PwC has agreed to a federal government order to stand down employees involved in the alleged misuse of confidential information, as scrutiny now turns to a potential conflict of interest in AFP’s use of the consultancy firm while it investigates the breach.
The public service has stepped up its response to PwC for sharing confidential tax policy information to drum up business, with the head of treasury referring the matter to police and finance ordering staff “directly involved in, or who had knowledge of, the significant breach” to be stood down.
On Thursday the Australian Financial Review revealed that finance secretary, Jenny Wilkinson, had emailed senior staff to advise that it had directed PwC to stand the relevant staff down “from all existing and future contracts under the management advisory services panel”.
Wilkinson then appeared at estimates confirming that PwC had agreed with the direction issued on 19 May and a recommendation for it to stand the staff down with respect to all commonwealth contracts until the review of PwC’s culture and governance to be led by Ziggy Switkowski is complete.
Wilkinson said the department had become aware on 2 May that the “breach of confidentiality was significantly broader than a single individual within PwC” and that PwC’s initial response “insufficiently addressed” the issues raised.
This raised “serious concerns about the broader culture in PwC and undermined our confidence in their earlier response”, she said.
Wilkinson...
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