Dubai Financial Services Authority today announced the imposition of a fine of 87 thousand and 500 dollars (about 321 thousand dirhams) on Ajay Arora, in addition to preventing him from holding any position in a company licensed by the Dubai International Financial Center and prohibiting him from any activity related to providing Financial services at or from the center.
In a statement, the authority stated that this measure is due to Arora's role in many serious violations of the Dubai Financial Services Authority’s legislation, explaining that in particular, Arora has executed unauthorized customers and deal in a misleading and deceptive manner towards these customers and the Dubai Financial Services Authority.
Among other things, she added, the Dubai Financial Services Authority discovered that things violated the principles of the Dubai Financial Services Authority related to licensed persons through non-compliance and adherence to high standards of integrity and fair dealing.
According to the statement, Aurora has held the position of Senior Executive Officer with “Morgan Gatsby Limited” (MGL) since its licensing by the Dubai Financial Services Authority in March 2013, stating that through this position, he was entrusted with the responsibilities of management, supervision and daily oversight of the services business The company's financial affairs, where his duties directly included financial services business and dealing with the company's clients.
The Dubai Financial Services Authority has discovered that Mr. Aurora and Morgan Gatsby Ltd. continued to misbehave despite successive warnings of breaches of the rules that have been brought to his attention on numerous occasions from 2016 onwards by the Compliance Department of Morgan Gatsby Limited and the Dubai Financial Services Authority. However, despite these repeated warnings, Mr. Arora did not take adequate measures to stop these behaviors or to improve the company's systems and controls.
Among these violations is that Arora “in representation of (Morgan Gatsby Limited)” executed transactions on behalf of two clients without their knowledge or authorization.
Arora also misled and deceptively dealt with and provided false or misleading information about those transactions or not disclosing them to clients.
One of the transactions was executed despite the customer giving explicit instructions otherwise.
Arora failed to comply with the directives of the Dubai Financial Services Authority to maintain the confidentiality of the investigation and provided her with misleading information on this.
Moreover, Aurora violated the Dubai Financial Services Authority's legislation by participating in: the unlawful promotion of an unregulated foreign fund, non-compliance with some of the restrictions imposed by the Dubai Financial Services Authority in May 2018 on business and property, failure to properly classify a customer and not Make the necessary inquiries regarding the source of his funds and the reasons for starting the transactions, and not be sure to provide the Board of Directors of "Morgan Gatsby Limited" with correct information.
The Dubai Financial Services Authority has considered the Aurora request to reduce the amount of the fine based on difficult financial circumstances and agreed to the request on this basis.
Aurora also agreed to settle the assumptions by the Dubai Financial Services Authority at an early stage of the investigation, and therefore deserved a reduction in the fine under the policy of the Dubai Financial Services Authority related to early settlement. Had it not been for the reduction granted due to difficult financial conditions and early settlement, the fine imposed on Aurora would have reached $ 187 and $ 500 (689,000 dirhams).
On his part, Brian Stairault, CEO of Dubai Financial Services Authority, said: "We expect all licensed persons, especially senior officials, to adhere to the highest standards of integrity when performing their administrative, supervisory and oversight responsibilities of the licensed companies."
He added that "Aurora did not adhere to these standards even after being repeatedly notified about concerns about non-compliance related to the activities of (Morgan Gatsby Limited), and thus the Dubai Financial Services Authority confirms that it will take decisive measures against anyone who violates the authority's legislation and will impose tougher measures when those people continue to continue Misconduct despite warnings. "
It is noteworthy that the Dubai Financial Services Authority took measures against Morgan Gatsby Limited on the sixth of January 2020 for the mentioned violations.
The detailed reasons for the action imposed by the Dubai Financial Services Authority against Aurora are explained in the notice of the decision issued by the authority on March 10, 2020, which can be accessed within the regulatory procedures section of the website of the Dubai Financial Services Authority.