I have co-signed the following letter, which has been reported by the Guardian:
We the undersigned, call upon the Cabinet Office and Prime Minister Theresa May to reverse the decision to appoint KPMG as advisors to the Grenfell Tower inquiry, without competition.
The failure of KPMG to disclose a clear conflict of interest — that KPMG audit Celotex, the parent company which produced the flammable cladding, alongside its role as auditors of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and Rydon Group, the principal contractor, raises serious questions about the professionalism of KPMG and its ability to define and serve the public interest.
KPMG's reputation has already been seriously tarnished by the failed HBOS and Cooperative Bank audits in the UK, as well as its flawed auditing of overseas banks including Wachovia, New Century Financial, Wells Fargo, Countrywide and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (for which it has paid out millions of dollars in fines and settlements). KPMG failures are also closely associated with the developing Gupta political scandal in South Africa.
The Government's Grenfell Tower inquiry is already facing criticism from Grenfell survivors and victims for a lack of inclusivity and diversity, failure to consider the deregulatory background via a series of reckless political decisions, made by Government's of various colours in the decades leading up to the Grenfell disaster.
Government must recognise that appointing advisors so closely associated with firms under inquiry can only further fuel rumours of a deliberate cover-up and erode public trust.
Big 4 accounting firms actively lobbied the Conservative Party in the lead up to the 2010 General Election to close the Audit Commission, which audited and investigated public bodies like The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO).
The Audit Commission was shut by Government in April 2015, leaving an accountability vacuum in local government audit and fraud investigation, into which cases like Grenfell ultimately fall.
KPMG and other audit firms have directly profited from Government austerity, via the “bonfire of quangos” and related boom in consultancy and outsourcing work, while governance and scrutiny standards in public bodies have fallen.
We question why the Cabinet Office only chose to announce the appointment of KPMG to the controversial Grenfell advisory role in December, when the decision was made in August?
How does the Government's covert, fast-track appointment of KPMG as Grenfell advisor chime with public statements about the need to repair trust with the Grenfell Tower Community?
It is entirely inappropriate to reward RBKC auditors KPMG with Grenfell Tower inquiry work and we urge Government to reverse the decision and to cancel the KPMG contract.
| Surname | Name | Organisation | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allen | Lily | ||
| Anderson | Samiah | New School Economics- Goldsmiths | Founder |
| Apps | Peter | Journalist | |
| Baker | Elly | National Education Union | |
| Bartley | Jonathan | The Green Party | Co-Leader |
| Bellows | Anita | Disabled People Against Cuts | |
| Benjamin | Joel | Research for Action | |
| Berry | Sian | Green Party member of the London Assembly | |
| Binder | Miriam | Disabled People Against Cuts | |
| Boait | Fran | Positive Money | Director |
| Burnip | Linda | Disabled People Against Cuts | |
| Caller | Hannah | Focus E15 | |
| Chute | Richard | Earls Court Residents Association | |
| Clifford | Ellen | Disabled People Against Cuts | |
| Clifton | Sarah-Jayne | Jubilee Debt Campaign - Director | |
| Cobham | Alex | Tax Justice Network | Director |
| Colvin | Naomi | Campaigner | |
| Cooper | Dr Vickie | Open University | |
| Daniel | Rhonda | London School of Economics | |
| Dearden | Nick | Global Justice Now | Director |
| Dent-Coad | Emma | MP for Kensignton | |
| Duckworth | Sam | ||
| Edwards | Michael | Bartlett School - UCL | Professor |
| El-Gingihy | Youssef | Author of "How to Dismantle the NHS in 10 easy steps" | GP |
| Ellard | Bob | Disabled People Against Cuts | |
| Fraser | Ian | Financial journalist & author of Shredded: Inside RBS The Bank That Broke Britain | |
| Gilbert | Paul | University of Sussex | Lecturer in International Development - |
| Gill | Dr Bob | GP and Producer ‘The Great NHS Heist' | Doctor |
| Graeber | David | London School of Economics | Professor |
| Gray | John | LB Newham | Cllr |
| Greene | Andy | Disabled People Against Cuts | |
| Hamilton | John | Lewisham People Before Profit | |
| Hilder | Paul | Campaigner | |
| Hodkinson | Dr Stuart | University of Leeds | Doctor, Associate Professor |
| Hodson | Ian | British Food and Allied Workers Union | National President |
| Jasper | Lee | Blacksox | |
| Jeffrey | Nicola | Disabled People Against Cuts | |
| Jenkins | Ian | Merthyr Rising Festival | Organiser |
| Jones | Dr Paul | University of Liverpool | |
| Keats | Andy | Serious Banking Complaints Bureau | Director |
| Keen | Steve | Economist and Author | |
| Kelly | John | Disabled People Against Cuts | |
| Kennedy | Seraphima | Goldsmiths University of London | |
| Laws | Vince | Disabled People Against Cuts | |
| Lewis | Clive | MP | |
| Lines | Tom | Economics Consultant | |
| MacFarlane | Laurie | Open Democracy | - |
| Madden | David | London School of Economics | |
| Mahmoud | Sarah | New Economics Foundation | Senior Economist |
| Matthews | Cerys | MBE | |
| McGowan | Mark | The Artist Taxi Driver | |
| McKenna | Denise | Disabled People Against Cuts | |
| McKenzie | Lisa | London School of Economics | Professor |
| McNeil | Jo | University of Liverpool UCU | President |
| McNulty | Mike | B.A.C.A | |
| Miller | David | University of Bath | Professor |
| Minton | Anna | University of East London | Reader in Architecture & Author ‘Big Capital: Who is London For?' |
| Mitchell | Neil | Businessman & Anti-Corruption Campaigner | |
| Moore | Paul | HBOS Whistleblower | |
| Murphy | Richard | City University of London | FCA Professor of Practice in International Political Economy |
| Muverengwi | Faith | Tapepuka | |
| Nightingale | John | Reverend | |
| O'Neil | Dr Martin | Cardiff University | Dr |
| Oswald | Michael | Documentary Filmmaker: The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire | |
| Palmer | Hilda | Hazards Campaign/ Families Against Corporate Killers | |
| Paton | Dr Kirsteen | University of Liverpool | |
| Peoples Audit | - | - | - |
| Peters | Paula | Disabled People Against Cuts | |
| Pettifor | Ann | PRIME | Director |
| Pinto-Duschinsky | Nendie | ‘On the Ground at Grenfell' | Director |
| Quentin | David | Barrister | |
| Rogers | Ludovica | Debt Resistance UK | |
| Runswick | Alexandra | Unlock Democracy | |
| Russell | Lucie | Communications Professional | |
| Ryan-Collins | Josh | UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose | - |
| Samuels | Jane | ||
| Shah | Atul | University of Suffolk | Professor of Accounting and Finance |
| Shaheen | Faiza | CLASS Think Tank | Director |
| Sikka | Prem | University of Essex | Emeritus Professor of Accounting |
| Snell | Will | Tax Justice UK | |
| Sng | Paul | Director ‘Dispossession: The Great Housing Swindle' | |
| Stepanovic | Lisa | Social Ark CIC | |
| Stephanou | Georgie | Potent Whisper | |
| Tarry | Sam | President of CLASS Think Tank and Cllr LB Barking and Dagenham | - |
| The People vs PFI | - | - | - |
| Thorpe | Doug | Left Unity | - |
| Tombs | Steve | The Open University | Professor of Criminology |
| Topple | Steve | Independent Journalist | |
| Tucker | Pilgrim | Community Organiser | - |
| Tyler | Imogen | Lancaster University | Professor |
| Wainright | Hilary | Red Pepper | Editor |
| Waugh | Megan | University of Leeds | - |
| Whyte | David | University of Liverpool | Professor |
| Wilson | Nicholas | Independent anti-corruption campaigner. | - |
| Womack | Amelia | The Green Party | Deputy Leader |
| Wray | Ben | Commonweal | Head of Policy - |
| Wynne-Jones | Ros | Journalist | - |
| Zlotowitz | Sally | Housing and Mental Health Network | Clinical and Community Psychologist |
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Who would you suggest as a replacement to Kpmg?
A combined academic team
Yes Richard, perhaps something similar to the team that got to the root of Hillsborough.
Many years ago I was talking to a woman that worked for (as was) Price Waterhouse. She was doing reports on telecomms (client: the European Commission). We talked (I was doing a report on same subject for the Canadian Gov) & I mentioned ADSL and twisted pair – she asked “what’s “twisted pair” – up to that point I had some doubts about the “capabilities” of the big consulting firms – always nice to have them confirmed (that’s an example – I have chapter & verse). Morally corrupt & operationally incompetent – that’s the big consulting companies – for the last +/- 30 years.
In response to this I have just sent the following email to my MP Bim Afolami ( Conservative Hitchin and Harpenden ) with a link to the Transparency International press release.
Dear Mr. Afolami,
As you know I am one of your constituents.
Can you tell me why KPMG were awarded this contract without competition please.
Kind regards
I urge anyone reading this to do the same to their MP.
I’d encourage that
I grow more disillusioned with each passing day that the FCA qualification has come to be associated with monumental greed and that the institute to which I belong is so aligned with the biggest firms that it has lost any vestige of ethical authority to call out this sort of dishonesty.
The world being what it has become over the last 20-30 years, I’m not so naive as to expect anything else but I never expected to feel in any way ashamed of my qualification when I achieved it in 1972.
I’m about to retire except for seeing a handful of clients through some technically potentially awkward situations. I’ll miss those clients but I’m not at all sure I’ll miss my distant, in so many different ways, lords and masters in Moorgate Place.
But they’ll miss your fees
The sweet smell of corruption.
[…] mentioned yesterday that I was one of the initial signatories to a letter demanding that KPMG cease to be advisers to the Grenfell Tower inquiry because of their conflicts of interest. Last night, as […]
KPMG has also been totally compromised (along with McKinsey) with their collusive activities in the State Capture in South Africa.
I am delighted to see this demand.
Well done!