KPMG leaked confidential Optus information and surveilled whistleblower’s laptop, inquiry hears

KPMG admitted to a third breach of ethics and said it had surveilled a whistleblower, a joint parliamentary committee heard. Photograph: Hollie Adams/Reuters View image in fullscreen KPMG admitted to a third breach of ethics and said it had surveilled a whistleblower, a joint parliamentary committee heard. Photograph: Hollie Adams/Reuters KPMG leaked confidential Optus information and surveilled whistleblower’s laptop, inquiry hears International firm owns up to breach of ethics after staff leaked confidential Optus information while bidding for telco contract KPMG has admitted to another breach of ethics after its staff leaked Optus’ confidential information to colleagues bidding for an audit contract with Telstra. The consulting firm’s executives also surveilled a whistleblower’s laptop and dismissed the individual as someone with “workplace grievances”, a parliamentary inquiry heard on Friday. The internal leaks first became public when senator Deborah O’Neill shared the whistleblower’s testimony under parliamentary privilege in a speech on 24 March. KPMG initially said the allegations had not been substantiated but in subsequent weeks determined partners had leaked Lendlease’s confidential information and another partner had made an inappropriate remark suggesting colleagues look at Dexus’ confidential information. On Friday, KPMG’s chair, Martin Sheppard, publicly confirmed for the first time that staff who audited Optus shared unredacted confidential information to the team that was pursuing the audit contract for Telstra, a competitor telco. “Information moving through an ethical divider … shouldn’t have moved through that divider,” he said at the parliamentary joint committee public hearing in Canberra. KPMG’s former chief executive, Andrew Yates, said the confirmation of the Optus leak motivated his decision to resign in May. “There was evidence to support some of the whistleblower allegations that, had I overseen things differently, we could have found earlier, and it was that day that I realised that I felt I needed to take accountability,” Yates told the inquiry. Yates said he was paid $1.7m for his resignation notice period plus $2.4m on retirement as part of the firm’s partnership agreement. The peak accounting body, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, said it was investigating Yates and 11 others over the scandal. The CAANZ chief executive, Ainslie van Onselen, said she was “disgusted” by the alleged conduct. Partners Eileen Hoggett and Paul Rogers told the inquiry they had stood down from audit work and were being investigated by the Australian securities and investments commission over their alleged role in leaking Lendlease information. Tony Lombardo, the chief executive of Lendlease, said KPMG and Yates told him they had investigated and dismissed leak allegations in May 2025 and he was not given any update until the allegations were made public in March. He told the committee KPMG had since given Lendlease only “p