Mobily shareholder sells 90% of shares ahead of accounting restatements: Report

An influential shareholder in Saudi Mobily sold 90 percent of his shares in the telecom operator before accounting errors were announced, said Sultan Alanazi, lawyer of Mobily’s former chief executive Khalid al-Kaf.

This was considered a violation of the Capital Market Authority’s (CMA) regulations, he added, without naming the shareholder.

It is worth mentioning that Al-Kaf submitted a request to CMA to halt trading on Mobily’s stock upon the delay in financial restatements; a decision that was made for the interest of shareholders, he said.

Mobily’s board decision to suspend Al-Kaf was "mistaken," Alanazi was quoted as saying in CNBC Arabiya, adding that it should have rather admitted there were accounting errors and started relevant investigations promptly.

Mobily’s board of directors had suspended Al-Kaf in November 2014 until the company’s audit committee could complete its investigations into the accounting errors, according to data available on Argaam.