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Dubai Watchdog Fines Al Masah Capital, Bans Firm’s Founder Dash

Dubai Watchdog Fines Al Masah Capital, Bans Firm’s Founder Dash

(Bloomberg) --

Dubai’s financial regulator fined private-equity firm Al Masah Capital Ltd. and barred its founder from working in the emirate’s financial center for allegedly deceiving investors about fees.

The Dubai Financial Services Authority, or DFSA, imposed a combined $5.03 million penalty on Al Masah Capital and Al Masah Capital Management Ltd. and three Al Masah executives, including the firm’s founder Shailesh Dash, the regulator said in a statement Monday.

Nrupaditya Singhdeo, the firm’s chief financial officer, and Don Lim Jung Chiat were also named in the charges. Dash didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, while Sinhdeo and Lim couldn’t be reached. It wasn’t clear whether the three individuals are still employed by Al Masah Capital.

The two firms and three individuals are disputing the DFSA’s findings at a tribunal, which means the watchdog’s decisions are provisional. The DFSA accused them of numerous breaches between 2010 and 2016, including carrying out unauthorized services and making misleading or deceptive statements about fees to clients.

The DFSA said it will prohibit them from performing any financial services work in or from Dubai’s finance hub.

Dash founded Al Masah Capital in 2010 and the firm grew into one of the region’s larger private-equity firms with 53 employees and offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Singapore. The firm raised more than $1 billion across multiple asset classes with particular focus on health care, education, food and logistics.

Read more: Collapsed Abraaj Fined Record $315 Million by Dubai Watchdog

The DFSA’s action against Al Masah comes less than a year after it fined Abraaj Group, once the Middle East’s leading private-equity firm, a record $315 million for lying to investors and misappropriating funds.

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