Saudi Raydan Food Co board members receive prison sentences for market violations

Saudi Authorities Sentence Raydan Food Co Board for Insider Trading

Saudi Arabian authorities have sentenced 14 board members and employees of Tadawul-listed Raydan Food Co to prison terms or fines, payment orders and sanctions for violations including insider trading and knowingly misrepresenting values ​​in financial statements.

Four of the group — vice chairman Nasser bin Awadallah bin Ahmad Alsulami and executive committee members Khalid bin Awadallah bin Ahmad Alsulami, Mishal bin Awadallah bin Ahmad Alsulami and Mansour bin Awadallah bin Ahmad Alsulami — were sentenced to 90 days in prison.

Seven people associated with Raydan Food Co, formerly known as Raydan Kitchens and Restaurants, must pay a total of SAR 77 million ($20 million) to the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) to account for losses due to illegal trading. their investment portfolios.

All 14 were fined a total of SAR 50.6 million and 11 were banned from working at CMA-supervised companies for between one and three years.

In the report of the General Secretariat of the Committees for Settlement of Securities Disputes (GS-CRST), the members of the committee participated in creating a false and misleading impression about the security value of the company and the financial statements and approved financial statements for the year 2018 and 2019. 2020 found that they included violations.

Despite the reservations of the external auditors, the financial statements failed to reflect losses or impairments, the report said.

The defendants moved stocks between their portfolios and sold them based on information prior to its release to the public in March 2022, the statement said.

Anyone aggrieved by the violations in this case can seek redress at the Securities Disputes Resolution Board (CRSD) by filing a complaint through the CMA website, the CMA said.