The Scotsman: Auditors dragged into Shell lawsuit: “role of auditors KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers in the scandal that wiped £2.9 billion off Shell’s market capitalisation in one day.” (ShellNews.net)

CATRINA STEWART

30 August 04

AUDITORS might find themselves implicated in the reserves scandal surrounding oil major Shell as lawyers leading US class actions against the company prepare to file an amended complaint.

Bernstein Liebhard & Lifshitz, the Wall-Street law firm leading the class action on behalf of individual investors, said that it was looking at the role of auditors KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers in the scandal that wiped £2.9 billion off Shell’s market capitalisation in one day.

"We will be filing an amended complaint by mid-September," said Stanley Bernstein, a senior partner at the firm. "We are also aggressively looking at the role [of the auditors]."

Shell shocked investors in January, when it said that it had overstated its proven reserves by 3.9 billion barrels, or 20 per cent.

http://business.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1015472004