Dubai, UAE — KPMG Lower Gulf has been ordered by a Dubai court to pay more than $231 million to a group of investors who claim they lost money because of poor-quality audit work by the firm on a fund they were invested in.
The judgment, issued late last month, found that the Big Four firm breached international auditing standards by approving the financial statements of an infrastructure fund managed by collapsed private equity firm Abraaj Group, Financial Times reported.
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, the report said. It was awarded after a long court battle between investors in the Abraaj fund and KPMG.
KPMG Lower Gulf said in a statement that it believed it had strong grounds to appeal and had taken the case to the court of cassation, or supreme court.
KPMG Lower Gulf’s operations were already in the spotlight after allegations of nepotism and cronyism led to the resignation of its former head last October.