Bahrain's UGB says SEC drops Kuwait case charges

Bahrain’s UGB says SEC drops Kuwait case charges

UGB was involved in trades on the New York Stock Exchange by Raya's late Chief Executive Hazem al-Braikan.

August 6, 2010 12:57 by Reuters

Bahrain’s United Gulf Bank RIC (UGB) said on Friday the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had dropped charges against the bank related to a case of share manipulation by a Kuwaiti financier.

“(The SEC) has filed an amended complaint and sought an order from the court totally dismissing all charges against the bank in the case against the former Chief Executive Officer of the Al Raya Investment Company,” it said in a statement.

UGB, the investment banking arm of Kuwait Projects Co (Kipco), was involved in trades on the New York Stock Exchange by Raya’s late Chief Executive Hazem al-Braikan, who was found dead in August 2009 after the charges against him became public.

The SEC that month filed a lawsuit against Braikan, UGB and its Kuwaiti unit KAMCO, accusing them of having improperly earned millions of dollars from trades in shares of two U.S. firms, Harman International Industries Inc and Textron Inc.

UGB said charges against KAMCO had also been dropped.

(Reporting by Frederik Richter; Editing by Will Waterman)