Share dealings in two companies run by Nazmu Virani have been suspended. Virani has been making a comeback after being jailed for his part in the BCCI bank scandal.



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The Ofex market has withdrawn trading in Cygnet Properties & Leisure and Internet company Asian-Online after they breached its code of best practice.
John Hallworth at Birmingham-based Griffiths and Lamb, corporate adviser to both firms, blames 'endemic failures' by management.
He alleges 'tardiness' in reporting figures, late payment of accounts and share dealings by directors during closed periods.
'It was a culmination of events. The dealings were the straw that broke the camel's back,' says Hall-worth.
'We believe Ofex was absolutely right to take severe action.'
Nearly 2,000 private investors are left in limbo by the suspensions. Cygnet was valued at £3.8m, Asian-Online at £6.5m. The affair is a blow to Virani's efforts to rebuild his City reputation after he was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment by an Old Bailey judge in 1994.
He admits just one incident in which a director 'bought shares at the wrong time', but describes it as 'a technical error'.
Virani, chairman of Asian-Online and chief executive of Cygnet, says he is not aware of any other problems.
He says both are trading successfully, and will make an early application for re-admission to Ofex.
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