OANDO Saga: SEC, Deloitte to Proceed with Forensic Audit

Following the pending suit against the Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) over the investigation of Oando Plc, the Acting Director General of the Commission, Dr. Abdul Zubair has said that the forensic audit earlier planned to be undertaken by Deloitte would now continue.
The Director General stated this in a release made available to Economic Confidential in Abuja.
“Oando Plc. has withdrawn the pending lawsuit against the Commission by an application heard and granted by the Court of Appeal on March 05, 2018. Also, the application for withdrawal by the shareholders was heard and granted by the Federal High Court on February 21, 2018”, he said.
“Following the dismissal and the striking out of the suits, the SEC has duly informed the firm of Deloitte to proceed with the forensic audit”, he further stressed.
He noted that the Commission is committed to its primary mandate of protecting investors and will take all necessary steps to fulfil that mandate and uphold the integrity of the capital market.
“We therefore wish to reassure the public that following the removal of the legal impediments, the audit of Oando Plc., will proceed in a transparent and thorough manner”, he said.
The release also said that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had in 2017 conducted a preliminary investigation of Oando Plc, based on petitions received from shareholders of Oando Plc., and a whistleblower.
Based on some of the findings from the preliminary investigation, the Commission took steps to preserve shareholder value and protect the investing public. Consequently, the SEC placed the shares of Oando Plc on technical suspension and ordered a forensic audit of the affairs of Oando Plc.
Subsequently, two lawsuits were respectively filed by Oando Plc., and some shareholders of Oando Plc, mainly to restrain the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) from effecting a technical suspension on the shares of Oando Plc and the SEC from appointing a team of forensic auditors to conduct a forensic audit of the company.