The whole Sanjay Thakkar bullying saga at KPMG U.K. has mercifully come to an end.
The Financial Times reported on Feb. 28:
One of KPMG’s most senior partners who was at the centre of a bullying dispute has left the firm eight months after widespread scrutiny of his conduct that led to a crackdown on behaviour at the Big Four firm.
Sanjay Thakkar, former head of deal advisory, departed KPMG by “mutual consent” this month after 28 years at the firm, according to a spokesperson.
The 51-year-old was accused of bullying last year in a high-profile row that resulted in two female partners resigning from the firm. Their departures followed a bruising period for KPMG, whose culture and values were criticised after a series of accounting controversies.
The two female partners, Maggie Brereton, former head of U.K. transaction services and a nonexecutive U.K. board member, and Ina Kjaer, former head of U.K. integration in the deal advisory team, resigned in February 2019 because they felt KPMG mishandled its internal investigation into Thakkar’s behavior.
And boy was it mishandled.
Brereton and Kjaer started their own consulting firm, Eos Deal Advisory, late last summer. And according to FT, Thakkar, who stepped down as head of KPMG’s deals consulting practice last summer while the law firm Linklaters investigated the bullying allegations against him, has launched his own advisory firm in London called Arkley Square Advisors.
KPMG declined to reveal the findings of the Linklaters review or to give any details on the terms of his departure. Two people with knowledge of the review’s outcome said the Linklaters report had in effect cleared Mr Thakkar of bullying. However, one former employee who said they had complained to KPMG’s management about Mr Thakkar said they had not been interviewed as part of the review.
So my question is: How can a report supposedly clearing Thakkar of bullying really clear Thakkar of bullying if not every single KPMGer who accused Thakkar of bullying wasn’t interviewed by Linklaters?
KPMG partner at centre of bullying row leaves firm [Financial Times]
Related articles:
Two KPMG U.K. Female Partners Had Enough Of Working At a Firm That Protected An Alleged Bully
KPMG U.K. Partner Accused of Being a Bully Decides He Probably Shouldn’t Be a Partner Anymore
Here’s More Proof That KPMG U.K. Totally F*cked Up the Way It Handled Bullying Allegations Against Partner
KPMG U.K. Doesn’t Really Care If You Don’t Like How It Handled Complaints Against Partner Accused of Bullying
