Dubai court rules in favour of Abraaj Group

Firm breached international auditing standards by approving the financial statements, says Financial Times report

Dubai court has ordered KPMG Lower Gulf to pay more than $231 million to Abraaj Group who claims they lost money because of poor-quality audit work by the firm on a fund they were invested in, Financial Times has reported on Saturday.

The ruling was issued late last month and found the firm breached international auditing standards by approving the financial statements of an infrastructure fund managed by collapsed private equity firm Abraaj Group.

Financial Times noted the award is one of the largest ever against an accounting firm and exceeds KPMG Lower Gulf’s revenues of $210 million in its most recent financial year.

An official translation of the court ruling said: “The court has concluded from the papers, documents and the report of the appointed expert committee that it is confident that the auditing company had committed many violations when it audited the financial statements of the investment fund.”

In a statement, KPMG Lower Gulf said they have strong grounds to appeal and had taken the case to the court of cassation, or supreme court.