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Ousted KPMG operations boss sues following audit scandal · The Front

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  Speaker 1: Today's biggest news from The Australian. I'm Claire Harvey with
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  Speaker 1: the front's afternoon headlines. The nightmare engulfing professional services giant
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  Speaker 1: KPMG just got worse. With news the firm's former Chief
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  Speaker 1: Operations Officer Eileen Hoggart is suing. Hoggart was sacked after
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  Speaker 1: KPMG's Chief Executive John Sams said she'd kept commercially sensitive
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  Speaker 1: papers relating to competitor firms in her locker and, along
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  Speaker 1: with other partners, used them to obtain work for KPMG.
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  Speaker 1: This backed up a whistleblower's allegation that KPMG had been
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  Speaker 1: secretly keeping paperwork in a locker that would give the
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  Speaker 1: firm an advantage when bidding against its rivals for lucrative
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  Speaker 1: audit contracts. Several senior executives have left KPMG since the
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  Speaker 1: scandal erupted in July, including its former chief executive and
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  Speaker 1: chairman and several senior auditors. After initially dismissing the whistleblower's claims,
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  Speaker 1: KPMG then admitted the scandal was real hitting a group
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  Speaker 1: of its own staff and partners with fines well into
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  Speaker 1: the six figures, as well as warnings, reduced bonuses and
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  Speaker 1: other penalties for misusing confidential information. Hoggart has denied wrongdoing
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  Speaker 1: and initially denied any knowledge of papers in her locker,
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  Speaker 1: Bart said under questioning at a parliamentary committee. She had
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  Speaker 1: in fact sent an email which confirmed there were papers
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  Speaker 1: in the locker. This is Eileen Hoggart telling Liberal Senator
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  Speaker 1: Paul Scar at the committee in August about the moment
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  Speaker 1: she was sacked.
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  Speaker 2: I was out walking one morning and I received a
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  Speaker 2: call from the CEO who advised that I was being expelled.
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  Speaker 2: I asked to understand the rationale and the reason for
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  Speaker 2: that because that is unprecedented. It's something that's never occurred
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  Speaker 2: in our partnership before. I was told that it was
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  Speaker 2: a basis of an email that had been found in
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  Speaker 2: the week or so leading up to that. And I
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  Speaker 2: didn't have the opportunity to have a discussion. Probably 20
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  Speaker 2: minutes after that phone call, a letter of expulsion was
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  Speaker 2: served to me, to my lawyer and a copy couriered
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  Speaker 2: to my home.
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  Speaker 1: US Vice President J.D. Vance says the Antichrist may already
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  Speaker 1: be walking amongst us. And he told an evangelical podcast
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  Speaker 1: host he wouldn't be surprised if the world has already
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  Speaker 1: reached its so-called end days. Vance is currently promoting his
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  Speaker 1: new book, Communion, Finding My Way Back to Faith. He
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  Speaker 1: made the comments during an interview with 22-year-old podcast host
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  Speaker 1: Bryce Crawford. Vance said he finds the concept of the
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  Speaker 1: end of the world, quote, fascinating, but tries not to
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  Speaker 1: spend too much time thinking about it. Vance's memoir Hillbilly Elegy,
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  Speaker 1: about growing up in America's Appalachian region, was a major
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  Speaker 1: bestseller when it was released in 2016. The Australian's chief
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  Speaker 1: film critic Nikki Gemmel has given her first one-star review
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  Speaker 1: for a movie starring the award-winning actor Bill Nighy. And
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  Speaker 1: Sons features Nighy as a reclusive author attempting to reconnect
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  Speaker 1: with his adult children. But Nikki Gemmel writes for the
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  Speaker 1: Australian's culture section Not even a legend like Nye can
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  Speaker 1: save this weird flick. You can read her full review
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  Speaker 1: right now at theaustralian.com.au and come back to the front
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  Speaker 1: first thing in the morning for our look at the
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  Speaker 1: scandal shaking Australia's wine world. A multi-state heist that's left
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  Speaker 1: collectors feeling abandoned by the company that promised to keep
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  Speaker 1: their prized drops safe. That's right here Friday morning.