Scandalised KPMG faces parliamentary house of horrors

Former NSW premier and Cricket Australia chairman Mike Baird leads the list of witnesses called to Canberra next week to appear before a parliamentary committee into the growing whistleblower scandal at global consulting giant KPMG.

The parliamentary joint committee (PJC) chaired by senator Deborah O’Neill, will publicly interrogate how some of Australia’s biggest corporate names, and regulators, were kept unaware KPMG executives were allegedly accessing and sharing sensitive information for financial gain.

The list includes senior partners from law firms like Allens and Ashurst who participated in multiple investigations of the whistleblower allegations over two years, on behalf of KPMG.

The scandal first came to light when O’Neill gave a speech in the senate in March detailing the whistleblower allegations for the first time, alleging confidential client data had been shared and potentially used to win new business with other clients.

“There are clear allegations here of profoundly unprofessional and unethical behaviour,” she said at the time.

Last month, some of the allegations were substantiated and it triggered the resignation of former CEO Andrew Yates and former audit boss Julian McPherson.

KPMG apologised and finally recognised the complainant as a whistleblower – with the required legal protections – and said the initial internal investigation had not been conducted with the “necessary rigour required”.

The list to appear before the PJC includes KPMG chairman, Martin Sheppard, Yates, McPherson, as well as the independent board members the whistleblower appealed to last year when his complaints to the firm were effectively stonewalled: Baird, Patty Akopiantz and Jane Hemstritch.

The latter has previously held board roles at the Commonwealth Bank, Telstra and Lendlease.

Baird, Akopiantz and Hemstritch instigated another investigation, this time by law firm Allens, which is continuing its probe of 38 separate allegations by the whistleblower. Allens partners including managing partner Richard Spurio, will appear next Friday.

Lea Constantine and Jane Harvey will appear for Ashurst.

The PJC has also called up Lendlease chief executive Tony Lombardo and chairman John Gillam. The property giant will put its audit business out to tender for the first time since the 1950s after KPMG its auditors accessed sensitive boardroom documents that they were explicitly forbidden access to.

The PJC has also called up senior KPMG employees who were involved in its internal investigation that failed to substantiate the allegations.

This includes KPMG general counsel, Louise Capon, former chief operating officer Eileen Hoggett, interim CEO Stan Stavros, HR boss Dorothy Hisgrove.

Since the scandal came to light, the Financial Times has confirmed that the whistleblower had also taken the allegations to KPMG International, which repeatedly refused to investigate them.

“While we cannot comment on individual cases, we treat seriously all reports received by the KPMG International Hotline, and take appropriate action. We encourage all colleagues to speak up if they see or hear anything they consider to be inappropriate,” a KPMG International spokesman said.

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