KPMG Australia is being pursued by a federal parliamentary committee over alleged misuse of client information to win audit work and alleged mistreatment of a whistleblower. The Department of Finance placed a moratorium on KPMG on Monday, four days ahead of a scheduled hearing.

The Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services will hear from at least 31 witnesses on Friday, including 14 KPMG leaders such as chair Martin Sheppard and interim Australian boss Stan Stavros. Labor senator Deborah O’Neill will chair the hearing.

According to gdelt, KPMG executives were questioned by the committee about alleged misuse of confidential documents from Lendlease to develop audit pitches for Westpac and Dexus. The Guardian reported that KPMG staff leaked Optus’s confidential information to colleagues while bidding for an audit contract with Telstra, and that KPMG executives surveilled a whistleblower’s laptop and dismissed the individual as having “workplace grievances.”

Greens senator Barbara Pocock told former KPMG chief executive Andrew Yates at the hearing that Australians now felt deeply mistrustful of the big four firms, according to gdelt. KPMG Australia earned $653 million from handling 297 contracts, also reported by gdelt.

Separately, gdelt reported that PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia was found to have leaked secret Australian government tax plans to corporations to help avoid a law that PwC had helped write.

KPMG is also facing a referral to the corruption watchdog, as reported by theqldr.com.au.