The newly appointed chair of KPMG, Michael Ebeid, has issued an apology to Senator Deborah O’Neill after previously accusing her of making “completely false” statements when she aired whistleblower allegations in Parliament.
Editor’s note: This story first appeared on HR Leader’s sister brand, Accountants Daily.
Ahead of his appearance at the KPMG inquiry this Friday (14 August), KPMG chair Michael Ebeid has sent a written apology to the inquiry chair, Senator Deborah O’Neill, for previous statements he made about her after she shared allegations raised by a whistleblower against the firm in March this year.
In an email sent to other KPMG directors earlier this year, Ebeid said O’Neill’s statements were “completely false” and criticised her decision to air the allegations before Parliament as “very inappropriate and unfair”.
In an email sent to O’Neill on Saturday, Ebeid said he was sorry for his previous statements and for describing the firm’s process for investigating the allegations as thorough when there were obvious gaps in its investigations.
“Events since have shown that neither was true, and that the concerns you raised on the whistleblower’s behalf have helped uncover serious wrongdoing, and I can only thank you for that,” Ebeid said.
“Furthermore, suggesting to my colleagues that I could personally present the firm’s position to you was an inappropriate way to think about engaging with you or with the Parliament, and I apologise for that too. Clearly, I did...
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