Treasurer in dark over PwC at dinner

The dinner was held just five days after investigators found PwC had leaked confidential tax information.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he was unaware of the controversial PwC findings at the time he attended a lavish $4000/per head Labor Party fundraising dinner.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he was unaware of the controversial PwC findings at the time he attended a lavish $4000/per head Labor Party fundraising dinner in the boardroom of the company’s Canberra office.

Dr Chalmers was the guest speaker at the intimate dinner in the ACT suburb of Forrest on November 21 last year. More than a dozen guests paid thousands of dollars each to attend the event.

Just five days earlier, the Tax Practitioners Board (TRB) had decided to impose an order on PwC after finding the company had breached the Code of ­Professional Conduct when it leaked confidential Treasury information about upcoming multinational tax evasion changes to its clients.

According to a source with knowledge of the dinner, Dr Chalmers was seated immediately next to PwC chief strategy and reputation officer Sean ­Gregory. Mr Gregory is among the PwC senior partners who have stood aside from their positions on the firm’s 16-member executive board in the wake of the scandal.

Dr Chalmers has been scathing of PwC’s conduct since the scandal came to widespread public attention earlier this year. In January, he said he was ­“absolutely furious, absolutely ropeable” about the revelations and earlier this week said that the government was considering taking “further steps” against PwC.

“I will have more to say about how we crack down on this ­behaviour, which is inexcusable, frankly, particularly when you consider that corporate Australia, for the right reasons, wants to be consulted on changes that ­impact them,” he told ABC Radio on Monday.

His office on Tuesday confirmed that the Treasurer did not know about the TRB’s order against PwC at the time of the Labor fundraising dinner.

The TRB had found some PwC’s partners and personnel who were engaged by Treasury in confidential consultations around changes in legislation to clamp down on multinational tax avoidance had learnt how the proposed legislation and policy could affect the tax position of current and potential clients.

“Internal communications within PwC indicated an awareness amongst the internal PwC recipients, including PwC taxation partners, that the confidential knowledge gained from the consultations with Treasury would be leveraged to market PwC to a new client base and ­influence the structures of existing clients in a manner that may be perceived to circumvent the intent of the proposed legislation,” the TRB’s findings said.

The chief executive of PwC’s Australian operations Tom Seymour stepped down from his role earlier this month. The company has also appointed former Telstra chief executive Ziggy Switkowski to run a review of the Australian business.

PwC has also pulled its $80,000 sponsorship and branding of the flagship post-budget dinner in Canberra.