PwC’s international arm has been slammed by Senator Barbara Pocock after it declined to hand over an investigation by law firm Linklaters into whether global partners were involved in the tax leaks scandal.
“PwCIL (PwC International) and its member firms are entitled to engage in confidential and privileged communications with their lawyers in a manner which is protected under applicable laws in those jurisdictions without any suggestion that doing so is a failure to cooperate,” the firm said in a statement on its website.
The statement was handed to a senate committee,which is investigating the scandal - in which a former PwC partner allegedly used confidential government tax plans for commercial gain - in response to its request for the Linklaters report.
“This refusal to release the Linklater report,or to shed any light on the actions of international PwC operatives who received confidential information from the Australian Tax Office,is contemptuous of Australian taxpayers and the Australian Senate,” Senator Pocock said.
“(PwC Global Chairman) Bob Moritz is happy to take unilateral control of the Australian firm yet refuses to cooperate with Australian authorities investigating how the leaked information was used,particularly in the US,UK and Singapore.
“His seemingly polite refusal to hand over any information about the role of international partners in the scandal flies in the face of their claims to good governance. This is a slap in the face to the Australian people who have paid through the nose for PwC contracts with government agencies for decades,” she said.
In another statement on its website,PwC Australia reiterated that it has not been provided with the Linklaters advice,but also backed the right of the international firm - which is now effectively in control of the Australian operation - to withhold this information.
“While we note the desire for the Senate to have access to legal advice received by others in the PwC network,we are mindful of the basic legal right of legal professional privilege that operates in many jurisdictions including in Australia,” it said.