Accra: 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.

According to Ghana News Agency, Dram Oil and Trading Limited (plaintiff) is seeking an order from the court for the payment of $187.596 million, amongst other claims, from Deloitte and Touche, arising out of alleged negligence on the part of the audit firm against the Company. The plaintiff contends that Deloitte and Touche, the defendant, had been appointed by the Accra High Court in 2018 to conduct an audit in a case involving the plaintiff and a Bulk Oil Distribution Company, Vihama Energy Limited, with whom the plaintiff had previously engaged in an oil transaction facilitated by Cal Bank Ghana Limited.

The statement of claim filed by Dram Oil and Trading Limited’s counsel, Gaspar Lyle Nii-Aponsah, of Lex Premier Associates, highlighted the company’s past involvement in a commercial dispute brought against it and other defendants by Cal Bank Ghana Limited, stemming from a refined oil transaction between the Company, Vihama Energy Limited, and Cal Bank. After prevailing in the 2015 lawsuit initiated by Cal Bank, Deloitte and Touche was appointed to audit the receivables, payments, and under-recoveries due from Vihama Energy to Dram Oil, which the court had found in its judgment had been received by Vihama Energy but withheld from Dram Oil, causing the latter to default on its facility obligation to Cal Bank.

In the current suit, Dram Oil also alleged that the 2015 judgment conclusively found that Vihama Energy had been fully compensated for all fees owed by Dram Oil under the Tripartite Agreement covering the oil transaction, prompting Vihama Energy to withdraw its previously filed counterclaim. The High Court judgment dated May 18, 2015, presided over by Justice Novisi Aryene, had made further consequential orders for appointing a reputable audit firm to examine the books, records, and inventory of Vihama Energy Limited, specifically concerning payments, receivables, and emergency cargo under-recoveries received and withheld by Vihama Energy under its Tripartite Agreement with Cal Bank and Dram Oil and Trading Limited.

Dram Oil maintained that it was in compliance with these orders that led to an agreement with Deloitte and Touche to undertake the audit assignment. However, Dram Oil alleged that Deloitte and Touche’s subsequent audit report concluded that Dram Oil was indebted to Vihama Energy by a significant sum, a conclusion that was later adopted by the court after Deloitte and Touche’s Partner, Mr. Daniel Owusu, was cross-examined by lawyers for Dram Oil and Cal Bank on the methodology and conclusions of the audit report.