Four of the wealthy partners at the centre of the PwC tax scandal gripping Australia have been revealed – and at least two were once employed by the ATO.
Between them, the four men had more than 75 years experience in Australian taxation law, and could have been each earning upwards of $1million per year while employed with the firm.
None of the men named are still employed by PwC. It’s understood one retired in 2019, while another has since stepped down from his role at another firm.
Peter Collins has been banned as a tax practitioner and is under investigation by the Australian Federal Police.
A further 63 PwC partners and staff have been named as having received at least one of the confidential emails, however the big-four firm is hesitant to implicate staff who may not have been aware that the contents they’d received were confidential.
Here, Daily Mail Australia looks at the four partners publicly identified so far in the breach.
Four of the wealthy partners at the centre of the PwC tax scandal gripping Australia have been revealed – and at least two were once employed by the ATO
Peter Collins
What did PwC do?
PwC is one of the top consulting firms globally, providing tax advice to some of Australia’s biggest businesses.
The firm’s biggest Australian client is the federal government.
The government has awarded $537million worth of contracts – on the taxpayer dollar – to PwC.
Among these contracts are deals with the Australian Federal Police, Defence and Services Australia (the agency behind Centrelink).
PwC used sensitive, confidential information to lure in companies and drive tax policies which could have cost the Australian economy as much as $180million in lost revenue from big foreign companies.
<!—-> AdvertisementPeter Collins was the first to be named in the PwC scandal and is subject to an AFP investigation.
He was banned as a tax practitioner in 2022, after the Tax Practitioners Board determined he’d leaked confidential information to give his firm an advantage in negotiating deals with external companies.
Almost a decade ago, Mr Collins was approached by the federal government to help design laws to ensure overseas corporations paid their fair share of tax in Australia.
As PwC’s international tax expert, he seemed like a perfect fit, and signed confidentiality agreements to ensure the security of the plans.
It was later determined he used that information to secure new clients and help consider loopholes to the tax policy.
Internal emails seen by Daily Mail Australia reveal Mr Collins made reference to ‘famous last words’ in correspondence that was not supposed to be distributed.
‘OK in practice until the ATO gets grumpy and figures out the joke,’ he said.
In many other emails, he made comments such as ‘for your eyes only’, ‘no need to share this because all supposed to be a secret’ and ‘as usual, pls treat as rumour’.
In an email sent by a redacted employee, Mr Collins was credited for securing a ‘significant number of clients’.
The email read: ‘We were aggressive in telling these relationships they needed to act early (heavily helped by the accuracy of the intelligence that Peter Collins was able to supply us, and our analysis of the politics).’
The revenue from the first stage of clients was estimated to be about $2.5million.
The TPB said: ‘Internal communications within PwC indicated that Mr Collins was aware that the confidential knowledge he gained from the consultations with Treasury would be leveraged to market PwC to a new client base.’
Peter Collins was the first to be named in the PwC scandal and is subject to an AFP investigation
Paul McNab
Mr McNab was part of PwC’s tax controversy and dispute resolution team, and has more than 30 years experience in the industry.
He lists resolving disputes with federal and state revenue authorities as his key specialty, and has managed audits on behalf of taxpayers and provided taxation advice to tech, telecommunications and media firms throughout his career.
He spent seven years employed by the Australian Taxation Office as a compliance branch officer.
Ms McNab confirmed he’d been named in the breach, but said ‘it is noteworthy that the firm has taken this action to name former partners only. I had no forewarning or opportunity to respond’.
‘For the record, I was not involved in any Treasury consultations regarding MAAL [Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law] where confidential information was discussed. In addition, I trusted that the information shared with me as a partner of the firm would comply with any confidentiality agreements that may have been in place with Treasury,’ he said.
‘At all times I worked with my clients to comply with Australian law, and not avoid it.’
Mr McNab had been working at global law firm DLA Piper since leaving PwC in 2020, but resigned after he was identified.
A spokesman said: ‘Paul decided to do the honourable thing in the midst of this media storm and act in the interest of the firm.’
Mr McNab was part of PwC’s tax controversy and dispute resolution team, and has more than 30 years experience in the industry
Neil Fuller
The final partner publicly named is Neil Fuller.
Mr Fuller was a senior tax partner with the firm, but is understood to have retired in 2019, after 31 years.
Michael Bersten
Mr Bersten was also named in the scandal.
The former tax and legal partner at PwC was, like Mr McNab, once employed by the ATO. There, he served as both Deputy Chief Tax Counsel and head of the Office of Chief Tax Counsel.
Mr Bersten left PwC in July 2018 after 14 years and seven months with the firm, and now serves as Deputy Chairman of the Tax Committee of the Law Council of Australia for NSW.
He said on LinkedIn he ‘acted in many of the major tax controversies in Australia’ and ‘has a strong understanding of ATO policy and practice’.
Mr Bersten left PwC in July 2018 after 14 years and seven months with the firm, and now serves as Deputy Chairman of the Tax Committee of the Law Council of Australia for NSW
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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