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

Court Update

An Accra High Court has set July 15, 2025, for a trial. The case involves Dram Oil and Trading Limited and Deloitte and Touche.

Dram Oil is seeking $187.596 million from Deloitte. They claim this amount is due to alleged negligence by the audit firm.

In 2018, the court appointed Deloitte to conduct an audit. This was related to a case between Dram Oil and Vihama Energy Limited. The two companies had previously engaged in an oil transaction using Cal Bank Ghana Limited's facility.

Dram Oil's statement of claim was filed by its lawyer, Gaspar Lyle Nii-Aponsah. The company faced a commercial dispute initiated by Cal Bank Ghana Limited. This dispute arose from a refined oil transaction involving itself, Vihama Energy, and Cal Bank.

Dram Oil won the suit against Cal Bank in 2015. Afterward, Deloitte was appointed to audit payments owed from Vihama Energy to Dram Oil. The court found that Vihama Energy received funds but withheld them from Dram Oil.

In the current suit, Dram Oil claims that its 2015 judgment confirmed Vihama Energy had been fully paid. Therefore, they argue that Vihama Energy should not receive any further sums.

This led to Vihama Energy withdrawing its counterclaim against Dram Oil. The High Court's judgment on May 18, 2015, ordered an audit of Vihama Energy’s records.

The orders focused on payments and receivables under their Tripartite Agreement with Cal Bank and Dram Oil. Compliance with these orders resulted in an agreement between Dram Oil and Deloitte for the audit assignment.

However, Deloitte's report concluded that Dram Oil owed money to Vihama Energy instead. This report was later adopted by the court after cross-examination of Mr. Daniel Owusu from Deloitte.

GNA