Committee chair,Liberal senator Richard Colbeck,said the committee wanted to be careful now a criminal investigation was under way,but its report was deliberate.
“This is not just a calculated breach of trust,but it’s an egregious one,” he said.
Colbeck said PwC did not seem to understand that it had a responsibility to provide appropriate information to authorities and the community about the scandal.
“It’s time that they co-operated with the investigations that are being undertaken so that we can understand what went on,and the Australian community deserves to understand what went on,” he said.
“They should be open and honest with the Australian people,the international community,and accurately publish information about who was involved.”
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Colbeck acknowledged the work of Pocock and Labor senator Deborah O’Neill in helping to bring the scandal to light.
The fallout escalated in late May when the Federal Police confirmed it hadlaunched a criminal investigation into the leak.
The next day,Finance Department secretary Jenny Wilkinson lashed the firm’s failure to disclose the full extent of the leak and revealed the departmenthad in effect banned PwC from taking on future federal government contracts until the matter was satisfactorily resolved.
PwC’s acting head,Kristin Stubbins,apologised the following week,and admitted the culture within the company had “allowed for profit to be placed over purpose”.
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“[It] is clear,in hindsight,that PwC Australia did too little,too late,” she said.
The firm stood down nine partners pending the outcome of its own investigation,and a week after the apology andhanded over the names of more than 60 current or former staff and partners who were included on emails related to the scandal after repeated calls from senators.
But those actions have failed to allay the concerns of some existing and potential customers. Earlier this month,AustralianSuper froze all future work with PwC and said it was reviewing its ongoing auditing work with the firm,an action laterfollowed by other major super funds including Aware Super and CareSuper.
Construction giant Lend Lease iced plans to hire PwC as its auditor,while Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe said PwC would have to prove it had changed if it wanted to gain work from the bank in future.
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