(Photo by Mohamed Omar)
Stock market officials have rejected claims that they have any received requests to freeze assets and bank accounts of Muslim Brotherhood leaders, stating that no office, other than the country’s general prosecutor, has the authority to make such an order.
Atef El-Sherif, new bourse head, recently stated: “we have not received any requests to take such measures.”
He added that the stock exchange is an executive authority, not one that makes decisions or formulates policy, saying that any instructions it does receive from relevant authorities it implements immediately.
Tariq Abd al-Bari, chairman of Misr for Central Clearing, Depository and Registry, stated that the company had not yet received any orders to freeze the assets of any individuals since the outbreak of recent protests on 30 June.
These statements come as the army has cracked down on leading members of the Brotherhood, the party of former president Mohamed Morsi, with some of them being detained.
The stock market’s administration recently decided to cancel a meeting of its Board of Directors scheduled for Sunday, saying that a number of its members could not attend due to current events within Egypt.
El-Sherif stated: “the meeting has been postponed until next week, until the country’s political situation stabilises”.
He said he intended to suggest cancelling and removing all precautionary procedures taken by Egypt’s stock exchange since March 2011. The cancelling of the meeting, however, had postponed such action.
The lack of an operating Board of Directors for Egypt’s Financial Supervisory Regulatory Authority has further crippled El-Sherif’s ability to call for such procedures to be lifted, he said.
Translated from Al-Borsa
