The General Secretariat of the Committees for Resolution of Securities Disputes in Saudi Arabia announced the issuance of the decision of the Appeal Committee in Securities Disputes final in the class action suit filed by an investor (the main plaintiff) against some members of the Board of Directors and employees of Weqaya Insurance and Takaful Reinsurance Company, who are: Abdullah bin Saad bin Abdullah Al-Zanitan, Ali Ezz Al-Din Abdul-Azim Al-Tamimi, Daoud Youssef Ahmed Safarneh, Fahd bin Muhammad bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Ashqar.
In addition to “Ali bin Abdullah bin Ali Al-Suhaili, Ali bin Saleh bin Hamid Al-Ghamdi, Khalid bin Muhammad bin Hassan bin Afeer Al-Sahli, Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Ibrahim Al-Fawzan, Khaled Fadl Ahmed Al-Aswad, Omar bin Muhammad bin Omar Al-Dawyan, Hussein Ali Muhammad Al-Attal, and Khalil Ibrahim Muhammad al-Shami,” those responsible for the violations committed against the Weqaya Takaful Insurance and Reinsurance Company (Weqaya), against whom the decision of the Appeal Committee in Securities Disputes No. (2045/L.S/2020 of 1442 AH) was issued, which convicted the defendants of violating Article (49) of the financial market system.
This is because they deliberately participated in actions and actions that created an incorrect and misleading impression regarding the value of the securities belonging to the company with the aim of creating that impression, by reducing the company’s losses and inflating its revenues and assets, in a way that shows the company’s financial position contrary to the truth in the financial statements for the financial period ending on December 31, 2013 AD and the financial period ending on March 31, 2014, when the main plaintiff requested that the defendants be jointly compelled to compensate the plaintiffs for the losses incurred as a result of the purchases they made on the company’s shares as a result of the aforementioned violations.
The decision of the Appeal Committee came in support of the decision of the Committee for the Resolution of Securities Disputes No. (4222 / L / D1 / 2023 AD for the year 1444 AH, issued in Case No. 233/43), obliging the defendants jointly to compensate the plaintiffs with an amount of about 19.53 million riyals according to the entitlement of each of them and their number. 318 plaintiffs, and the Appeals Committee’s decision obligated the defendants jointly to pay 20,000 riyals to the main plaintiff as compensation for the lawsuit fees, and other requests were rejected.
The Authority emphasized the importance of what investors’ confidence in the financial market represents for its growth and prosperity, as the Authority is constantly working to monitor any behavior that violates the financial market system, its executive regulations and the systems that the Authority is competent to apply, arrest the perpetrators, and complete the necessary procedures to impose deterrent penalties against them, in order to enhance the Authority’s efforts. Towards creating an investment environment that is attractive to all categories of investors and safe from unfair or improper practices that involve fraud, fraud, misrepresentation or manipulation.
