JEDDAH, 2 January — A team of officials from the Commerce Ministry recently sealed off an unlicensed office engaged in selling and buying international shares in downtown Jeddah following a raid.
The operation also facilitated contracting with international companies, and dealt in precious metals and international real estate investments. The office, run by an Arab national, used the cover of a large national establishment specializing commercial services, import and export, said Muhammad Ateeq Al-Harbie, director of the Commerce Ministry's branch office in Jeddah.
The ministry received complaints about the unauthorized operations of the office undertaking secret financial speculations causing large losses to its customers. As a result, the ministry moved in to verify the facts, Al-Harbie said.
The ministry's team, led by Ahmad Maabar and Abdullah Sufyani, found that the operation working from King Abdul Aziz Street had neither a license nor commercial registration required to practice this kind of business. Transaction of stocks and real estate investment should be conducted through banks or licensed offices, the official added.
The ministry will summon the owner of the establishment to assist with the investigation, he said.
A source at the office, which has been operating in the Kingdom for the last two years, said it was serving as an agency to a well-known British firm in the financial business sector and only provided clients the facility to contact with the parent firm. An estimated SR20 million was received from clients by the office in the last two years.
The operations, conducted on the Internet, require a client to deposit $20,000 in favor of the British company. Then the contract from that company is sent to the new client in Saudi Arabia. It allows the client to benefit from all the investment services offered by the British company. The Saudi office used to charge a fee of $40 for every operation conducted by the client. (Al-Eqtisadiah)