Updated August 14, 2026 — 5:21pm,first published August 14, 2026 — 9:25am
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Sacked KPMG executive Eileen Hoggett has been confronted with evidence showing she emailed a colleague about confidential documents stored in her locker, as a high powered-parliamentary inquiry probes the whistleblower scandal rocking the firm.
Hoggett also revealed she would cop a hefty financial penalty after being expelled from the firm, which has been thrown into turmoil by damaging allegations aired by a whistleblower.
Hoggett was once a contender to become KPMG Australia’s chief executive, but she was expelled from the firm last month after new evidence emerged to support a whistleblower’s allegation that sensitive Lendlease board documents had been kept in a locker in KPMG’s Sydney office.
The board documents were used to win business with other clients, and it was Hoggett’s locker. New CEO John Sams sacked her immediately over the issue, after Hoggett had previously denied the documents were in the locker.
On Friday, Hoggett said she did not remember storing the documents in her locker, but she said she had been made aware of new evidence in recent weeks that “has caused me to recognise that some of my previous recollections, and therefore some of the answers I gave in interviews, were not accurate”.
Hoggett apologised, said she had not sought to mislead, and that she had “answered the questions based on what I genuinely remembered at the time about events that took place in 2023”.
“I was provided with a copy of an email dated back from one May 2023, three weeks ago, that would convey that I had a copy of Lendlease documents that were in my locker,” she told a public hearing into the whistleblower scandal on Friday.
“I don’t actually recall printing those documents and storing them in my locker. Clearly, this email conveys that there were Lendlease documents that were stored in my locker.”
She told the committee she was not aware that those documents had been used in any way to win work on other clients or that they had been distributed widely.
Senator Barbara Pocock then read out from an email that Hoggett had sent her executive assistant about allowing another KPMG executive access to the documents.
“I think we confidentially allow him to look at the printed version in my locker when he is back in Sydney. He needs to do it sensitively without letting too many people know,” she said in an email that concluded with a smiley emoji.
Hoggett told the hearing she was still trying to ascertain the reason for her unprecedented sacking, and attested to the financial cost.
“I don’t get my accrued annual leave. I don’t get the retirement payment, which I contributed to as a partner for 21 years, and I did not get paid for the last month up until to the date of my expulsion. So (it’s a) significant financial penalty,” she said.
