Two graduate employees sacked after allegedly accessing Prime Minister’s bank account
Updated . First published at
Two graduate employees, including one from one of Australia’s major professional firms, have been sacked and charged by police after allegedly accessing the banking details of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Nine.com.au understands two graduate employees, one of whom worked for Ernst and Young (EY), were working on an engagement with Commonwealth Bank when they allegedly gained access to the banking details of Albanese.
The personal banking data of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was allegedly accessed by two graduate employees at EY. Eamon Gallagher
Nine.com.au understands the two graduate employees allegedly accessed the bank accounts of their own volition and were not doing so at the direction of any other company, including EY.
After an investigation conducted by EY, the employment of the graduate at the company was terminated.
The pair have now been charged by the Australian Federal Police for accessing sensitive banking information outside of work purposes.
An internal investigation led to the graduates having their employment terminated. Eamon Gallagher
The AFP did not name Albanese as the target, instead saying the charges related to “a federal parliamentarian”.
Officers told nine.com.au a 21-year-old man had been charged with one count of unauthorised access to restricted data and one count of using a carriage service to distribute that information.
The second person, a 25-year-old man, was charged with causing unauthorised access to restricted data.
Both men were charged on May 6 and granted bail, with the pair to face court today.
The Australian Financial Review reports that the banking data of a senior EY employee was also allegedly accessed.
EY declined to comment on the matter.
Andrew Yates from KPMG was forced to resign last month after the company was found to have mishandled whistleblower complaints. Hilary Wardhaugh
The Prime Minister’s Office and Commonwealth Bank were both contacted for comment, but both also declined to comment, with a Commonwealth Bank spokesperson saying it was “not appropriate for us to comment on individual contractor matters”.
EY staff, like all others in the financial system, are trained to only access accounts for genuine work purposes, and that any records should never be accessed for reasons of curiosity.
EY is the latest big four accounting firm to be hit by scandal.
Last month, the chief executive of KPMG Australia Andrew Yates resigned after an investigation by an external law firm found the company had failed to properly handle claims made by a whistleblower.
The allegations referred to the inappropriate internal sharing of client information, and the whistleblower had approached several KPMG Australia board members and “others”, before the review by law firm Allens was initiated.
While both an internal and external investigation found the claims were unsubstantiated, KPMG later acknowledged the internal investigation had not been “conducted with the necessary rigour.”
As part of the fallout, KPMG’s national managing partner audit and assurance Julian McPherson also stood down from his role and will resign after transitioning his client responsibilities.
Speaking upon his resignation, Yates said he was taking responsibility for the company’s shortcomings.
“I have been committed to a speak-up culture in our firm, it is clear that in this case we have let ourselves down and I take accountability,” he said.
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