An Accra High Court is set to commence hearings in a staggering $450 million lawsuit filed by oil trading firm DramOil and Trading Limited against global auditing giant Deloitte & Touche.
The suit, as reported by Bloomberg, alleges “gross negligence, fabrication and falsification” in an audit report prepared by Deloitte, which DramOil claims led to significant losses totalling $188 million.
The legal battle stems from a long-standing trading dispute between DramOil and another Accra-based oil trading company, Vihama Energy Co. Limited.
In an effort to resolve the financial impasse, a court in 2018 ordered Deloitte to conduct an independent audit of the books and payments exchanged between the two companies.
The primary objective of this audit was to ascertain the precise amount, if any, that Vihama Energy owed DramOil.
However, DramOil contends that Deloitte’s audit report, which was submitted to the court in 2019 and subsequently adopted, was fundamentally flawed.
Crucially, the report concluded that Vihama Energy did not owe DramOil.
Instead, DramOil alleges that Deloitte’s findings controversially “inverted liability”, suggesting that DramOil was, in fact, indebted to Vihama.
This conclusion directly contradicted a prior May 18, 2015, High Court judgment presided over by Justice Novisi Aryene, which had ruled in favour of DramOil.
That 2015 judgment had firmly established Vihama’s liability to DramOil for unlawfully withholding payments from the National Petroleum Authority, and merely required an audit to determine the quantum of sums owed, not to re-evaluate the liability itself.
According to DramOil’s legal counsel, Mr. Nigel Heilpern, the 2015 judgment was “final, binding, and enforceable”, and the audit was meant to be a mere “arithmetic” exercise, not a re-adjudication of liability.
DramOil’s lawsuit against Deloitte asserts that the audit firm exceeded its mandate as an “auxiliary technical consultant” by effectively overturning a judicial finding.
DramOil further claims that it was not afforded procedural parity during Deloitte’s audit process.
They allege that Deloitte heavily relied on unverified data from third parties like the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) Company and the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), while failing to incorporate DramOil’s own financial evidence and dismissing material rebuttals.
DramOil argues that these breaches of fair hearing principles render both the audit and its adoption by the court procedurally unfair and legally voidable.
The current lawsuit seeks to recover $450 million in damages from Deloitte, a figure that includes the initial $188 million in alleged direct losses incurred by DramOil as a result of the audit report.
When contacted for comment on the high-profile legal action, Deloitte’s Ghanaian unit declined to issue a statement.
This case highlights the critical role of independent auditors in judicial processes and the significant legal liabilities that can arise from alleged negligence or impropriety in their reports. The outcome of this $450 million lawsuit will be closely watched by the legal and business communities in Ghana and beyond, as it could set a precedent for auditor accountability in the country.
