Ex-KPMG partner blames junior colleagues for fabricated documents
A former partner at KPMG, who led the audit of Carillion, has blamed junior colleagues for fabricating documents given to the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), during an industry tribunal into claims that papers were forged to deceive the industry regulator.
Former KPMG partner, Peter Meehan, who left the KPMG on “agreement” in January 2021 after the Big Four firm suspended him over alleged wrongdoing, denied any role in forging the documents.
Instead the former KPMG partner told the industry tribunal that junior colleagues had fabricated the documents without his knowledge, according to the Financial Times.
The alleged fabrication came after the FRC launched an investigation into KPMG’s audit of British construction giant Carillion, which filed for bankruptcy in 2018.
The tribunal is investigating claims that Meehan and four junior colleagues – the youngest of whom is 25 years’ old – forged documents in order to mislead the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), during the regulator’s investigation into KPMG’s audit of Carillion.
KPMG
In a statement, KPMG’s CEO Jon Holt, said that KPMG is fully cooperating with the tribunal as he claimed the incident “does not represent the wider culture or practice of our firm.”
“We became aware of the misconduct at the centre of this case as a result of our own internal investigations and immediately reported it to our regulator,” Holt said.
“I very much regret that individuals involved in this case failed to act properly or to call out the inappropriate behaviour of others, and I am saddened that some relatively junior former members of staff are facing very serious regulatory sanction at an early point in their careers.”
Speaking to City PM, a spokesperson for KPMG said the firm has handed over more than 25,000 documents in cooperating with the FRC’s investigation as he noted that none of the people involved in the tribunal now work for the Big Four firm.