Court orders EY to pay whistleblower in gold scam $10.8m

Michael O’dwyer

AUDITOR EY has been ordered to pay $10.8m (£8.6m) to a former partner who claimed he was forced to resign after blowing the whistle on a goldsmuggling operation.

Amjad Rihan worked in the Big Four firm’s Dubai branch and alleged at a three-week civil trial in London that he fled the Middle Eastern city fearing for his safety after raising concerns about client Kaloti Jewellery International.

The High Court awarded him $10.8m yesterday for earnings he missed out on by leaving EY once the alarm was sounded. Mr Rihan claimed an audit which he carried out found billions of dollars’ worth of cash transactions at Kaloti and evidence that the refiner was importing gold from Morocco to the United Arab Emirates but coating it in silver to dodge export restrictions.

EY said it intends to appeal against the decision. A spokesman said the firm was “surprised and disappointed by the judge’s decision, its introduction of an unprecedented legal duty and its financial award” to Mr Rihan. She said it was EY that had reported irregularities to the authorities.