PwC will keep its findings private

PwC International won’t publish the Linklater review in full or make it available to a Senate inquiry probing its Australian arm’s tax scandal, saying the contents are legally privileged and confidential to the firm.

It comes as the firm hits back at suggestions that it has been secretive, saying PwC International and member firms are entitled to engage in confidential and privileged communications with their lawyers, without suggestion that doing so is a failure to co-operate.

In correspondence to the Parliamentary Joint Committee overseeing a probe into consulting firms, PwC International global chair Bob Mortiz rejected the request to provide the Linklaters document.

But upon request from PwC Australia, PwC International has made public additional non-privileged information around the review and findings about confidential Treasury information on tax policy that were shared locally and overseas.

“The Australian firm and the global network holds the view that 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 failing to do so is a failure to co-operate,” PwC Australia’s co-operation with the Senate submission said. “PwC has acknowledged that PwC personnel outside of Australia were recipients of some emails that contained confidential information. Accordingly, as was appropriate, PwC International retained Linklaters to form an independent review of what happened.”

In the interests of transparency, PwC Australia has said that the independent investigation by London-based law firm Linklaters had access to the same evidence held by both the Australian firm and local regulators.

PwC Australia said it continued to co-operate with regulators and had not withheld the names of any individuals outside of Australia who received confidential Treasury information.