Court rejects Hin Leong’s $3.4b trading-loss claim against Deloitte

Two other heads of loss remain in the oil trader’s suit.

The Court of Appeal has struck out Hin Leong Trading’s $3.4b (US$2.6b) claim against former auditor Deloitte for losses incurred as the oil trader continued operating before its collapse in 2020.

In a written judgment dated 16 July, the court allowed Deloitte’s appeal in part, ruling that the firm could not be held liable for the trading losses because they were too far removed from its auditing role. 

Two other heads of loss remain in Hin Leong’s suit, involving $116.2m (US$90m) in dividends allegedly wrongfully declared by the Lim family and $612,000 in audit fees paid to Deloitte. 

The company, which is in compulsory liquidation, alleged that the auditor failed to detect material misstatements and irregularities in its financial statements for the financial years 2014 to 2019.

It argued that a proper audit would have exposed its insolvency earlier, forcing it to cease operations and preventing further losses between November 2015 and mid-April 2020.

The court, however, said that the firm had no involvement in Hin Leong’s trading strategies or individual transactions and was not engaged to advise the group on how to run its business.

It also noted that the losses came from new trades entered into over several years, rather than from a single ongoing loss-making contract.

The ruling did not determine whether Deloitte was negligent. 

For the appeal, the court assumed Hin Leong’s allegations were true and considered only whether the $3.4b (US$2.6b) in trading losses could be recovered from the auditor.

It also declined to decide whether the former auditor had a separate duty to consider creditors’ interests, finding that the question was academic and not appropriate for summary determination in the appeal.

$1 = U$0.77