Australian Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy announced that the Australian Treasury had referred a confidential document leak scandal involving professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to police.
PwC Australia’s client, the Australian government, has accused the firm of betraying its trust by using sensitive information about upcoming anti-tax avoidance legislation to attract new clients.
PwC Australia’s CEO resigned earlier this month, and the firm has promised to “learn from our mistakes.”
Because of emails tabled in parliament earlier this month, “a wide range of individuals” at the firm were aware of Peter Collins’s misuse of confidential Commonwealth information, according to Kennedy.
He stated that the case had been referred to the Australian Federal Police “in light of these recent revelations and the seriousness of this misconduct.”
The Australian Federal Police are investigating the possible leak of sensitive government data.
According to a PwC Australia representative, the firm will continue to cooperate fully with any investigations into the matter.
This month, PwC announced that Ziggy Switkowski, a former CEO of Telstra and Optus, would lead an independent investigation into the leak and report his findings and recommendations in September.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers hinted on Monday that steps would be taken to crack down on similar behavior in the wake of calls to bar the firm from doing government work, but he declined to elaborate.
Parliamentary hearings are scheduled for next week, and Australian senators Deborah O’Neill and Andrew Bragg intend to raise the issue and demand more information.
