The former chief operating officer and audit partner who said at a parliamentary hearing last month that she didn’t recall stuffing confidential documents in her personal locker is now suing KPMG, reports Reuters:
Eileen Hoggett, who the whistleblower said stashed client board papers in her locker in KPMG’s Sydney office, stepped down from her role as chief operating officer in early June while staying on as an audit partner.
She was expelled from the partnership weeks later.
The Supreme Court of New South Wales confirmed Hoggett’s lawsuit on Thursday and that a summons document had been lodged.
“Expulsion means that I get no entitlements. So I don’t get my accrued annual leave, I don’t get the retirement payment which I contributed to as a partner for 21 years, and I did not get paid for the last month up until the date of my expulsion,” Hoggett said at the August 14 hearing at which she struggled to recall what exactly was put in her locker. “So, [it is a] significant financial penalty.” Potentially millions, actually.
It was evidently the first time ever in KPMG Australia’s history that a partner had been forcibly ejected from the partnership. Hoggett joined KPMG at 20 years old and had been at the firm for 33 years when she received a call from the CEO telling her she was getting kicked.
Ex-KPMG Australia executive sues firm after sacking over audit leak scandal [Reuters]
