Ex-PwC head of tax referred to police over leaks as parliament scrutinises scandal
Treasury has referred former PwC partner Peter Collins to the Australian Federal Police to decide whether he should be charged over allegedly leaking confidential information.
The former head of international tax at professional services giant PricewaterhouseCoopers has been referred to the Australian Federal Police over his role in leaking confidential tax briefings so the firm could construct schemes to allow clients to minimise tax.
In a statement issued late on Wednesday, Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy said Peter Collins “improperly used confidential Commonwealth information”.
Dr Kennedy said emails tabled in parliament by the Tax Practitioners Board “highlighted the significant extent of the unauthorised disclosure of confidential Commonwealth information and the wide range of individuals within PwC who were directly and indirectly privy to the confidential information”.
“In light of these recent revelations and the seriousness of this misconduct, the Treasury has referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police to consider commencement of a criminal investigation,” he said.
This comes as Treasury prepares its broader response to the PwC leaks, with Agriculture Minister Murray Watt hinting the review may pare back the use of consultants and stop the revolving door between the public service and professional services firms.
Speaking in Senate estimates on Wednesday, Senator Watts said he was sure the government would give consideration to extending the time frame between when public servants could work on government projects and when they could work in consultancies.
The senator said he had “serious concerns” about allegations aired in senate estimates that PwC misused information after signing confidentiality agreements.
“I’ve got serious concerns about what we’re learning across a range of government portfolios,” Senator Watts said.
This comes as Treasury investigates the leak by Mr Collins of confidential tax advice, which allowed the firm to sell schemes to American tech companies to minimise their tax obligations.
Revelations the leaks went to the highest levels of PwC, with the firms’ recently departed chief executive Tom Seymour a recipient of the leaked information, have triggered a round of questioning in Senate estimates, as the parliament unravels close links between professional services firm and the public service.
On Wednesday the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry revealed it was concerned PwC consultants had misused information gained from brainstorming sessions with the department to pitch for further work.
Senate estimates heard PwC had approached the department, offering IT services, after at least three partners from the firm participated in high level consulting sessions with leadership.
These included PwC managing partner Stephanie Males, senior partner Neil Plumridge, and partner Katie Reid.
However, department secretary Andrew Metcalfe declined to reveal who made the approach from PwC that breached confidentiality.
He said the approach was met with a reprimand, but noted “we’re not talking about state secrets here”.
“I don’t want to give an impression that we’re talking about something that was highly confidential, secret and classified,” Mr Metcalfe said.
“Someone said gee we can help you with that and then they got in touch. That’s a more correct characterisation of what’s occurred.”
The hearings come after an Australian National Audit Office report found the use of consultants in the Department of Agriculture skyrocketed between 2020 and 2022, almost doubling from $213.9m to $417m in the period.
Greens senator Barbara Pocock criticised the department for paying PwC $40m under a strategic partnership agreement
“I’ve called for this referral to the Federal Police and I welcome it. Now we need to know when Labor will commit to a ban on PwC contracts, support for a full investigation by the NACC and an end to political donations from big consultants.
“The bigger question remains, are we looking at just the tip of the iceberg? What is going on in the larger industry of big consulting?”
Labor senator Deb O’Neill said the “new revelation of PwC’s misconduct” regarding agriculture “only further raise concerns that unethical behaviour is endemic” at the firm.
“This additional evidence of misconduct, as well as the 144 pages of PwC Australia and PwC internal emails reveals a blasé attitude to the theft of information from the Australian people,” she said.
“Breaches of confidentiality, unethical behaviour, and misuse of government information seems to be ‘business as usual’ at PwC.”
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