Saudi Prosecution prohibits disclosure of internal information, insider trading

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Saudi Public Prosecution said that internal information related to securities trading, available to a person by virtue of family or a contractual relationship, is confidential and its disclosure is prohibited.

This is to achieve the principle of justice, adequacy, and transparency in the dealings of securities, and a breach is a matter of criminal accountability, Public Prosecution said on its official Twitter account.

If a person, by virtue of family, business or contractual relationship, obtains internal information (referred to as informed person), the person is then prohibited from trading directly or indirectly the security related to that information.

The informed person is also prohibited from disclosing the information to another person, with the expectation that the other person would trade the security.

Internal information means information obtained by the informed person, and which is not available to the public and was not made public. Also, given the nature and content of that information, the average person is aware that its declaration and availability would have a substantial impact on the price or value of the security; and the informed person knows that the information was generally unavailable and it had the potential to make a substantial impact on the price or value of the security.

The capital market law stipulates that a person is prohibited from purchasing or selling securities based on information obtained from an informed person, knowing that the person had violated the law by disclosing internal information relating to the securities, the prosecution added.