Ras Al Khaimah’s Gulf Livestock to resume trading on ADX in January

Gulf Livestock plans to resume trading next month, after a two-year hiatus on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.

Shares of the Ras Al Khaimah-based company have been frozen since April 2011, when the market regulator responded to an order from the emirate’s Court.

At the time, the Court said it was investigating the company but did not provide further details.

Jim Stewart, the chief executive of the RAK Investment and Development Office, at the time was appointed as the legal representative of Gulf Livestock and headed the company’s administrative affairs in the interim. The office owns 5 per cent of Gulf Livestock.

Yesterday, however, Gulf Livestock posted a regulatory disclosure on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange website that revealed for the first time the allegations surrounding the company’s former chairman and chief executive, who was not named in the disclosure.

Upon investigation, in February 2012 the Court fined the chief executive for a conflict of interest relating to running “property rental and sales operations” with a Sharjah-based property firm, the disclosure said.

The chief executive was also charged with “embezzling the amount of Dh18.9 million from the company’s and the founding shareholders’ money,” it added.

The filing said he was acquitted of the embezzlement charges, but fined Dh10,000 for the property-related allegations and another undisclosed charge.

“The sum in question [Dh18.9m] has already been deducted from the former chief executive’s profits for the financial year which ended in December 2009 and has been added to the company’s revenues,” it said.

Gulf Livestock plans to resume trading of its shares on January 12 after the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange issued a no objection letter, the disclosure said. The consent is subject to regulatory approval from the Securities and Commodities Authority.

The company also revealed Gulf Livestock’s board members who were voted by shareholders to manage the company’s activities at the end of 2011. The appointees include independent board directors, non-executive directors and board members who have also been appointed to the company’s new audit committee.

The public prosector on the case was unavailable when contacted by The National yesterday. Mr Stewart, the chief executive of Ras Al Khaimah Investment and Development Office, was also unavailable for comment.