KPMG Australia has denied making an ‘incredible failure’ in its advice to a government department that later awarded a $423m contract for security work on Manus Island.KPMG Australia has denied making an ‘incredible failure’ in its advice to a government department that later awarded a $423m contract for security work on Manus Island.
“An EY audit shows that KPMG investigated the wrong Paladin entity,” O’Neill told officials from Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, an oversight body. “I’m watching jaws proverbially hit the floor as you hear me tell you this, because that is an incredible failure.” “The financial strength assessment report obtained by the department is not relevant to the financial strength of its contracted service provider – Paladin Holdings,” the EY audit said. “The department noted that Paladin Holdings did not have financial statements.”When asked for a response to senator O’Neill’s criticism, a KPMG spokesperson said: “We did not conduct the assessment on the wrong entity.
However, the EY audit also found “there was no specific records of the department assessing and agreeing to this conflict declaration”. The report also criticised the veracity of KPMG Australia’s report to government, which warned Paladin Solutions was a “moderate/high risk”.