Greek bunker supplier Aegean Marine Petroleum Network now thinks up to $300m has been wiped off its books fraudulently, up from an earlier $200m estimate, following further audits.
New York-listed Aegean suggested in a release that the biggest beneficiary of the misappropriation has been Fujairah-based OilTank Engineering & Consulting, which oversaw Aegean’s construction of its Fujairah Oil Terminal Facility at the start of the decade.
“The misappropriation of Company assets, and the fraudulent accounting entries and fictitious documentation designed to conceal it, involved over a dozen Company employees, including members of senior management. The employees who directed the scheme, which involved the creation of falsified and forged documents, including bank statements, audit confirmations, contracts, invoices and third party certifications, among others, have been terminated,” Aegean stated in a release.
Aegean warned it would be unlikely to recoup all its losses. When it first announced the huge hole in its finances back in June, Aegean laid the blame on previous management of the company.
