A former partner at a PwC-owned tax advisory firm who made sensational allegations about Lendlease’s financial statements has suffered a setback in his plan to sue both for over $15 million.

Anthony Watson claimed he suffered career and financial detriments while working at Greenwoods & Herbert Smith Freehills (GHSF) after alleging that Lendlease committed tax fraud.

He is now suing GHSF and Lendlease for $15.5 million in damages for allegedly breaching whistleblower protections.

However, parts of Mr Watson’s amended statement of claim were struck out or dismissed by the Federal Court yesterday following a decision reached in August about the proper construction of whistleblower protections under the Treasury Laws Amendment Act and the Taxation Administration Act.

In the August judgement, Justices Mark Moshinsky, Wendy Abraham and Elizabeth Raper considered whether detrimental conduct engaged in prior to both of the acts coming into effect on 1 July 2019 meant that detriment caused by the conduct continued on or after that date.

The court answered no to both and, as a result, ordered that related parts of Mr Watson’s statement be struck out.

Mr Watson has “foreshadowed an application for leave to amend” and the proceedings have now been listed before a case management hearing at a later date.

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