KPMG Australia’s new boss, John Sams, is already facing questions over his judgement in relation to the firm’s handling of whistleblower complaints that led to his predecessor’s resignation and Sams’ appointment to the top job on Tuesday.
The parliamentary committee investigating the scandal released documents on Tuesday evening that KPMG had previously relied on to claim there was no substance to the allegations before it backtracked in the face of a wave of political and media pressure.
In an April 30 document summarising the findings of KPMG’s investigations, released by the firm’s leadership, including Sams, the consultancy claimed that there was largely no substance to claims by a whistleblower that confidential audit information had been misused.
Labor senator Deborah O’Neill, who is leading the parliamentary committee, said in a statement following the release of the documents on Tuesday that the summary was “full of calculated half-truths and strategic denial.”
“Let’s be clear that in April, this document of 22 pages was the firm’s concerted effort to convince the parliament of Australia that there were no failures at KPMG and that the whistleblower’s concerns were completely unsubstantiated,” she said. Since then, O’Neill argued, many of the whistleblower’s claims had been substantiated.
“I question the judgement of those who allowed KPMG to send this summary to the committee, regulators and government bodies,” O’Neill said.
The committee also released a document...
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