Business

Egyptian Exchange issued new codes for Mubaraks after ouster

Al-Masry Al-Youm has obtained documents showing that the Egyptian Exchange issued approximately 80 new codes for former president Hosni Mubarak, his family members and a number of former officials whose assets were ordered frozen.

The codes were registered on 28 February, 17 days after Mubarak stepped down and on the same day the Attorney General decided to freeze the assets owned by Mubarak and his family.

New codes running in serial order from 2186143 to 2186153 belong to Mubarak, his wife Suzanne Saleh Thabet, their sons Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, their respective wives Heidi Mohamed Magdi Rasekh and Khadiga al-Gammal, and children Omar and Farida.

The issuing of these codes violates the law governing the functioning of the stock market, which states that a client must come in person to open an account at a brokerage company, a source from the stock market said.

The source warned that the issuing of new codes may be intended to hide other shady transactions.

A stock market source said the market sent a memorandum to the General Authority for Financial Control and the Attorney General including all suspended codes and all newly issued codes.

However, officials from the stock market have said they are concerned over the issuing of multiple codes for one person and the issuing of new codes, as every citizen is entitled to a single stock market code. The source said brokerage companies should be prosecuted if proven to have created codes in violation of the law.

Eissa Fathi, managing director for a portfolio management company, said only brokerage companies are legally allowed to issue codes, adding that officials whose assets are frozen have been issued new codes.

Fathi added that the new codes were issued while the stock market was in suspension, and wondered, therefore, why the stock market has asked brokerage companies about transactions carried out under these codes.

A brokerage company president, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said he does not understand why the stock market has sent for information about the new codes if it knows that they were issued while it was suspended.

Translated from the Arabic Edition.

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