Neil Chenoweth - Claims of secret payments, gifts, bullying: Former KPMG partner named

Former KPMG boss turned ATO chief Chris Jordan used tax haven, whistleblower alleges

Unsubstantiated whistleblower documents allege former ATO commissioner Chris Jordan received secret offshore payments during his time at KPMG.

TANSY HARCOURT

August 20, 2026 

Former KPMG partner and tax commissioner Chris Jordan addresses the National Press Club in Canberra in 2024. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Historic allegations about wrongdoing at KPMG can be traced back to the era when Chris Jordan was one of its senior partners before going on to become the Australian Tax commissioner, according to a document released by parliament on Thursday.

The heavily redacted document alleges “secret commissions” of $2.4m were paid to two people. This publication has seen the unredacted document and can reveal Mr Jordan and fellow former KPMG partner Wayne Jones as the individuals it refers to.

A second 2021 document yet to be substantiated provides greater detail of allegations Mr Jordan received million-dollar payments off the books during his time at KPMG in the late 1990s and hiding the money in a secret bank account in the Isle of Man to avoid paying tax in Australia.

Mr Jordan did not respond to requests for comment and the ATO would not comment. Mr Jordan has previously denied the allegations.

While the public document redacted Mr Jordan and Mr Jones’ names, it revealed two other former partners Philip Henry and John O’Donnell were alleged to be “selling tax losses for which Philip Henry knew to be non-existent or materially deficient”.

The Australian does not allege the claims are true, just that they have been made. If true, they destroy any argument that KPMG has floated about its successive scandals being the actions of a few rogue partners.

KPMG has commenced a massive 500-job cull, axing partners and staff as the fallout from its audit scandal threatens $442 million in contracts.

KPMG is teetering under the weight of significant governance failures. These include misusing confidential client information to secure work, maintaining cozy ties with former partners on corporate boards, and audit partners compromising independence by accepting perks such as Taylor Swift concert tickets from clients.

Mr Jordan’s name has come up over these 1990s claims because of the republication last week by The Australian Financial Review of whistleblower allegations about Mr Jordan’s involvement in the same alleged tax avoidance. 

The newspaper claimed KPMG had paid the whistleblower $500,000 to stay quiet. 

The Financial Review reported that Mr Jones and Mr Jordan, who had been friends as well as colleagues, were involved in arrangements surrounding Dinnans Ltd, an Isle of Man shell company used to execute their offshore money transfers.

KPMG has now begun the brutal task of firing staff and reducing partner pay as it seeks to manage a dramatic slump in revenue from the public airing of its unethical behaviour.

On Thursday, many partners were delivered news about “moving down” the bands that dictate their portion of the firm’s profit share – a pay cut – as part of desperate cost saving measures, The Australian can reveal. 

New chief executive John Sams started “conversations” just a day earlier with 50 partners that will be exited. Next week, 450 client-facing staff will also lose their jobs.

In a cruel twist, it’s believed that none of those expected to lose their jobs will be from the audit or tax teams, where the whistleblower scandals have stemmed from, because it needs all hands on deck to complete existing contracts. 

KPMG casualties include Eileen Hoggett, Martin Sheppard and Paul Rogers. Artwork: Emilia Tortorella

Former CEO Andrew Yates, former chairman Martin Sheppard, and former chief operating officer Eileen Hoggett have all left the firm as a result of the current audit scandal, along with the former head of audit Julian McPherson and audit partners Paul Rogers and Kim Lawry.

KPMG said it has been difficult to investigate the claims about Mr Jordan because they allegedly occurred so long ago.

Now the task may fall to Mr Sams, or the ATO and the Tax Practitioners Board that it controls. Complicating matters is the fact that both authorities are heavy with former KPMG partners themselves. 

Those include Jeremy Hirschhorn, who is the ATO’s second commissioner, leading its Compliance and Engagement Group. Peter de Cure is the chair of the Tax Practitioners Board and Simone Carton is a board member. 

Mr Jordan was the commissioner and Dana Fleming served for many years as assistant commissioner. 

Mr Jordan was the first person to ever be appointed directly from the private sector to head the ATO and is understood to have had deep personal and professional connections. He was appointed by the Gillard Labor government in 2013 and reappointed by the Turnbull Coalition government in 2017.

In the unsubstantiated 2021 document, the author provides greater detail of the alleged “secret commissions” worth $1.2m referred to in the other, now public, document released by parliament.

“In 1998, Jordan and Jones brokered a deal with TSB Lloyds and Rothschild Australia and negotiated a structuring fee of $1.2m each which they decided to treat as personal income rather than properly returning it to KPMG,” said the author in the 2021 document. 

“The payments to Jordan were made by Dinnans, an Irish subsidiary of an Isle of Man entity. Jordan did not return the fee as assessable income for income tax purposes. It is inconceivable that a person such as Jordan could have been appointed to the position of Federal Commissioner of Taxation,” they continued to allege.

That 2021 letter also alleges Mr Jordan and Mr Jones participated in tax schemes that trafficked tax losses of mining companies. The schemes included “Copper Doctor” and “Gold Doctor.”

Apologies, admissions: how the KPMG hearings ended

BUSINESS 

As Accountants Daily has covered extensively, former and current KPMG executives have been separately grilled on the alleged audit misconduct and whistleblower treatment. At the end, they were brought together for one final attempt to explain the scandals. 

21 August 2026 • By  Malavika Santhebennur  

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As the KPMG audit misconduct scandal raisedquestions about whether it has eroded trust in the big four accounting firms, senator Deborah O’Neill provided former KPMG Australia partners an opportunity to make commentary on the evidence presented throughout the day at the tail end of last week’s hearing. 

While some former partners apologised for the alleged audit misconduct at the scandal-ridden accounting firm, former chief operating officer and expelled partner Eileen Hoggett maintained she “cooperated through all the investigations”. 

Hoggett stepped down as COO in early June and announced she would retire from the partnership. However, after Allens uncovered new evidence on her role in the alleged misconduct, she was expelled from the partnership.

During the hearing, it was revealed that she wrote a damning email referring to the confidential documents relating to the Lendlease audit, which were retained in a locker in the KPMG Sydney office.

Hoggett told O’Neill that while she appreciated the firm was disappointed when they found the May 2023 email a couple of weeks ago, she wanted to “reiterate” her cooperation. 

She repeated her comments from her testimony earlier in the hearing that she was disappointed the firm did not engage with her to have a discussion about the email even though she “has never had a conduct issue and has no pattern of behaviour”.

“[KPMG Australia CEO John Sams] said that that opportunity was given to me. I want, for the record, to be that the only opportunity was when that was presented to me while I was overseas by Teams in an interview by Allans, but no engagement by the firm,” she said.

Former chairman hopes new leadership can make things right

Former chairman Martin Sheppard defended the “very talented and capable people working hard to try and resolve and get to the nub of the issues”, but ultimately conceded that the process was “clumsy”, and mistakes were made.

“There's been different levels of responsibility assigned and there have been things that have fallen through the cracks and it’s taken much more time,” Sheppard said.

“I apologise for the impact that this has had. As the chair of the firm, I don't carry that responsibility lightly, and I do hope with the new leadership in place, and with the support work that's being done around culture, the commitment around the engagement with the whistleblower to put things right. I genuinely hope that the firm can move forward to restore its place in the Australian capital markets.”

Former national managing partner, audit and assurance, Julian McPherson, apologised to the whistleblower at the centre of the allegations, as well as to clients and partners.

“I’m devastated by what’s happened. I’m sorry,” he told the committee.

Yates refuses to say how much whistleblower is worth

At the hearing, former CEO Andrew Yates said he thought the firm was doing the right thing throughout the investigation process, but said that as soon as it became clear that this was not the case, he stood down as CEO.

O’Neill was not convinced of his contrition, however, and questioned “how sorry” he was, whether he did anything for the whistleblower, how much they are worth, and how much of his salary and departing payout the whistleblower should receive for doing “this amazing job for two years”.

“I’ve not done anything for the whistleblower. I walked out the door of KPMG after 36 years, didn’t say goodbye to anyone,” Yates said.

When O’Neill asked for his recommendations on what the current board should do for the whistleblower, Yates refused to be drawn into it and said it was a matter for the current leadership.

However, O’Neill pressed him again, and said: “You cannot afford to make that statement. You are absolutely intimately involved with it from the very beginning. You are not separate from it.”

Yates said that he did not know what a fair amount is, and added that he thought the settlement amount at the time was fair.

“I believe the firm is doing that. But I'm not going to put a figure on that. They need to work through that.”