UAE oil trader GP Global files complaints over employee fraud

SINGAPORE: UAE-based oil trader GP Global has uncovered fraud within the company and filed criminal complaints against some of its employees, its legal representative said in a letter to the company’s clients on its behalf.
“A few employees have colluded with external entities using the coronavirus (lockdown) and work from home arrangement to defraud the company and its customers,” Arun Abraham, legal consultant and partner at UAE-based Salam Advocates & Legal Consultants said in the letter reviewed by Reuters.
Salam Advocates were advising GP Global on “the internal investigation that was underway,” Abraham said, confirming that the letter had been sent out to some of GP Global’s clients last week.
Based on preliminary investigations, “criminal complaints have been filed against few employees in Sharjah and Fujairah,” Abraham said in the letter.
The internal investigations revealed that “the fraudsters manipulated records that switched the cargo under the custodianship of GP with those goods financed by various banks and under CMA (collateral management agreement),” according to the letter.
A detailed investigation is continuing on the methods of the fraud, “the individuals and entities involved, and the impact of the fraud” on GP’s business, the company’s letter said.
GP Global, a supplier of marine fuels worldwide with offices in Europe, Asia and the US, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On July 20, GP Global said that it had undertaken a “financial restructuring exercise” after it failed to “get full support from a few financial institutions recently.”
GP Global had also said that recent market rumors questioning the company’s financial condition were “blatant lies” being spread by “vested interests” and assured stakeholders its business was operating normally.

UAE oil trader GP Global files complaints over employee fraud