PwC Norway’s law arm, ‘Advokatfirmaet PwC‘, used the threat of termination to stop whistleblowing to the Labour Authority and Data Protection Authority. The letter was only signed by an attorney at the law firm hired by PwC.
The law firm now refuses to say if the letter was approved by partner Steinar Hareide in PwC ‘Deals Tax’ where the events took place – the profiled brother of former Minister of Transport, Knut Arild Hareide.
Steinar Hareide was invited to answer questions about the matter, but declined.
Used termination threat to secure that whistleblowing to public authorities was halted or retracted
PricewaterhouseCoopers Norway’s law firm sent a notice of termination shortly followed by a statement that the termination would be voided if whistleblowing to the Labour Authority and Data Protection Authority was halted, or was retracted if already made:
Additionally are Your further notices of external whistleblowing, (already effectuated?) notice of whistleblowing to the Labour Authority, and requests for data corrections to the Data Protection Authority.
PwC Norway (‘Advokatfirmaet PwC’) through its lawyers BAHR, letter 1, translation
You have furthermore notified us of external whistleblowing, about effectuated whistleblowing to the Labour Authority, and about impending (?) whistleblowing to the Data Protection Authority.
PwC Norway (‘Advokatfirmaet PwC’) through its lawyers BAHR, letter 2, translation
The letters were signed only by BAHR, the law firm hired by PwC, with no mention of who in PwC Norway approved sending them.
Refusal to state if ex-Minister’s brother approved letters
Steinar Hareide leads the Oslo group “Deals Tax” where the employee worked and the events described on pwcmisconduct.com took place.
Hareide was previously featured in the daily Dagens Næringsliv over a tax-saving arrangement: Hareide’s brother bought a house in his name to save tax.
PricewaterhouseCooper’s law firm was asked if Hareide approved the threat to stop whistleblowing:
You are asked to confirm if partner Steinar Hareide knew about the specific content of the letter as of 27th August 2020 and approved sending this.
Letter to Advokatfirmaet PricewaterhouseCoopers AS, 10. april 2021
PwC’s law firm responded ten days later, through its hired law firm BAHR, that it did not wish to answer if Hareide had approved the letter.