Two Ernst and Young employees have been sacked after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s personal banking information was allegedly hacked while they worked for an accounting firm at the Commonwealth Bank.
Australian Federal Police say they have charged two Sydney men. with confidentiality violations in May after the bank allegedly discovered it had accessed classified information belonging to a federal politician.
One Ernst and Young employee and another man have been charged.
The men, aged 21 and 25, were charged with accessing classified data without permission.
The young man faces an additional charge of using a communications device to disseminate personal information “in a manner that reasonable people would, under any circumstances, consider to be threatening or harassing to those persons.”
EY has been contacted for comment. (ABC News: John Gunn)
As a result of the investigation, which stemmed from irregular activities discovered at the bank, two men were fired from their jobs at Ernst and Young.
Consulting firms such as Ernst and Young are private companies that assist government and non-government organizations in their activities.
Only one of the men fired from the consulting firm was charged by police.
Mr. Albanese’s office declined to comment on the alleged violation.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he was concerned about privacy breaches at Australian banks.
“On the face of it, I think any developments of this nature are incredibly concerning, not just for the Prime Minister’s details, but for any Australians’ details,” Mr Chalmers said.
“I assume there are legal and other processes going on and I don’t want to get in the way of them.”
Latest allegations of Big Four wrongdoing
Ernst and Young, also known as EY, is the latest of the so-called “Big Four” professional services firms to face allegations of wrongdoing.
KPMG has agreed to a three-month freeze on new federal government contracts as the row over its handling of a whistleblower escalates, leading to the resignation of chairman Martin Sheppard last week.
It follows whistleblower revelations about KPMG Australia’s misuse of confidential information belonging to its client Lendlease, which were disclosed to federal parliament by Labor senator Deborah O’Neill in March.
This followed the 2022 PWC scandal, in which the company was found to have misused confidential government information to help multinational companies avoid paying taxes after it was publicly disclosed in 2022.
PWC is not currently bidding on any federal government contracts due to a non-compete clause.
Both men were bailed and will appear at Newtown Local Court today.
Ernst and Young declined to comment.
A Commonwealth Bank spokesman said: “It is inappropriate to comment on individual contractor issues.”