{"id":774134,"date":"2026-07-02T11:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T11:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/774134\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T11:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T11:15:12","slug":"kpmg-appoints-chair-who-claimed-leak-allegations-were-completely-false-and-called-senators-actions-inappropriate-consulting-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/774134\/","title":{"rendered":"KPMG appoints chair who claimed leak allegations were \u2018completely false\u2019 and called senator\u2019s actions \u2018inappropriate\u2019 | Consulting (Australia)"},"content":{"rendered":"

KPMG has appointed a new chair who previously claimed leak allegations<\/a> were \u201ccompletely false\u201d and described a senator\u2019s actions in revealing the scandal as \u201cvery inappropriate and unfair\u201d.<\/p>\n

Michael Ebeid was appointed to lead the embattled firm on Thursday after the former chair, Martin Sheppard, resigned while under fire from a parliamentary inquiry into the firm\u2019s ethical failings.<\/p>\n

After the appointment, the committee released emails revealing comments Ebeid made in March. Ebeid apologised for the claims on Thursday and said he would not have made them had he known the full extent of KPMG\u2019s shortcomings at the time.<\/p>\n

Barbara Pocock, Greens senator and committee member, said Ebeid\u2019s appointment showed KPMG still faced embedded ethical problems.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt risks entrenching the very culture and leadership that need to change,\u201d Pocock said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the fresh start for KPMG that it attempts to be. Mr Ebeid is a part of the culture and leadership team where things have gone seriously wrong in KPMG.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ebeid was one of three independent board members who had overseen the firm\u2019s investigation into a KPMG whistleblower\u2019s allegations of leaks and other failings in the firm\u2019s audit division.<\/p>\n

The committee\u2019s chair, Senator Deborah O\u2019Neill, made the allegations public in a speech on 24 March.<\/p>\n

The emails released on Thursday show KPMG\u2019s deputy chair, Carmel Mortell, alerted Ebeid and his colleagues on 25 March.<\/p>\n

Email from Michael Ebeid. Composite: Guardian Design\/Parliamentary joint committee on corporations and financial services<\/p>\n

Ebeid replied: \u201cI assume Senator O\u2019Neil [sic] made no attempt to contact KPMG before speaking \u2026 which in itself would be very inappropriate and unfair of her.\u201d<\/p>\n

He accused O\u2019Neill of misrepresenting events to give the impression KPMG retaliated against the whistleblower for speaking up.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we know well, many of the statements she makes are completely false,\u201d Ebeid said.<\/p>\n

After the emails were published on Thursday afternoon, Ebeid said he was not aware of \u201cthe full range of facts\u201d at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recognise the gravity of the whistleblower\u2019s allegations and the shortcomings in the firm\u2019s approach at the time,\u201d Ebeid said. \u201cFrom what I now know \u2026 I would not have written that email and am sorry for sending it.\u201d<\/p>\n

KPMG has admitted its own investigations, which failed to find evidence of the allegations, were not rigorous enough.<\/p>\n

After O\u2019Neill\u2019s speech in March, the firm acknowledged at least three of its staff had leaked confidential Lendlease and Optus information<\/a> to colleagues who were applying for lucrative audit contracts at Westpac, Dexus and Telstra.<\/p>\n

Sheppard refused to share the investigation documents with the committee, claiming legal privilege given they included claims relating to possible criminal investigations.<\/p>\n

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Ebeid was the only independent director to defend KPMG\u2019s privilege claim, at odds with his two colleagues and his predecessor, Mike Baird, the former New South Wales premier.<\/p>\n

After a fiery day of hearings on 19 June, Sheppard relented and shared some of the documents, then resigned on 23 June.<\/p>\n

The parliamentary committee said in a statement on Thursday it was publishing the emails in response to Ebeid\u2019s promotion as he would have an \u201cimportant role\u201d in addressing KPMG Australia\u2019s integrity issues and rebuilding trust.<\/p>\n

It also rebuffed Ebeid\u2019s suggestion, in the emails, that he knew O\u2019Neill and could meet her to explain KPMG\u2019s \u201cthorough process\u201d.<\/p>\n

The committee said: \u201cno member of the committee, including [O\u2019Neill], knows Mr Ebeid nor have they met with him since the whistleblower allegations were raised by [her].\u201d<\/p>\n

Pocock went further, claiming Ebeid was trying to \u201cexercise inappropriate influence on senators and committee processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ebeid said he respected O\u2019Neill and the committee and would engage constructively with their work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI acknowledge the firm got things wrong but we are serious about fixing mistakes that have been made,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Thursday, in KPMG\u2019s statement announcing his appointment, Ebeid said he would accelerate the appointment of a new chief executive and suggested more top staff could be replaced.<\/p>\n

KPMG\u2019s former chief executive, head of audit and chief operating officer have all stepped down but there have been calls for more executives to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe incoming CEO will have a clear mandate to refresh the executive team where required,\u201d Ebeid said.<\/p>\n

The federal government on Wednesday said it would consider splitting up the big four consulting and audit firms and capping partner numbers in response to the scandal. The government avoided such sweeping reforms after the PwC tax leaks in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KPMG has appointed a new chair who previously claimed leak allegations were \u201ccompletely false\u201d and described a senator\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":774135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-774134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}