15-09-2022
The Board of Directors of Ezdan Holding Group studied the circumstances and circumstances of the resolution issued by the Accounting Committee of the Qatar Financial Markets Authority in violation No. (7) of 2019, and according to what was reported by the company’s lawyer, the facts and reasons for issuing the decision were as follows:
1. In 2016, the company, through a number of its subsidiaries, purchased investment units in the capital of a number of foreign investment funds, which used to invest these funds in shares listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange.
2. At the end of March 2017, all the subsidiaries sold all the investment units, and that sale resulted in achieving a net profit for the company that exceeded (430) million riyals.
3. On 8/7/2019, the Authority decided - and without prior investigation with the company - to refer the Ezdan Group Company and the Qatari Investors Group Company to the Accounting Committee to consider the violation of each of the two companies with the provisions of Authority Resolution No. (1) of 2016.
4. On 25/7/2019, the authority decided to cancel the referral of the two companies mentioned above, and the authority issued a new decision referring the Ezdan Holding Group Company to Accounting for the same violation previously referred to the Accounting Committee.
5. Three years later, the Accounting Committee held its first accounting review session on 13/4/2022, where the company submitted a defense memorandum.
6. On 22/6/2022, the Accounting Committee issued a resolution condemning the company for its sale of investment units to “family members” in 2017, based on a letter from the Qatar Central Bank dated 6/7/2022 - the company was not informed of this letter to respond to Its content - In its decision, the Accounting Committee concluded that this sale by the company to “family members” constitutes an indirect ownership by Ezdan Group Holding Company of the shares of the Investors Group Company in violation of the provisions of the Authority’s Resolution No. (1) of 2016.
7. According to the legal opinion of the company’s lawyer, the company appealed the resolution of the Accounting Committee to the Grievance Committee of the Authority on the grounds that the resolution of the Accounting Committee was tainted by the following defects:
The Accounting Committee’s resolution forfeits the company’s right to defense, because the Accounting Committee did not confront the company with the Qatar Central Bank letter dated 7/6/2022
The resolution of the Accountability Committee is based on ambiguity, incomprehensibility, suspicion and wrong conclusion.
The resolution did not specify who the “family members” are, to whom the resolution decided that the company sold the investment units in 2017.
The resolution also did not clarify the evidence that the company had done that sale to these people (family members).
The resolution also did not clarify the relationship of those people whom the decision called “family members” to the company.
The resolution also did not specify the date of the company's sale, and the evidence for that.