An Unsuccessful 'Follow the Money Trail'

This came across my screen:

From: margaret.cole@uk.pwc.com
Subject: letters to Mr. Ian Powell
 
Mr. ,
I refer to my e mail of yesterday acknowledging your correspondence.
Each member firm of the PricewaterhouseCoopers network of firms owes confidentiality obligations to its clients. We therefore cannot confirm or deny who is or who is not a client and the services that we render to them unless it is available in the public domain.
We are unable to therefore provide any information requested in your letter.
Regards,
Margaret Cole
Margaret Cole
PwC | Executive Board
UK General Counsel
Direct: +44 (0)20 7212 2016
Email: margaret.cole@uk.pwc.com
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
1 Embankment Place, London, WC2N 6RH 

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Dear Ms Cole,
 
Thank you very much for your response.
 
Paragraph four of the letter from the World Bank makes it plain that the Palestinian Authority is your client so I am unsure about your point in relation to refusing to confirm or deny who your client is.
 
It is your client who can waive confidentiality as any client can in the interests of openness.
 
Would you be so kind as to ask the Palestinian Authority if they would waive confidentiality in respect of these audit reports? Firstly, the audits are audits of large sums of foreign public money  - including over seventy million pounds of tax money from the UK – which are transferred to the PA (and is partially spent, we say, on wages for convicted terrorists) in accordance with the World Bank Trust Fund agreement.
 
Secondly, there is a compelling public  interest in ensuring through openness that these audits are undertaken properly to ensure no public fund from the donor nations is spent on anything other than development projects, payments to civil servants and other appropriate projects.
 
Thirdly, there is a compelling public interest in the PA and PWC releasing these reports to show that UK tax money is not diverted to government institutions in the PA that pay wages to convicted terrorists.
 
I am sending a copy of this correspondence to the President of the World Bank, Mr Jorgensen in the Jerusalem Office and to UK Lawyers for Israel.
 
I look forward to a response.
 
Yours Sincerely,   

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From: margaret.cole@uk.pwc.com [mailto:margaret.cole@uk.pwc.com]
Subject: Audit Correspondence

Dear Mr ,
We are unable to assist you any further in this matter.
Regards
Margaret
Margaret Cole
PwC | Executive Board
UK General Counsel
Direct: +44 (0)20 7212 2016
Email: margaret.cole@uk.pwc.com
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
1 Embankment Place, London, WC2N 6RH 

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