CMA refers 5 suspects to Public Prosecution for manipulative, misleading practices

Logo of CMA

Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) referred five investors to the Public Prosecution for violating Article (49) of the Capital Market Law and Articles (2 and 8) of the Market Conduct Regulations, the market regulator said in a statement.

The suspects carried out practices that involved manipulation and fraud in market trades, by entering purchase or sale orders for the purpose of influencing the price of the security, and trading by purchasing in the shares of a number of listed companies.

Following this, they promoted opinions via Twitter for the purpose of influencing the price of the security, and then selling the shares of the listed companies affected by the promoted opinions.

The suspicious cases included affecting the share prices of 37 companies listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul), during the period from Jan. 20, 2020, until Oct. 1, 2020.

The authority stressed that it will not hesitate, in pursuit of prosecuting manipulators in the capital market, to supervise their dealings, based on its powers under the Capital Market Law, and the advanced technology means it possesses that enable it to supervise all dealings and monitor suspicious cases and take the necessary legal procedures, in accordance with the laws and regulations.

This will be done in order to achieve the CMA’s objectives toward enhancing market efficiency and protecting the participant in it from illegal practices, besides ensuring they are not subject to cheating or manipulation.

The CMA noted that the General Secretariat of Committees for Resolution of Securities Disputes announced to the public the identities of violators on its website upon the issuance of final decisions regarding criminal cases.

Moreover, any person affected by these violations is entitled to file a compensation claim, after conviction, against the violators, before the Committee for the Resolution of Securities Disputes as per Article 57 of the Capital Market Law, provided that such claim is preceded by a complaint filed to the CMA.

For more details on the suspected trading dates and securities, refer to: