How did Deloitte, the Auditing Heavyweight Watching over Tingo’s Books, Miss a Scam?
A man presents in front of a large screen displaying company information, highlighting regional mining impacts and challenges.
Hindenburg Research, known for sniffing out corporate scams, took aim in June at an obscure Nigeria-based outfit named Tingo Group. Hindenburg rolled out a report with a title that left little to the imagination: “Fake Farmers, Phones, and Financials – The Nigerian Empire That Isn’t.” But Hindenburg didn’t just call Tingo a clear-cut scam. The short-seller also threw a spotlight on the auditor who green-lit Tingo’s financials, challenging its competence, and perhaps its willingness, to see the truth. Tingo, balancing its act between Nigeria and the Nasdaq in New York, wasn’t checked by Deloitte’s team in Nigeria. Instead, it was Deloitte’s Israeli branch, Brightman Almagor Zohar & Co., that certified the books. That’s a head-scratcher, especially since, as Hindenburg highlighted, Tingo didn’t really do much business in Israel.