Mekdam Holding Group was subjected to a systematic defamation campaign through social media prior to listing on the Qatar Stock Exchange on 02-08-2021, with the intention of negatively impacting financial transactions on the company’s shares and shareholders’ funds and thwarting the listing process. This campaign targeted a wide range of stakeholders in the company, including customers, suppliers, shareholders, and regulatory bodies.
Based on the above, Mekdam Holding Group filed a complaint against an anonymous person with the Public Prosecution. The prosecution’s investigations concluded that the crime was attributed to Ahmed bin Khalid bin Mohammed bin Ali Al Thani, who created several websites on social media under the name (Al Thani for Human Rights) and (Al Thani Ruling Family Council) to support his false claim. Accordingly, the accused and the declared person were legally referred, as proven by the criminal ruling, to the judiciary, where he was convicted and a one-year imprisonment sentence was issued, a fine of 5 million riyals was imposed, and his electronic accounts used to commit the crimes were blocked. Since the Public Prosecution was not satisfied with the ruling, it appealed against it in order to increase the punishment for the accused, in accordance with the articles of accusation contained in the referral order, in view of what he did and the serious damage caused to the company, which extended to the financial market, defaming him, and damaging his reputation in all local and international circles. On 05/09/2023, the Misdemeanor Court of Appeal ruled to accept the appeal in form and uphold the ruling. The Public Prosecution appealed the ruling before the Court of Cassation - Criminal Circuit, which ruled on 09-19-2023 not to accept the appeal.
In order for the Board of Directors to preserve shareholders’ rights, Mekdam Holding Group filed a civil lawsuit registered under No. 788/2023 on 09-19-2023 with the aim of obligating the defendant to pay an amount of 107,500,000 riyals in compensation for the losses incurred during the period from 02-08-2021 to 31 -12-2021 as well as an amount of 50,000,000 riyals as compensation for material and moral damages and loss of benefit to the company and shareholders. The compensation claim is still pending before the Investment and Trade Court.
- Attached are the judicial rulings and a summary of the compensation claim.
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