Saudi Arabia: 3 Employees Fined SR 3.95M for violating Capital Market Law
Three Abdullah A. M. Al-Khodari Sons Co. employees have lately been subject to harsh penalties issued by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) for violating different clauses of the Capital Market Law and Companies Law.
Among the fines are SR 3.95 million and a six-month jail sentence for one of the found guilty people. Operating under CMA authority, the Appeal Committee for the Resolution of Securities Disputes (ACRSD) made this ruling.
Among the employees found guilty in this case are Kailash Nath Sadangi, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Sohail Sa'eed Mohammed Sa'eed, the Director of the Financial Department, and Fawaz bin Abdullah bin Abdulmohsen Alkhodari, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Their charges derived from violations of Article 7 of the Market Conduct Regulations and Article 49/a of the Capital Market Law. Specifically, these people were found guilty of inflating the revenues for four building projects in the financial statements of the company from the fiscal year ending on December 31, 2010, to the fiscal year ending on December 31, 2017. The manipulation consisted in raising the project completion percentage while the stated expenses differed from the real expenses kept in the company's records.
The decision of the ACRSD additionally contained particular accusations under Article 211/a of the Companies Law against CEO Fawaz bin Abdullah bin Abdulmohsen Alkhodari. Particularly in the financial statements for the fiscal year ending on December 31, 2017, Alkhodari neglected to disclose the losses linked with six building projects that had been pulled out of the company. This omission was interpreted as an attempt to conceal the actual financial situation of the company in line with International Accounting Standards (IAS) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), so violating both.
Fawaz bin Abdullah bin Abdulmohsen Alkhodari was sentenced to six months in jail for the infractions. Apart from the prison term, he paid SR 400,000 for breaking the Capital Market Law and SR 3.25 million for the Companies Law transgression. While Kailash Nath Sadangi, the CFO, paid SR 200,000, Sohail Sa’eed Mohammed Sa’eed, the Director of the Financial Department, paid SR 100,000 fines.
Apart from these fines, all three of them were barred from occupying roles in companies whose shares trade on the Saudi Exchange for three years. This prohibition essentially forbids them from working for any company included on the stock market, so limiting their capacity to affect business financial decisions during this period.
The CMA's choice to apply these fines emphasizes the need of following correct financial reporting and openness, especially in listed companies. The conduct of the found guilty staff members were judged to have damaged the integrity of the financial statements, therefore perhaps misled stakeholders and investors over the company's real financial situation. The decision reinforces the CMA's dedication to preserving confidence and integrity in the Saudi financial markets by strongly conveying to others in the business sector the grave implications of such transgressions.