Former PwC boss Luke Sayers promises to co-operate with investigations

The former PwC Australia boss and high-profile AFL businessman has pledged to co-operate with any investigation into the tax scandal.

Luke Sayers has broken his silence on the crisis engulfing his former employer, PwC, and the high-profile Melbourne business identity has vowed to co-operate with any official government or Australian Federal Police investigations.

After serving as boss of scandal-hit PwC Australia until May 2020, Mr Sayers has been under pressure to speak publicly on the consulting firm’s tax leaks scandal – which occurred during his time at the top – and after calls this week for him to step down as president of AFL club Carlton.

He told The Weekend Australian he would co-operate with any probe: “If requested, I look forward to engaging with any Senate inquiries or AFP process.”

Mr Sayers is at the heart of Melbourne’s nexus of power between business, football and politics.

Luke Sayers and wife Cate in Melbourne. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Two of those are under severe strain. Mr Sayers was boss at a time the firm was taking confidential information provided by the government to help it devise new international tax avoidance laws, and effectively selling this same information to clients.

Former AFL boss and Crown Resorts director Andrew Demetriou said Mr Sayers needed to address the crisis. “I’ve always found Luke to be very capable, very approachable, very professional, and someone who is well versed in the Melbourne network,” he told The Weekend Australian.

“He will have to say something about PwC at some point.”

Business and political figures are now questioning why a man with so much power and so many connections has been slow to clear his name.

“I’ve always had a very high opinion of Luke, but this issue will be like getting your foot on a bit of sticky paper; it will follow you around until you deal with it some way or another,” said one former federal government minister and high-powered business person.

His time as PwC boss saw Mr Sayers’ impeccable networking skills come to the fore, as he forged some of the best connections around town – Labor or Liberal, corporate or sporting.

Andrew Demetriou. Picture: John Feder

Those who are, or have been, close to Mr Sayers range from Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to ex-federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg, billionaires Lindsay Fox and Raphael Geminder, rich-lister caravan magnate Gerry Ryan, AFL boss Gillon McLachlan and David Smorgon.

Fox scions David and Andrew Fox were among the luminaries to attend Mr Sayers’ 50th birthday party in 2019, alongside Mr Andrews, BHP chairman Ken MacKenzie, Westpac chief executive Brian Hartzer and many other business and football types.

Mr Sayers, 53, is president of Carlton Football Club and is keeping his head down amid calls to resign because of both the poor performance of the club, and the lack of clarity about any role he may have had in the PwC scandal.

One former AFL club president, who is quick to point out he does not have any knowledge of Mr Sayers’ level of involvement in the matter being investigated by the AFP, says he is surprised the Carlton president has said nothing.

He also points out that at this point in the AFL season, clubs perceived to be underperforming always come under pressure, noting Mr Sayers was rolled by the board in his first choice of coach, Ross Lyon, who is now coaching St Kilda.

“Still, if it were me, I would be saying to the public that I will co-operate with any authority looking into the PwC issue,” the former club president says.

“But people do need to be afforded natural justice. This matter needs to be investigated through a robust process.”

Carlton CEO Brian Cook has previously told The Australian the board was not considering Mr Sayers’ future at the club and was focused on making the finals.

And it may turn out Mr Sayers really did not know what was going on under his watch when fellow Victorian PwC tax partner Peter Collins was running the global scam. The Weekend Australian is aware of no information to suggest otherwise.

The AFP is investigating Mr Collins and it is expected this could lead to the actions of other people at PwC also being reviewed.

Bruce Mathieson has given Carlton’s leadership, of which Luke Sayers is a member, an almighty spray.

Mr Sayers is certainly no stranger to controversy. There was speculation he was linked to an injury Mr Andrews sustained in 2021, which the Premier says happened when he fell down the stairs of a rented Sorrento beach house, but others believe occurred during an incident at billionaire Lindsay Fox’s Portsea compound.

Fox and his family, and of course Mr Sayers, have remained silent on this issue.

Mr Sayers was appointed PwC Australia CEO in 2012 aged 42, the youngest CEO in its history. He immediately cut 200 staff and 10 per cent of partners, surviving that rocky start that saw him take a year, as he described, to bring a “calmness back to the culture”.

He would retire from PwC eight years later to establish his eponymous advisory and investment business, financially backed by several wealthy Australian families, including those of Fox, Ryan and Seek co-founder Andrew Bassat.

Mr Sayers joined the board of his beloved Carlton in 2012, serving alongside the likes of Spotlight billionaire Zac Fried and Jeanne Pratt, matriarch of the Pratt family. In 2021, he was elevated to the club presidency.

It has not been all smooth sailing though, as he copped public criticism from billionaire poker machine magnate and Carlton backer Bruce Mathieson last month. Mr Mathieson labelled Carlton’s leaders “imbeciles” as the once powerful club suffers yet another season of on-field disappointment.

It led to Mr Mathieson’s nephew, Craig, quitting the club board after a verbal stoush with officials in the dressing rooms after a loss to the Sydney Swans last Friday.

Bruce Mathieson would not comment on his views of Mr Sayers’ potential exposure to the PwC scandal, but an unnamed senior AFL person opined that it was probably time for some commentary from the once favoured powerbroker.

“If things happen on your watch, experience tells you that there’s a bit of a smell until you deal with it,” says the AFL figure. “It may be that he comes out smelling like a rose. I wouldn’t even presume to judge anyone in this because I don’t know, but just on what appears to be in the public domain, he may have to deal with something.”