PwC lawsuit set to go nuclear; Victor Dominello’s new gig

Former PwC man Neil Fuller has launched legal action against the embattled consulting firm. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Talk about going nuclear. Neil Fuller’s name may not immediately chime with those trailing the implosion of PwC Australia, but Margin Call can reveal this crucial protagonist has launched legal action against the disgraced consultancy, with the matter slated for a return to court within weeks.

At issue, from what our informants have told us, are his lucrative retirement benefits. These were severed once the scandal rudely exploded a few months ago onto the front pages of the mainstream press.

It’s not exactly crystal how much the pension was worth to Fuller, but Margin Call hears it’s in the ballpark of $400,000 annually. Keep in mind, payments fluctuate depending on the firm’s overall profitability.

Who was Fuller? Internally he was termed a “rover”, with instructions to focus “on the North American market”, according to a 144-page email dossier from PwC released by the Senate. In essence, he was its cross-border point-man who marketed this information globally. If Peter Collins was supposedly the upline supplier of this information in Australia, Fuller, who retired from PwC in 2019 (in circumstances said to have been entirely unrelated to all this controversy), was its international exporter.

Former PwC employee Peter Collins. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

Who knows what secrets this man is privy to, or whose fingerprints he can identify, or whose ankle he might wish to cling to from the edge of his own cliff. It was only two weeks ago that PwC’s newly appointed boss, Kevin Burrowes, briefed a room full of retired partners that an internal investigation – one of three ongoing – was likely to absolve global colleagues of any career-ending liability.

“What I can tell you is that the initial conclusion to that would be that virtually no one has been found of any wrongdoing in any international firm outside of Australia. I say virtually – there may be one or two small instances,” he said. “I think that’s going to give us a reasonably clean bill of health about the actions of partners overseas.”

Fuller’s legal assault may put paid to Burrows’ wishful thinking in the NSW District Court, where papers were filed naming PwC governance board member Paul Abbey as a respondent, among others.

And one can only guess what Fuller might have to say about the partners in New York, Ireland, and tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, where emails concerning Multinational Anti-Avoidance Laws are thought to have been disseminated.

No telling what precedent Fuller’s legal action could also set if he’s successful, especially from those who’ve had their pensions removed and careers shredded, including Collins, Paul McNab and Michael Bernsten. The Senate was told in June that they, too, had their benefits scrapped.

Fuller’s case is only the second to be lodged after that filed by former partner Richard Gregg, although that was in an entirely separate league. He was ordered to retire by PwC bosses – unfairly, too, according to a decision handed down this month by the NSW Supreme Court.

Fuller’s lawyers at Arnold Bloch Leibler (the go-to firm of former PwC chief Luke Sayers, mind) declined to discuss the matter, as did PwC.

Dom’s new gig

Former NSW digital minister Victor Dominello appears to have finally hung up his consulting shingle, as Margin Call flagged in May. Hence the newly formed Certum DCX, an outfit of which he’s a director and major shareholder. “Certum” is Latin for “certain” (why even bother?) and DCX stands for “digital customer experience”. Very creative!

His first client? Dominello’s been signed by Accenture for a short-term dispatch advising the Abu Dhabi government on – what else? – digital services to citizens and “sharing lessons learnt and general advice on approaching digital government”. To be fair, there is no greater geek on the subject.

Victor Dominello. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

Could it be a bit early to be doing all this? Well, only if Dominello has a go at lobbying, which requires an 18 month “cooling off” period for cabinet ministers, Dominello having ended his government role in March. And there’s no suggestion of any lobbying, for now; just his usual ear bending on data.

Margin Call is aware of all this because Dominello had to bounce it off the NSW parliament’s ethics advisor, John Evans, who cleared the gig on the condition that it was a short-term contract, and so long as Dominello wouldn’t misuse any information he gleaned while in office.

“Should you wish to take up further longer-term employment with Accenture, you need to submit a further request for advice,” Evans said. Which is sounding like what this is all building to, given Dominello’s description of the work (“attending Accenture leadership meetings to offer advice and perspectives”; “being a sounding board for proposed offerings”; and attending events at Accenture’s invitation as an independent expert.”)

Makes sense, too, given Dominello’s also joined the board of the Technology Council of Australia. Have you seen the list of its members? Accenture’s just one of them.