The news: The parliamentary committee overseeing KPMG Australia’s whistleblower scandal has published documents provided by the embattled firm on Ashurst and Allens’ investigations, despite requests for legal professional privilege.
The context: The committee said that KPMG requested the documents be received confidentially on the basis of legal professional privilege but it now considered it appropriate to publish the documents as there was compelling public interest to do so.
“The Senate does not accept claims of legal professional privilege as a fetter on the Senate’s powers to require the production of documents or to publish documents,” the committee said in a statement.
The committee said releasing the documents was necessary to enable the public examination of KPMG’s response to the whistleblower’s allegations ahead of the 14 August hearing.
“The committee further notes that it provided KPMG with every opportunity to publish the documents itself. KPMG has been free to do so. It has chosen not to,” the statement said.
The committee published five legal advice documents — three from Ashurst and two from Allens.
The Ashurst advice relates to claims made by the whistleblower, the outcome of its review into matters raised by the whistleblower in relation to his employment at KPMG, and a review into concerns raised by the whistleblower.
The Allens advice relates to whistleblower provisions and a report into its investigation.
KPMG initially told the committee that...
[Sportschosun Jang Jong-ho] A total of 34.789 billion won in false National Health Insurance claims was detected at 839 health care institutions over the past four years (2022-2025). According to d...