Gartnerhallen sues auditor after embezzlement
Gartnerhallen (Gardeners Hall) is suing the auditing firm KPMG, which the company believes has not met its obligations in the case where an accounting director has admitted the embezzlement of almost 50 million.
It is General Assembly of Gartnerhallen SA which has decided to file the lawsuit. The board has followed the recommendations of the Lawyer Firm Wiersholm, and the Consulting Company KWC, which together have reviewed the matter on behalf of Gartnerhallen.
Gartnerhallen’s former board of directors and administrative management are also criticized in the report, which was published on Friday.
The embezzlement occurred during the period 2007-2017, and the company’s CFO at the time has admitted to having stolen in excess of NOK 49 million.
Not fulfilled obligations
According to a press release from Gartnerhallen, Wiersholm’s assessment is that the auditor has not fulfilled its obligation to review the internal control of the organization and to point out the deficiencies.
To Dagens Næringsliv, Communications Director in KPMG, Guro Steine, tells that the audit firm is surprised by the lawsuit and believes it lacks both actual and legal basis.
– Through their active participation, KPMG’s auditors led to that the case was brought to light, and later participated in finding facts and illuminating the matter to Gartnerhallen’s Management and Board of Directors, The Economic Crimes Unit (Økokrim) and internal auditors, says Steine.
The trial following the investigation was held before the Oslo District Court recently. A farmer from Hedmark has admitted that he received NOK 45.6 million of the money, but claims that the payment was a loan and therefore did not acknowledge culpability. The verdict in the case comes after the Easter holidays.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
