Greens raise conflict of interest concerns over AFP dealings with PwC

Greens senator David Shoebridge has raised conflict-of-interest concerns about the dealings between Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw and former NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller, alleging that their personal relationship could jeopardise the criminal investigation into the PwC tax scandal.

Shoebridge said documents he received in response to a Senate order seeking all communications between the AFP commissioner and Fuller since July last year highlighted that Kershaw had five meetings with Fuller over a lucrative contract handed to PwC.

Greens senator David Shoebridge ordered the production of all communications between AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw and PwC senior partner Mick Fuller.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Fuller, a friend of Kershaw, joined PwC as a partner in March 2022. The documents, cited by Shoebridge, reveal a text message between Fuller and Kershaw before their first meeting on July 28 to scope out the work and determine whether PwC could deliver on the contract, an ACT policing review.

“I think I’m booked in to see you with PwC in a few weeks. Will call you before if [sic] okay,” Fuller said in a text sent to Kershaw on July 14.

“Good plan,” Kershaw replied.

The two attended the initial meeting on July 28 at which no minutes were taken but the document reports that it outlined the need to undertake a review and inform PwC’s consideration of “whether they had the capability to undertake the work.” Kershaw and Fuller both attended four more meetings.

PwC partner Mick Fuller in his days as NSW police commissioner (left) and his friend Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw (right).Credit: Dominic Lorrimer, Alex Ellinghausen

The final meeting recorded between PwC and AFP, which Fuller and Kershaw attended, was in December. The following month, former PwC partner Peter Collins was banned for breaching confidentiality guidelines with Treasury by sharing confidential plans to combat corporate tax avoidance with PwC partners.

Shoebridge said that Kershaw and Fuller’s dealing warranted closer scrutiny.

“We have two mates sitting together in shaping a three-quarter-of-a-million-dollar contract. No conflict of interest disclosed,” he said.

“We say to the Australian Federal Police commissioner, ‘what are you doing to ensure that conflict of interest is dealt with in the ongoing investigation of PwC’ because when the Australian Federal Police commissioner is a mate of a senior partner in PwC, how can any of us have faith in the independence of that investigation?”

The AFP is conducting a criminal investigation into PwC.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

The AFP is currently conducting a criminal investigation into the PwC tax scandal.

Kershaw recently told a Senate estimates committee that he had not declared a conflict of interest in relation to his friendship with Fuller. This was in reference to PwC being awarded millions of dollars worth of contracts with the AFP, including its work as the agency’s auditor.

An AFP spokesperson denied there was any issue of conflict. “The AFP categorically rejects the assertions made,” they said.

PwC has been contacted for comment.

At a Senate estimates hearing last month, the AFP said the commissioner did not do the procurement – it was engaged through the management advisory services panel. It also emphasised the importance of having a review conducted by someone with the requisite policing experience to get the insights required.

The AFP is scheduled to appear before Senate estimates on August 4. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Kershaw or Fuller.

In early May, the release of a 143-page document revealed the scale of exploitation of confidential Treasury information on the new tax policies for PwC’s gain.

A Senate report this week was scathing about PwC’s behaviour. “This document reveals a profoundly unethical nature of behaviour inside the organisation over many, many years, and it is indeed a calculated breach of trust,” the report said.

The final text exchange between Fuller and Kershaw was on May 24 this year – the day Treasury referred the tax scandal to the AFP for criminal investigation.

“Just saw news re referral. Will give you some space so not too [sic] complicate your life,” Fuller said.
“Ok thx mate,” was Kershaw’s reply.

Shoebridge said the texts were problematic, not just for Kershaw and the AFP, but also for the attorney-general who oversees the AFP.

“The very real familiarity that you see in that exchange ... highlights why we need a clear explanation from the attorney-general about how the conflict of interest will be managed and from the Australian Federal Police Commissioner about why he thought that kind of exchange was appropriate given the job the AFP have to do to investigate PwC,” he said.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has been approached for comment.

Greens Senator David Shoebridge wants to hear from Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

In the Senate on Thursday, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher was asked what the government was doing to give Australians confidence that the AFP investigations into PwC would not be influenced by close relationships.

“The Australian public should have confidence that just like all serious criminal investigations, this investigation into PwC will be undertaken by experienced investigators within the AFP special investigations team,” she said.

Not all the communications between Fuller and Kershaw were handed over to Shoebridge. The cover letter for the document’s release noted that the release of all the communications between Fuller and Kershaw “could unreasonably infringe the privacy of individuals and would not be in the public interest”.

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