The financial market shares of Egyptian businessmen accused in cases of corruption will remain frozen pending a judicial decision, the chief of Egypt’s stock exchange told Al Arabiya on Monday.
Mohamed Abdel-Salam said the Egyptian Company for Clearance (MCSD) will be in charge of implementing court rulings on the frozen shares.
Mr. Abdel-Salam added that the limit-up/limit-down model—which sets the limits under which trades would have to be carried out—could be suspended.
The model was adopted to prevent the market from collapse after it sustained major losses during and after the revolution that forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down.
In March, trading in the Egypt’s stock market was briefly suspended after it plunged by more than 5 percent shortly after it opened. The market had been closed for nearly two months following the January 25 revolution.
Mr. Abdel-Salam said that a new $85 million investment fund named "Future Egypt" has been established to attract Arab and foreign investors back to the market.
He added the trading system is expected to be modified on the Nile Stock Exchange so that new investors are obliged to make available some of their shares for the public trading.
He also said that the system of monitoring trading in the market was under reform and denied the existence of any problems that could hinder market reforms.
Mr. Abdel-Salam was visiting Dubai for a meeting with Essa Kazem, the Dubai Financial Market chief, in a bid to strengthen financial ties between Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.