PwC Global Network to be investigated over services reportedly rendered to organisations with possible ties to antisemitic terrorist groups

PwC Global Network to be investigated over services reportedly rendered to organisations with possible ties to antisemitic terrorist groups.

It is alleged that audits in 2014-2018 by the global accounting firm of two entities with ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group with a long history of terrorist activity against Jews and others, may have enabled funds to be used for the employment of members of the PFLP or for assistance to members or for other uses, including the reputational benefit of having PwC as an auditor.

In a complaint submitted to and accepted by the UK National Contact Point (UK NCP) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, UK Lawyers for Israel alleges that “during PwC’s audit work for the Union of Agricultural Work Committees and Defence for Children International – Palestine, it breached certain articles of the General Policies, Disclosure and Human Rights sections of the [OECD] Guidelines.”

PwC does not accept the allegations, but UK NCP has decided that the claims “merit further examination”, and will proceed with an investigation and produce a Final Statement in due course.

The UK NCP has noted that “the decision to further examine the claim is not a finding against any entity within the PwC network of firms and does not mean that the UK NCP considers the company has acted inconsistently with the guidelines.”