology companies.
Weiss’s letter, sent in May, two weeks after PwC launched its review of the Australian company, stipulated that PwC Australia not to provide to “any regulatory or governmental or legal authority any formal, material or substantive submissions or responses” without the approval of Weiss and its representative. leader of PwC International.
The letter said Weiss and representatives of the network must also sign off on any decisions regarding the accountability of individuals involved in the tax leak scandal.
Deborah O’Neill, chairwoman of the Senate committee conducting the investigation into the consulting industry, said Friday that Weiss’s letter demonstrated, “in stark detail, the extent to which PwC International has in an effort to limit transparency and accountability in the wake of the tax leak scandal.
“PwC International’s clear intention to interfere with Australian jurisdictions, regulators and parliament must be fully established,” she said, adding that the Australian public deserved to know PwC International acted to “wall itself off from the Australian company” to protect its global reputation.
Weiss’ letter was also sent to the firm’s global chairman Bob Moritz and partner Kevin Burrowes, who was appointed managing director of PwC Australia in June last year, a month after it was sent. It said the tax leak scandal had caused “sustained damage to its global reputation and brand” for PwC.
PwC Australia declined to comment on the senator’s statement and PwC International was not immediately available for comment.
The scandal has sparked an ongoing investigation into the practices and culture of PwC Australia — and the broader consulting industry — and led to repeated calls for the global unit to publish details of its own investigation, detailing which international partners used confidential information.
This week, PwC said profits in the Asia-Pacific region fell nearly 13% in the year to June as it lost market share due to scandals in Australia and China.
