A Senate committee has labelled embattled consultancy firm PwC’s conduct in the tax advice scandal as an “egregious” breach of trust.
An interim report by the committee into PricewaterhouseCoopers’ conduct in the scandal where confidential information on tax avoidance was leaked and shared with other partners for financial gain with other client, urged for the firm’s full co-operation with investigations.
The report recommended that PwC publish the list of names of partners who were involved in the scandal, as well as cooperate with investigations by the federal police and the Tax Practitioners Board.
Liberal senator and committee chair Richard Colbeck said other jurisdictions needed to examine the extent of PwC’s actions.
“This is not just a calculated breach of trust, but it’s an egregious one,” he said.
“PwC doesn’t seem to understand that it’s their responsibility to deal with this to provide appropriate information to the Australian community and the Australian authorities.
“It’s time that they come clean. It’s time that they told the Australian community, the international community, what was going on.”
The Greens have called for the government to cancel the registration of PwC as a tax agent, as well as issue a ban on contracts using the consultancy firm.
Greens senator Barbara Pocock said accountability was needed from PwC over the scandal, saying the firm was hiding behind claims of legal privilege.
“As this report shows we’re a very long way from any of that,” she told parliament.
“PwC has failed to take responsibility. It must have known for years, the names, the communications and the specific acts of those responsible as well as those not responsible.
“The leadership of PwC have failed to transparently deal with this scandal.”
The Treasury Department has referred the scandal to the federal police to investigate.
Senator Colbeck said the committee needed to “take care” in how it would examine the issue in Parliament given the investigation.
-AAP
