ASIC officials will also attend the hearing alongside Lendlease senior executives and KPMG partners
Lea Constantine and Jane Harvey of Ashurst are set to attend the 19 June hearing along with Richard Spurio, Christopher Kerrigan and Ross Drinnan of Allens. They will be joined by Lendlease chief executive Tony Lombardo and chairman John Gillam as well as ASIC officials.
The parliamentary joint committee on corporations and financial services also called former KPMG chief executive Andrew Yates, ex-audit head Julian McPherson, former COO Eileen Hoggett, national chairman Martin Sheppard, ex-Australian CEO and incoming global chairman Gary Wingrove, and global general counsel Anne Collins. These KPMG partners join interim chief executive Stan Stavros, audit head Scott Guse, general counsel Louise Capon, executive director James McClelland, and human resources head Dorothy Hisgrove.
Yates and McPherson departed the firm as a result of the matter while Hoggett vacated her role, the AFR reported.
The committee is also set to call audit partners Paul Rogers and Suzanne Bell as well as senior employees who supervised internal KPMG investigations into the allegations. Moreover, ex-NSW premier and once-independent board member Mike Baird will attend the hearing alongside independent board members Jane Hemstritch and Patty Akopiantz.
The audit leaks issue arose when a former audit director presented the firm with a formal report in May 2024 that claimed the misuse of confidential client data. According to the whistleblower, private Lendlease board papers were utilised in the pitch for Westpac and Dexus audit contracts; moreover, Macquarie Group and Westpac audit work was supposedly won with the help of inside information.
The whistleblower was reportedly denied legal protections; moreover, the firm did not conduct a proper investigation for two years. Allens also conducted a review that concluded with the dismissal of the majority of the claims.
The director escalated the issue to KPMG International, independent directors, Chartered Accountants ANZ and ASIC before taking the matter to Labour senator Deborah O’Neill, who publicised the misuse in March. O’Neill presently chairs the parliamentary joint committee.
KPMG issued an apology to the whistleblower at the end of last month and said it was launching a new inquiry to be conducted by Allens.
