Cenomi Retail officials among 17 referred by CMA to prosecution

Logo of AFG International Co. (Cenomi Retail)

The Capital Market Authority (CMA) referred 17 suspects to the Public Prosecution, including former and current board members of AFG International Co. (Cenomi Retail), a CEO, and several financial managers in the company, as well as members of the audit team at its former auditor.

The referral is due to suspected violations of the Capital Market Law and the Market Conduct Regulations, as well as suspected breaches of the Companies Law by certain board members and the acting CEO.

The Public Prosecution has filed the penal case against the suspects with the Committee for Resolution of Securities Disputes (CRSD), according to a statement by the CMA.

The referral to the Public Prosecution was made in accordance with the decision of the CMA board, based on the results of the forensic inspection conducted by the team appointed by the CMA to carry out forensic inspection procedures on the company and examine its accounts under paragraph (c) of Article Five of the Capital Market Law and Article 270 of the Companies Law.

The results of the forensic inspection indicated suspected involvement of some of the suspects in creating a false and misleading impression regarding the value of the company's security, in addition to using the company's funds and their authority against the company's interests for personal purposes and to benefit companies in which they had an interest.

The CMA emphasized to all participants in the capital market that unlawful practices involving fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, and manipulation constitute violations subjecting their perpetrators to regulatory accountability and the imposition of penalties stipulated in the Capital Market Law, its Implementing Regulations, and the Companies Law.

The market regulator stressed that it will not hesitate to pursue market manipulators by monitoring their transactions under its powers granted by the Capital Market Law and the Companies Law, in cooperation with the relevant concerned authorities, and in fulfillment of its responsibility to protect citizens and investors from unfair or improper practices, while ensuring justice, adequacy, and transparency in securities transactions.

The General Secretariat of the Committee for Resolution of Securities Disputes (GS-CRSD) will announce the identities of violators on its website once the violations are confirmed and final decisions are issued by the CRSD against them. Any investor harmed by these violations, once confirmed, has the right to file a claim against the violators to seek compensation before the CRSD, provided that a complaint has first been submitted to the CMA in this regard, the statement added.