Oil Trading Company, Dram Oil and Trading Limited has challenged claims by audit firm Deloitte and Touche that it performed it’s responsibilities according to established accounting practices. This is Dram Oil’s response to documents filed by the audit firm.

The Audit firm through its lawyers led by Ace Ankomah had filed fresh documents making changes to their defence.

Dram Oil is seeking to recover more than 187,595,000 from the auditing firm. The oil company argues it deserves such an amount because Deloitte acted negligently.

Documents filed in court sighted by JoyNews traces the facts giving rise to the case as originating from a commercial dispute that occurred sometime in 2013 between Dram Oil and Cal Bank.

https://www.myjoyonline.com/dram-oil-sues-deloitte-and-touche-demands-payment-of-more-than-187m/

The dispute ended up in court with Dram Oil obtaining a favorable judgement.The court additionally made consequential orders for the appointment of an audit firm to “audit the books, records and inventory of the 7th Defendant relating to the subject-matter suit, particularly with respect to payments, receivables, emergency cargo under recoveries received by 7th Defendant under the Tripartite Agreement”.

Deloitte and Touche are said to have been tasked to undertake this audit in May 2018 after the initial auditing firm had failed to do so.

Documents arising from the Court proceedings which are believed to have determined the relevant facts relating to the dispute are said to have been made available to Deloitte and Touche.

Dram Oil, however, alleges that the report tendered by the audit firm showed it had relied on “irrelevant, misleading and egregiously defective fictions.”

But in documents filed by Deloitte, it argued that its appointment as auditing firm was not on the basis of any facts established in a court judgement.

Deloitte has since made changes in its defence, further arguing that the terms of reference (TOR) given to it by the High Court did not emanate from nor did it include the facts and findings as established by the court.

It also states that it carried out its job diligently as per established accounting practices.

Dram Oil has as a result of these arguments filed documents through its lawyer, Gaspar Lyle Nii-Aponsah, making changes to its response.

Deloitte is accused of displaying a “wanton, intentional, careless and reckless disposition in the methodology and manner in which they conducted the audit and arrived at its conclusions, thereby establishing Deloitte’s gross negligence.”.

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