'Terrible leak': Texts between AFP commissioner and PwC partner raise questions over conflict of interest on contract
www.abc.net.au
A senator challenges why AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw did not disclose his friendship with a senior PwC partner while designing a contract with the firm, as SMS exchanges show plans to catch up over a beer, jokes and references to leaks.

Text exchanges between Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Reece Kershaw and PwC partner Mick Fuller have revealed more extensive conversations between the pair than the commissioner previously suggested to parliament.

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    Commissioner Kershaw has been challenged on whether he failed to declare a conflict of interest over his friendship with the former New South Wales police commissioner-turned PwC partner, after it was revealed the pair had met several times in relation to a $794,000 contract awarded to the accounting firm without a public tender.

    In May, under questioning in Senate estimates, an AFP official said Commissioner Kershaw did not declare a conflict of interest over his friendship with Mr Fuller because despite commissioning the review, he did not do the procurement.

    Senator Shoebridge said he was yet to be assured that the AFP could conduct an independent criminal investigation into a former PwC partner while it maintained contracts with the firm.

    Senator Shoebridge said the SMS exchanges between the commissioner and Mr Fuller would be examined when the AFP is recalled for questioning on Friday morning.

    Conversations released under freedom of information laws cover multiple exchanges between January this year and June.

    The AFP declined a request for comment, but has previously told the ABC it “categorically rejects” that Commissioner Kershaw should have declared the relationship.

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