High Court of Justice Dismisses a Lawsuit against Jordan Securities Commission 05/10/2011

In its decision number 142/2011, the High Court of Justice decided to dismiss a lawsuit submitted by the petitioner Mr. Assem Al-Sageer & oblige him to pay expenses including fees & remunerations. Mr. Assem Al-Sageer, a financial broker at Elite Financial Services Company raised a lawsuit against Jordan Securities Commission (JSC) & it’s Board of Directors as a result of imposing a financial fine of JD (3000) on the petitioner for violating the provisions of Article (57) of the Securities Law & not taking into account the interest of his client. Article (57) stipulates the following: “In carrying out their activities, Licensed & Registered Persons, & their employees, shall perform their duties abiding by the rules of professional conduct in accordance with the instructions issued by the Board. This shall include acting with loyalty & dedication so as to maximize their clients’ interests, realize their clients’ investment objectives, & refrain from discriminating between clients’ charging them excessive commissions & service fees, or guaranteeing or promising clients definite amounts of profits, or otherwise engaging in fraudulent & deceptive practices”.
The High Court of Justice supported the Board of Commissioners decision of imposing this fine & considered it appropriate, since it is within the Boards’ jurisdiction & it can assess the amount of the fine according to the committed violation.
Moreover, the High Court of Justice dismissed the petitioner claim that the imposed fine is included in the provisions of the Temporary General Amnesty number (10) for 2011. It indicated that the General Amnesty included reviewed or currently reviewed crimes in courts or currently reviewed by the Public Prosecution. Furthermore, the High Court of Justice did not review violations against the petitioner as it is not within its jurisdiction to impose the fine stated in the Securities Law & for other reasons the Court found it fair.