Officials probe missing £1.1 m at games firm

THE City watchdog is probing the demise of an AIM-listed company in the latest scandal to envelop the junior stock market.

Sources said the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) had contacted MySquar, a social gaming company, to seek information after funds raised by the firm went missing. MySquar, whose apps target gamers in Myanmar, was forced to delist from AIM last month after it uncovered payments that may have been made to former directors.

The company faces an uncertain future that could mean shareholders are wiped out.

The watchdog declined to comment. However, sources said the FCA routinely asks for information from companies and that voluntary information requests do not always lead to full-scale investigations. In November, MySquar was forced to suspend trading of its shares, announce the resignation of its broker and adviser, SP Angel, and begin an ‘investigation’ into ‘use of the proceeds’ of the convertible bonds sold to investors in early 2018.

It said it had found around £900,000 had been paid out of company funds to ‘either third parties or former directors without either board or remuneration committee approval’. That figure is understood to have risen to £1.1 million following the company’s investigation.

MySquar has reportedly begun legal proceedings.