High Court fixed July 15 to commence Dram Oil, Deloitte and Touche trial

An Accra High Court, Commercial Division has fixed July 15, 2025, for the commencement of a trial involving Dram Oil and Trading Limited, an oil trading company and Deloitte and Touche.

Dram Oil and Trading Limited (plaintiff) is seeking an order from the court for the payment of $187.596 million, amongst others, from Deloitte and Touche, a globally famous audit firm, arising out of alleged negligence on the part of the audit firm against the Company.

The plaintiff alleged that Deloitte and Touche, the defendant, had been appointed by the Accra High Court in 2018, to undertake an audit work in a case involving the plaintiff and a Bulk oil Distribution Company, Vihama Energy Limited, with whom the plaintiff had previously undertaken an oil transaction using a facility from Cal Bank Ghana Limited.

According to the statement of claim of Dram Oil and Trading Limited, which was filed in court by its counsel, Gaspar Lyle Nii-Aponsah, of Lex Premier Associates, the plaintiff said it had previously been involved in a dispute of a commercial nature brought against it and other defendants by Cal Bank Ghana Limited, arising out of a refined oil transaction between the Company, Vihama Energy Limited and Cal Bank.

The Company said after it became victorious in the year 2015 in the suit initiated by Cal Bank against it and the other defendants, Deloitte and Touche was appointed to audit the receivables, payments and under-recoveries due from Vihama Energy to Dram Oil, which the court found in its judgment had been received by Vihama Energy, but withheld from Dram Oil causing Dram Oil to default on its facility obligation to Cal Bank.

In the current suit, Dram Oil also alleged that the judgment it won in 2015 had firmly found that Vihama Energy had been paid fully all fees owed by Dram Oil under the Tripartite Agreement covering the oil transaction and, therefore, Vihama Energy was not entitled to any further sums, the reality of which led Vihama Energy to withdraw its previously filed counterclaim.

It was further alleged that it was for these reasons, amongst others, that in the High Court judgement dated May 18, 2015, presided over by Justice Novisi Aryene made further consequential orders for the appointment of a reputable audit firm to audit the books, records and inventory of Vihama Energy Limited.

Dram Oil said the orders were particularly with respect to payments, receivables, emergency cargo under recoveries received and withheld by Vihama Energy Limited under its Tripartite Agreement with Cal Bank and Dram Oil and Trading Limited.

It was compliance with the consequential orders that eventually led to Dram Oil and Trading entering into an agreement with Deloitte and Touche to undertake that assignment.

Dram Oil alleged that, subsequently, Deloitte and Touche tendered its audit report from the assignment, which concluded that Dram Oil was rather indebted to Vihama Energy by a significant sum of money.

It also alleged that the said report was being adopted by the court after Deloitte and Touche’s Partner, who had overseen the audit, Mr. Daniel Owusu, had been cross-examined by lawyers for Dram Oil and Cal Bank on how Deloitte and Touche reached the conclusions it did in the audit report.

Source: GNA

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