CMA to convict suspects in Mobily insider trading

The special committee of Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority (CMA), has found a number of individuals guilty of insider trading in shares of telecommunications operator Etihad Etisalat Co. (Mobily) and has decided to convict them, the market regulator said on Thursday.

However, the findings of Committee for the Resolution of Securities Disputes (CRSD) are not final and the accused have 30 days to lodge an appeal, the CMA said.

Without naming the violators, the regulator said they could potentially face jail terms of between one and two years.

In November, 2014, Mobily came under investigation by the CMA after the company restated its earnings for an 18-month period. The probe ended with the suspicion that the telco had violated one of its listing rules and two articles of capital market law.

In Thursday’s ruling, the CRSD ordered two of the violators to pay a SAR 30.49 million and SAR 284.5 million as compensation for losses incurred on illegal trading in their investment portfolios.

In addition, fines between SAR 100,000 and SAR 200,000 were imposed on each violator.

If found guilty they will be imprisoned for two or three years, and will be banned from managing investment portfolios as well as working as investment advisors or in Tadawul-listed companies for three years, the CMA said.