EY says it did not investigate the claims its auditors were tipped off about fake coal testing, partly arguing it relied on denials of problems from miner Peabody and testing company ALS.

The claims were raised late on Friday afternoon at a Senate inquiry into the consultancy industry, following a scandal that emerged in 2020 in which ALS admitted a large chunk of tests between 2007 and 2020 had been artificially boosted for unnamed mining customers.