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AAP
AAP
Politics
Andrew Brown

PwC offshoot challenged to prove distance from scandal

PwC sold off its government consultancy arm to Allegro Funds for $1. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)

PwC's government consultancy offshoot will need to prove it is far removed from the embattled firm to sustain lucrative contracts, finance officials say.

Finance deputy secretary Andrew Jaggers told a Senate estimates hearing the department would hold monthly meetings with Scyne Advisory for at least a year to determine whether ethical standards at the new company were in place.

PwC sold off its government consultancy arm to Allegro Funds for $1 earlier this year after revelations senior partners within the firm passed on confidential Treasury information on tax plans to boost business.

Allegro Funds created the new company Scyne Advisory, which was given the green light by the Finance Department earlier in October to work on government contracts.

Andrew Jaggers
Finance official Andrew Jaggers will be watching the operations of the PwC consultancy offshoot.

But Mr Jaggers said Scyne officials needed to prove they were at arm's length from anyone involved in the tax advice scandal.

"We'll need to see that in practice, we need to test that and to see that the broad principles are actually affecting the way that people behave and the culture of the firm," he told the hearing on Tuesday.

"Over the next 12 months, we'll be testing and asking questions and we'll be looking to see that they are behaving in a way that's consistent with the way they've said they're going to behave now."

The finance department confirmed it had two active contracts left with PwC.

However, Mr Jaggers said he did not know exactly how many former contracts with PwC would be transitioned over to Scyne Advisory.

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